One is fucking brilliant - Columbia MBA. Like almost too brilliant as his emotional IQ is way out of whack. But analytical skills are unreal.
The other is quite possibly the dumbest man in N. America. He has to have either good blow or gives good handies - there is no way he should be in the position he is in without whynotboth.gif.
One of my kids is halfway through her MBA on the company's dime at a top 10 school. She still calls mommy 3 times per day for street-smart level advice.
It all comes down to the individual on whether it has value. The Throbber has different letters behind his name but will go toe to toe with any MBA out there.
MBA helps open doors but you still need to walk through them. It’ll help you reach potential, but won’t make you more than you are.
It’s not a technical degree that gives you some certification (JD or MD etc).
There’s also a correlation vs causation effect right now that too many people are getting MBAs thinking they’ll be a millionaire because of it. Many are lazy people and they suck.
I have quadrupled my income since getting my MBA but I don’t think there’s any one thing from my degree that made that happen, however I wouldn’t have my title without the degree.
Learned more from working hard than I ever did in college. College taught me that there are a lot of idiots with useless degrees and lots of debt. When one professor said "read this and write a 30 page essay (which would have added zero value to my life) or do service learning and write 10 pages" the choice was easy for me. Got a job out of it, then a career, and now career growth and set up well for my prime career years.
After graduating UW I immediately took the GMAT to try to get a decent score while I still had test taking skillz with the view that I would eventually want an MBA. The GMAT was only valid for 5 years, so 5 years later I was like ahh shit, guess I better get going with that MBA. I did not want to lose the 2 years of career progression nor could we afford no income for those 2 years, so I went the part-time route. Company paid for 1/2 and I got the rest. And so I went, very very slowly, towards the degree. It took me 5 years to complete.
-Went to GW since it was less than Georgetown, not tied to religion, had a satellite location close to home, more internationally focused and they gave me a small scholarship -Classmates were fairly diverse. DC, with an international focus. That was good. -Plenty of people in there right out of college with no work experience looking for more degrees. That was bad. -I got to do a team research project abroad which was some awesome additional real world experience outside of my domain -A good chunk of the programs was stuff I "knew" already but was able to formalize and have the credit to prove I knew it -I gained general business knowledge in many areas, like finance, accounting, HR/legal, corporate strategy, company culture and leadership, which I probably would not have done as directly otherwise
For me it was worth it since I was (and still am) able to go way in depth in my areas of expertise, but the MBA allowed me to apply that in depth knowledge to the important things that other areas of the business have to do to support my primary stuff, and they knew they couldn't bullshit me. The global focus from GW helped as well which I targeted due to working at a global company in a global industry. However, I agree there is an issue with the brand of an MBA since you can get one from so many places and the people who come out of those are in many cases morons. They cheapen the value of "an MBA" compared to people who actually pursued advanced business knowledge through a real program.
The JD really did prepare me to practice law. The MBA didn’t prepare me for a lot more than my BA in business had. Honestly, it just felt like any business employer was going to train you how to do things its way anyhow. In retrospect, if I had it to do over, I’d just have gone into practice a year earlier.
I recognize that some things may well have changed in 30+ years, but that was my experience and feeling upon graduating.
Good post @Tequilla ... tend to agree with all of that. One point I'd amplify a little is the comment about not wanting to promote you out of a job you're doing well. To that I'd point to another comment you made about company culture. Your warning is a good one ... spot that situation early and move on if you're not where you want to be. But other companies have people dev. hardwired into their DNA. My company is like that. If you're good, you'll be spotted and promoted. The other thing we do really well is spot talent and put them in positions that are outside their area of expertise for a more well-rounded development. We have a former Tax person who is leading our migration to a new enterprise financial software platform. Kind of a big deal project.
