Dr. Phil is in.
Monday, January 29, 2007
In a recent comment, Megan said...
I just happened to come across your blog. I am a junior in college right now and have always had my sights set high on a masters program. I found your blog really entertaining. At the moment I'm trying to decide whether to do a 5-year masters & undergrad program at the school I'm at now or if I want to change schools so my degree is a bit more prestigious. Also trying to decide if I want to take time to work between undergrad and masters. Any advice, send it my way. :o)
Disclaimer: Asking me for advice on how to get your MBA is kind of asking a blind guy how awesome the sunset was. Or asking for financial planning at the Special Olympics. You're gonna get answers, but seeing how the source of the answers is so underqualified, you might do yourself more harm than good following that advice.
Megan, I suggest that you finish your undergrad degree, go work for a few years and then go the best damn school you can. My reasoning is based on some words of wisdom I have gathered along the way, which I have paraphrased below.
1. You only get one MBA.
Not only that, but you're going to be spending $100K and 2 years of your life, so you better be damn sure it's worth it. Think about it, if you could only own one purse for the rest of your life, would you get some piece of shit at Walmart or would you splurge on that Prada bag? It's the rest of your life. Get the brand name. If anyone tells you that the Podunk U MBA program is the most amazing program that will change your life, they're lying. Think about it. If I told you I'm a Stanford MBA, it doesn't really matter what I say next, because you'll believe it and think I'm a genius.
2. An MBA is worthless without work experience.
If you get your MBA immediately after college, your first job will pay you not much more than a first or second year employee. The only difference is that they now have more experience than you and don't owe a fuckload of money to some school. The best bang for your buck is to get your MBA as early as possible AFTER you work your first job. You'll get the biggest pay increase and open the most career opportunities.
3. If you don't work, your peers will hate your guts.
MBA students with awesome experience loathe MBA students straight out of college. If it were legal, I'm positive that they'd round up all the straight-out-of-college MBA students once a week and piss on their faces. As a college graduate, you really don't know anything. (Trust me. Start working and you'll realize how worthless college really is.) You need to work at least a little bit in order to be able to offer any intelligent insight worth anyone's time.
4. If you don't work, your peers will really hate your guts.
I went to a recruiting event and met all kinds of intelligent, well-traveled, experienced people that I have no chance in hell beating out for business school. However, there was one girl who asked this question during the open QA portion. "How important really is work experience to business schools? I mean, because I'm, like, only a college senior, but I have a ton of leadership experience with my sorority. I planned at least, like, 2 fundraiser dinners." I could see the current MBA students stifiling their desire to choke this girl. Though, I do hope they read her application right before mine, because I'm going to look like a fucking god next to her.
posted by mbahunt @ 1:18 AM,
