Is an MBA worth it?

[CHH1023]

Is it just me or it seems like there are a lot of people with MBA degree nowadays?

[bjl584]

I have one. i'm currently not using it, but i don't regret getting it. I'm thinking about a career change, and I don't think that the MBA will hurt me. Not in my field anyway.

There are a lot of people with MBA's, but a lot of them were obtained from non accredited universities. Where you get a graduate degree is important.

[MonkeyMama]

It depends. A MBA is generally more useful if you already have a business degree (Bachelors) and/or business experience. OF course, *business* can be pretty broadly defined.

I've worked with a handful of people with no business experience or no *other* business education whatsoever who did receive MBAs. They were sold a bill of goods, couldn't do the basic job, thought they should be paid more, and really believed they could run/manage the whole company with no experience. The truth is these people usually just want to get a business degree fast, and they want to make a lot of money ASAP. If I sound harsh, every MBA I have worked with was a total moron. But, to be fair, it's a dumb/useless route to go in my field/region. Experience is more valued. These individuals seemed utterly clueless about the career routes they did choose.

Got a couple of friends and relatives in business whose employer paid for their MBA, and it has seemed to serve them well. Obviously an MBA is a good degree for many. But of course there are a lot of people getting the degrees for which it means nothing.

[Mr Nice Guy]

Monkeymama you are an accountant, correct?

Did you get your CPA?

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice Guy

Monkeymama you are an accountant, correct?

Did you get your CPA?

Yes, I am a CPA.

[emanon1501]

MBA is very broad. SO, it can be a good degree. I decided to major in MIS instead. Master of Information System. 3 more courses to go.

[YLTL_Dan]

Not to self-promote too much, but I wrote an article on this on my blog because I've contemplated this quite a bit. I'll pull out some highlights, and you can find the full article here.


If you are considering higher education, make sure you think it through and consider all possible ramifications.

The first possible downside is the opportunity cost of further education.

If your company reimburses the expense of continued education, it very well might be a great opportunity. There are intangible benefits to furthering your education, one of them being the network you build.

However, if you're going to quit your job and pay for school yourself, you're hit with a double whammy. Not only will you be in debt if you can't cover the expense with cash, but you will also have lost 1-4 years of income.

The second possible downside is you might not like or even find a new job.

You could spend 1-4 years on furthering your education, and graduate to find no jobs in the field or that you don't want to even be in that field! If you make the decision for further education, it better be something you really, really want.

Instead of viewing further education as a 'way out', you should have clear goals you'd like to use it for. For example, I have a friend who's an engineer and wants to get more into the business management side of things. It made great sense for him to get his MBA so he could move into his desired field.


By the way, I decided against pursuing an MBA because I don't want a job where it's important. Instead, I'm developing my own business.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Maybe. My DH got it as a secondary degree. He already did a phd in the sciences and his company paid a portion but we still shelled out $25k or about 1/3 the cost @ a private university. But it was okay because he was working and going to school part-time. That's the way to go. He was considered for a couple of very interesting positions but didn't land it because of the MBA. So perhaps in the future.

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by YLTL_Dan

The second possible downside is you might not like or even find a new job.

You could spend 1-4 years on furthering your education, and graduate to find no jobs in the field or that you don't want to even be in that field! If you make the decision for further education, it better be something you really, really want.

Instead of viewing further education as a 'way out', you should have clear goals you'd like to use it for. For example, I have a friend who's an engineer and wants to get more into the business management side of things. It made great sense for him to get his MBA so he could move into his desired field.

So true - why I said that "business" has a broad definition. The "engineer to management" example makes perfect sense for an MBA. If you want to move to the management side of a field you are familiar with. Business is really pretty all encompassing, in that regard.

When it comes to accounting, whether you go lower grad or Masters, the field does attract a lot of people who just *want to make a lot of money* and who don't really consider what they will actually be doing or if they will like it. So I think that's why I have seen so much of that in my own field.

[red92s]

I think in the last couple years there has been a big surge in recent grads who can't find work straight out of school going back for MBA's. Problem is most of the top-tier programs WANT you to have some working experience under your belt. I've heard with MBA's, much of what you get out of the program is dependent on the collective professional experience base of the group, as you are better able to draw on real-life situations you've encountered. As such, many programs want you to bring some of that to the table.

[YLTL_Dan]

I have a good friend who does a lot of hiring for a government agency. He said they now review MBAs with more scrutiny to figure out why they did it. He feels many of the applicants went to graduate school because they couldn't find a job or couldn't keep a job. Interesting perspective!

[elessar78]

I've been contemplating the same myself and it doesn't seem to be a slam dunk Yes, in my situation.

Upon getting my MBA, can I expect to immediately get a pay bump? An increase enough to offset the student loans I would incur and improve my standard of living?

My wife and I both agree we need to increase our income to be able to afford "life" better but I'm not sold that the MBA is the best path to accomplish that.

[herdjohnson]

I graduated with my undergrad in Business Administration with an emphasis in Healthcare Management in 04. I moved to Kentucky and started work full time for a healthcare chain. I sat out of school a year in order to get in state tuition and then started the three year MBA program at UK in the evenings. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of work experience, as just a degree is usually pretty useless, regardless which one it is. Many higher level positions require an MBA or an MHA in my field so it was completely worth it. Not to mention, when I graduated, I changed positions and ended up increasing my income by 60%. After getting the job, I was told that the MBA was one of the deciding factors in my getting the job over the other person being considered. FWIW.

[CHH1023]

I know a lot of my friends came back to school to get their MBA degree because they couldn't get a job with their bachelor degree, they have a bachelor degree in political science.

[CHH1023]

If I ever going to get a business-related degree, I think I would get a master in financial engineering. Because it's more mathematical and computational oriented.

[Shewillbemine]

Originally Posted by CHH1023

I know a lot of my friends came back to school to get their MBA degree because they couldn't get a job with their bachelor degree, they have a bachelor degree in political science.

Though I'm sure your friends' degrees played a part in their unemployment, there are numerous factors for why candidates are not accepted. I myself sort through 100s of resumes during our hiring seasons and I must tell you that a person's degree is far less important to our company than the interview. However, your mileage may vary depending on the company and position applied for.

An MBA is worth whatever the person makes of it. If someone is a "degree hoarder" (one of my friends has 2 Masters and a JD but has never held a steady job in his life) then no degree is worth it. If someone has a specific gameplan (a must in today's B-school process btw; they want people with specific visions for career paths) they can reap the merits of an MBA.

I once considered an MBA until I discovered the degree was not necessary for my personal and professional goals. I also know multi-millionaires who will swear by their MBAs and business experience. To each her own.