As to your TCU experience, I find that private institutions tend to focus on that part things ... placement, networking, etc. and do it better than the publics. I have story after story of colleagues who went to Marshall comparing that part of it to what happens at Anderson. Nobody is going to argue that a USC MBA is better than a UCLA MBA, but I believe entirely that the SC experience is better from the "club" angle of what the degree does for you. On the one hand, when Goldman is recruiting, they're going to go to Anderson over Marshall more often than not because Goldman is a savy consumer and they know that the Anderson kids cleared a tougher admissions hurdle. On the other, the SC network will be a benefit to you forever. So there's that. I'm obviously speaking in broad generalities. It wouldn't then surprise me if TCU had a more active career services office than Foster. Another program that emphasizes connections, etc. and places people in a way that outperforms its ranking is SMU. I also believe Fordham and Lehigh have that same advantage: an enthusiastic alumni base that strives to take care of their own.
I thought the article was oversimplified. I think the more interesting question is how the MBA will compete with the multitude of specialty MS degrees ... the people coming in with comp. sci and data sci and quant skills who are going Fin. Tech., or technical MS in Finance, etc. etc. In my salad days, those degrees weren't around, and it was undergrad biz, concentrating in one of the disciplines, or MBA, which is a round robin education in all the biz disciplines.
After graduating UW I immediately took the GMAT to try to get a decent score while I still had test taking skillz with the view that I would eventually want an MBA. The GMAT was only valid for 5 years, so 5 years later I was like ahh shit, guess I better get going with that MBA. I did not want to lose the 2 years of career progression nor could we afford no income for those 2 years, so I went the part-time route. Company paid for 1/2 and I got the rest. And so I went, very very slowly, towards the degree. It took me 5 years to complete.
-Went to GW since it was less than Georgetown, not tied to religion, had a satellite location close to home, more internationally focused and they gave me a small scholarship -Classmates were fairly diverse. DC, with an international focus. That was good. -Plenty of people in there right out of college with no work experience looking for more degrees. That was bad. -I got to do a team research project abroad which was some awesome additional real world experience outside of my domain -A good chunk of the programs was stuff I "knew" already but was able to formalize and have the credit to prove I knew it -I gained general business knowledge in many areas, like finance, accounting, HR/legal, corporate strategy, company culture and leadership, which I probably would not have done as directly otherwise
For me it was worth it since I was (and still am) able to go way in depth in my areas of expertise, but the MBA allowed me to apply that in depth knowledge to the important things that other areas of the business have to do to support my primary stuff, and they knew they couldn't bullshit me. The global focus from GW helped as well which I targeted due to working at a global company in a global industry. However, I agree there is an issue with the brand of an MBA since you can get one from so many places and the people who come out of those are in many cases morons. They cheapen the value of "an MBA" compared to people who actually pursued advanced business knowledge through a real program.
This was a good explanation. Especially the part about people being morons. No way to paper that over but for those who aren't who have goals like you had in mind, go for it and good luck
After graduating UW I immediately took the GMAT to try to get a decent score while I still had test taking skillz with the view that I would eventually want an MBA. The GMAT was only valid for 5 years, so 5 years later I was like ahh shit, guess I better get going with that MBA. I did not want to lose the 2 years of career progression nor could we afford no income for those 2 years, so I went the part-time route. Company paid for 1/2 and I got the rest. And so I went, very very slowly, towards the degree. It took me 5 years to complete.
-Went to GW since it was less than Georgetown, not tied to religion, had a satellite location close to home, more internationally focused and they gave me a small scholarship -Classmates were fairly diverse. DC, with an international focus. That was good. -Plenty of people in there right out of college with no work experience looking for more degrees. That was bad. -I got to do a team research project abroad which was some awesome additional real world experience outside of my domain -A good chunk of the programs was stuff I "knew" already but was able to formalize and have the credit to prove I knew it -I gained general business knowledge in many areas, like finance, accounting, HR/legal, corporate strategy, company culture and leadership, which I probably would not have done as directly otherwise
For me it was worth it since I was (and still am) able to go way in depth in my areas of expertise, but the MBA allowed me to apply that in depth knowledge to the important things that other areas of the business have to do to support my primary stuff, and they knew they couldn't bullshit me. The global focus from GW helped as well which I targeted due to working at a global company in a global industry. However, I agree there is an issue with the brand of an MBA since you can get one from so many places and the people who come out of those are in many cases morons. They cheapen the value of "an MBA" compared to people who actually pursued advanced business knowledge through a real program.
