Does an MBA retain its value relative to the current and near-future market?

April 12, 2009 2:02 PM

What (if anything) is the value of an MBA in today's market?

I am curious if anyone has any insight into the value of an MBA today and in the next 5 years. I have considered off and on getting one but I have read a lot about rising skepticism about their value in certain industries due to over-saturation, groupthink and a general sense that MBAs don't bring to the table what was previously thought.

Has anyone done any ROI research that is current (I looked a bit on the google and found stuff from ~2001)? Is it reasonable anymore to shoulder such a substantial load of student debt?

As an ancillary question is an MBA something worthwhile to pursue if you aren't yet entirely certain what you want to do with your life? It seems to me that setting aside specialization its a good sort of generalist degree that can open doors to more challenging and involved opportunities further down the road.

anyhow, thanks for the help.

posted by zennoshinjou to education (12 comments total)

If its not from a top ten school my understanding is $0
posted by Rubbstone at 2:08 PM on April 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

It depends what the opportunity cost is, among other things. What would you be doing with that time (and money) if you weren't getting that MBA?
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 2:15 PM on April 12

Are you looking to use the MBA as a line on a resume to help you get a (better) job? Probably not super valuable. A lot of un- or under-employed are going back to school while the economy is down, so there's going to be a surplus of MBA grads in a couple of years.

But if you're looking for the actual education an MBA provides, it's limited only by how you apply it. Take what you learn and start your own business, or apply it to your current position to be a better employee.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 2:19 PM on April 12

chesty - I work full-time and intend to continue. I would be doing a part-time MBA program.
posted by zennoshinjou at 2:20 PM on April 12

Googling 'mba roi' returns a lot of results that answer your question from an economic perspective.

Do you want to stay in IT audit, or even just audit? If that's the case, I doubt an MBA is worth more than any other Masters, especially if it's in Management.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:41 PM on April 12

@Rubbstone
If its not from a top ten school my understanding is $0

Agreeing to this. TOP 5 may be even better. I was told (over 10 years ago) by a big pharmaceutical company that if the MBA is not from the TOP5 school they won't even consider it. And there was not a recession at that time!


@ JuiceBoxHero

An MBA does not provide an education, or at least nothing that you could not learn from a book in a few days. If you do an MBA then you do it to make contacts.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 2:55 PM on April 12

agree with yoyo_nyc. also, think about the current state of your career. is an MBA the way to make the next step, in light of your experience?
posted by dobie at 3:09 PM on April 12

i couldn't tell you if it will raise your salary appreciably, but my one year of mba coursework has been very valuable to me in terms of having a clue about money, investments and managing people, and i doubt i would be in as good a financial/career position now if i hadn't done it.
posted by messiahwannabe at 3:39 PM on April 12

You asked about the value of an MBA in today's market - but since you are apparently planning on doing a part-time MBA while working for your current employer - I am tempted to say this might not be the most appropriate question for you. The situation of the student who is graduating from a course and looking for work will be different from yours: you will either be returning to work full time for your employer or (perhaps after a delay) you will be looking for another job armed with a part time MBA under your belt. You need to ask some people from your work how much they value MBAs: colleagues, bosses, HR, etc. Also - if your job is going to be secure while you study and you plan to return to it then you need not worry so much about the immediate job market.

Whilst others have mentioned the power of the top 10 courses you might want to consider the value of other choices: perhaps a course located in your part of the world where you could make local contacts; perhaps a course - like the one at INSEAD - which puts heavy emphasis on international experience and languages.
posted by rongorongo at 4:33 PM on April 12

Agreeing with Rubbstone, unless of course you actually learn something that is valuable to you. If you learn some valuable skills that, for example, help you succeed in starting a business, then obviously there is value.

But if the idea is just to go out on the job market with an MBA versus without an MBA, then it should be a top skill if you want positive ROI.
posted by alms at 7:40 PM on April 12

If you're working full time and your employer doesn't have any MBA assistance, that might be a good indicator for your local market value of an MBA.
posted by pwnguin at 8:09 PM on April 12

An MBA does not provide an education, or at least nothing that you could not learn from a book in a few days.

It's true that a substantial portion of an MBA's benefits are not book learning, but an MBA student spends 1000 hours in the classroom, and a serious student probably spends 2x that on homework, projects, and exam preparation. This is not equivalent to a "few days" of self-study.

And, zennoshinjou, answering your question is much, much easier when you have a post-graduate career path in mind.
posted by Kwantsar at 9:20 AM on April 13