The season of people departing to b-school is upon us once again. Every year around this time, we bid farewell and good luck to our fellow co-workers who are off to 2 years of "training" in hopes of securing a better future.
A good friend of mine got into HBS, GSB, Kellogg, and Sloan - 4 for 4, not too shabby. I got accepted by HBS, but once again was turned down by Stanford (they rejected me for undergrad as well). I spoke to 2 people this week about HBS, once who's there now, and another who's an alum, and describing their opinion as bullish would be an understatement. The reasons they cite seem to be around:
- Accelerate Salary Increase
Fortune has an article on what MBAs expect to be paid coming out of school. Surprisingly, their expected pay from their first job is very realistic - I make that much today and I've been working 3 years with no MBA. However, judging from their responses on their expected salaray 5 years out, the value of the MBA is really about the longer term investment in their career. Naturally there is a huge discrepancy in salary based on the business school you attend. Rumor has it that an average HBS graduate gets $130K. This is the primary reason I hear that consultants and investment bankers go to business school, especially since only 20% of the people get to go from analyst to associate.
- Learn How Businesses Work aka Career Change
P&Ls, balance sheets, and cash flow statements - the life and blood of any finance major, and the bane of any tech geek or liberal arts major. It's amazing how a few finance and accounting classes in college can put you so far ahead of so many people in the real world. It's definitely hard to change industries and job functions once you get started down a certain path. Then you hear about how many people actually slack off in bschool so you have to wonder how much of this is perception versus reality - which brings us to...
- Take a break
Bschool is one of the most expensive "vacations" you'd ever take, but at least it's a vacation that has you coming out with something that will help you earn more money in the long run. To be fair, I do know a few people who are just burnt out and need to recharge their batteries, so I do understand why this is appealing to them. Plus you'll make some good friends, or so I hear.
- Networking
It's funny. When you call it "making friends" or "being social" it sounds so good and idealistic, but when you call it "networking", it just sounds dirty. Although folks usually go into bschool with the previous 3 as their main objectives, I'd expect that this final one is what ends up being the most rewarding and helpful in the long run. When it comes to life, it's all about "guanxi".
- Rite of Passage
Will the MBA become the B.S./B.A. of our generation? I haven't experienced a glass ceiling yet, but I could imagine how frustrated I would be if it turns out that the MBA is a requirement for advancement somewhere down the line.
The problem is, I would only go for the last 2 of the 5 reasons, and that makes it a little difficult to justify 2 years and 150K... Besides, I can't imagine having to study and go to class everyday, spend night and day worrying about recruiting with 900 type A people, and most importantly, dealing with the BLISTERING cold. 7 years of that is more than enough for me. Plus it means I'm a 5 hour plane ride away from my other half. :(
So I'm very happy with my decision.