This was a good explanation. Especially the part about people being morons. No way to paper that over but for those who aren't who have goals like you had in mind, go for it and good luck
I agree ... unlike the JD, or the CPA or other specifically-required "must have for entry" courses of study, the MBA requires a little more thought about whether you really need it. If you want to run a trading desk at Goldman Sachs, or do biz consulting at McKinsey, you're going to need it, and it has to be from the 5 or 6 schools they're currently recruiting at. Otherwise, the door doesn't open.
Outside of that less than 1/10th of 1% of us, it takes a more thorough analysis of what it is you're trying to achieve. Did Wally Walker need the Stanford MBA to be the Sonics Pres & GM? I'm guessing not.
I forgot to comment on this gem. The author of the piece is someone who runs a continuing education program she tries to place as an alternative to an MBA. The regurgitated info on why you or your employer should give her money instead of an established school just adds the current news cycle trends. Diversity is the hot topic? MBAs are not diverse. Covid? Covid changed everything including MBAs. Whatever, maybe her program provides value and this does raise an interesting question on whether the degree is worth it.
I think an MBA is still worth it. I never finished mine, it wasn’t my intention to finish when I started - just a placeholder for the time. Little out of pocket expense for me since my employer at the time paid for most of it. Did I learn things? Eh, somewhat. It was pretty good for practicing collaboration, especially doing it remotely and with groups that were diverse in age, experience and background, ethnicity, nationality.
The real usefulness of the degree comes in salary negotiations, promotions, and getting hired. Of course not every company values or cares about an MBA, but having previously worked for a Fortune 500 I can absolutely guarantee you that they care. Hiring for management roles and promotion decisions in these large companies usually come down to a quick decision by some VP who will spend very little time on the matter. Your qualifications may get a grand total of less than a 30 second glance, and if there isn’t some strong separation or recommendation from a trusted source that MBA is getting the job. Over the course of a career I would be absolutely shocked if it doesn’t wind up paying for itself multiple times over.
MBA has lessened substantially because computer science/math BS people can be taught all of that in a company setting.
My wife graduated from Foster with good grades and then breezed through University of Portland's MBA progrum, and we've decided that if any mba knowledge would be needed it would be me going back to school or learning from her on a per-skills basis for my company.
MBA has lessened substantially because computer science/math BS people can be taught all of that in a company setting.
My wife graduated from Foster with good grades and then breezed through University of Portland's MBA progrum, and we've decided that if any mba knowledge would be needed it would be me going back to school or learning from her on a per-skills basis for my company.
MBA has lessened substantially because computer science/math BS people can be taught all of that in a company setting.
My wife graduated from Foster with good grades and then breezed through University of Portland's MBA progrum, and we've decided that if any mba knowledge would be needed it would be me going back to school or learning from her on a per-skills basis for my company.
Why mba at Portland?
They live down that way. If I were to get an MBA in the greater Portland area, that's the one I'd get (also, it may be the only one available ... does Portland State offer one?)
Comments
scamplan.One is fucking brilliant - Columbia MBA. Like almost too brilliant as his emotional IQ is way out of whack. But analytical skills are unreal.
The other is quite possibly the dumbest man in N. America. He has to have either good blow or gives good handies - there is no way he should be in the position he is in without whynotboth.gif.
One of my kids is halfway through her MBA on the company's dime at a top 10 school. She still calls mommy 3 times per day for street-smart level advice.
It all comes down to the individual on whether it has value. The Throbber has different letters behind his name but will go toe to toe with any MBA out there.
It’s not a technical degree that gives you some certification (JD or MD etc).
There’s also a correlation vs causation effect right now that too many people are getting MBAs thinking they’ll be a millionaire because of it. Many are lazy people and they suck.
I have quadrupled my income since getting my MBA but I don’t think there’s any one thing from my degree that made that happen, however I wouldn’t have my title without the degree.
-Went to GW since it was less than Georgetown, not tied to religion, had a satellite location close to home, more internationally focused and they gave me a small scholarship
-Classmates were fairly diverse. DC, with an international focus. That was good.
-Plenty of people in there right out of college with no work experience looking for more degrees. That was bad.
-I got to do a team research project abroad which was some awesome additional real world experience outside of my domain
-A good chunk of the programs was stuff I "knew" already but was able to formalize and have the credit to prove I knew it
-I gained general business knowledge in many areas, like finance, accounting, HR/legal, corporate strategy, company culture and leadership, which I probably would not have done as directly otherwise
For me it was worth it since I was (and still am) able to go way in depth in my areas of expertise, but the MBA allowed me to apply that in depth knowledge to the important things that other areas of the business have to do to support my primary stuff, and they knew they couldn't bullshit me. The global focus from GW helped as well which I targeted due to working at a global company in a global industry. However, I agree there is an issue with the brand of an MBA since you can get one from so many places and the people who come out of those are in many cases morons. They cheapen the value of "an MBA" compared to people who actually pursued advanced business knowledge through a real program.
The JD really did prepare me to practice law. The MBA didn’t prepare me for a lot more than my BA in business had. Honestly, it just felt like any business employer was going to train you how to do things its way anyhow. In retrospect, if I had it to do over, I’d just have gone into practice a year earlier.
I recognize that some things may well have changed in 30+ years, but that was my experience and feeling upon graduating.
As to your TCU experience, I find that private institutions tend to focus on that part things ... placement, networking, etc. and do it better than the publics. I have story after story of colleagues who went to Marshall comparing that part of it to what happens at Anderson. Nobody is going to argue that a USC MBA is better than a UCLA MBA, but I believe entirely that the SC experience is better from the "club" angle of what the degree does for you. On the one hand, when Goldman is recruiting, they're going to go to Anderson over Marshall more often than not because Goldman is a savy consumer and they know that the Anderson kids cleared a tougher admissions hurdle. On the other, the SC network will be a benefit to you forever. So there's that. I'm obviously speaking in broad generalities. It wouldn't then surprise me if TCU had a more active career services office than Foster. Another program that emphasizes connections, etc. and places people in a way that outperforms its ranking is SMU. I also believe Fordham and Lehigh have that same advantage: an enthusiastic alumni base that strives to take care of their own.
I thought the article was oversimplified. I think the more interesting question is how the MBA will compete with the multitude of specialty MS degrees ... the people coming in with comp. sci and data sci and quant skills who are going Fin. Tech., or technical MS in Finance, etc. etc. In my salad days, those degrees weren't around, and it was undergrad biz, concentrating in one of the disciplines, or MBA, which is a round robin education in all the biz disciplines.
Outside of that less than 1/10th of 1% of us, it takes a more thorough analysis of what it is you're trying to achieve. Did Wally Walker need the Stanford MBA to be the Sonics Pres & GM? I'm guessing not.
Far surpassing @creepycoug -level of arrogance, which is pretty arrogant ... and off-putting.
I think an MBA is still worth it. I never finished mine, it wasn’t my intention to finish when I started - just a placeholder for the time. Little out of pocket expense for me since my employer at the time paid for most of it. Did I learn things? Eh, somewhat. It was pretty good for practicing collaboration, especially doing it remotely and with groups that were diverse in age, experience and background, ethnicity, nationality.
The real usefulness of the degree comes in salary negotiations, promotions, and getting hired. Of course not every company values or cares about an MBA, but having previously worked for a Fortune 500 I can absolutely guarantee you that they care. Hiring for management roles and promotion decisions in these large companies usually come down to a quick decision by some VP who will spend very little time on the matter. Your qualifications may get a grand total of less than a 30 second glance, and if there isn’t some strong separation or recommendation from a trusted source that MBA is getting the job. Over the course of a career I would be absolutely shocked if it doesn’t wind up paying for itself multiple times over.
More SKUs to manage. Complicated inventory matrix and optimization of product mix.
My wife graduated from Foster with good grades and then breezed through University of Portland's MBA progrum, and we've decided that if any mba knowledge would be needed it would be me going back to school or learning from her on a per-skills basis for my company.