Your experience with MBA programs and opportunities?
July 23, 2013 5:31 AM Subscribe
Is taking the GMAT in August realistic? And is this even a good idea?
So we have a tuition reimbursement program at work that I wanted to take advantage of next year in hopes of earning my MBA, but today it was announced that a local private university is partnering with our company to offer a program which will lead to the same MBA degree earned on their campus. Classes will be held onsite (at our offices), after work hours, 2 nights a week for 3 hours. The tuition cost will be covered by the tuition reimbursement program. And the program will take 3 ½ years to complete. Classes will be held during the spring and fall semesters, summers will be off.
- First question, is this a good idea? The University is very well known here and their MBA program is respected. Of course my concern is that maybe this won't be well rounded since classmates will all be employees of the same company (or is that a plus?) and well I don't know how to phrase this well but that this program may be diluted? Should I just take the time off and pursue my MBA full time? Do it "properly"? Having it all paid for is ideal though.
-And last question, classes will start this fall and I have yet to take my GMAT, can I realistically have time to study and get a good score by end of August if I am only starting to study now? If this isn't a bad idea, I would like to have 100 hours of studying done before the exam.
So we have a tuition reimbursement program at work that I wanted to take advantage of next year in hopes of earning my MBA, but today it was announced that a local private university is partnering with our company to offer a program which will lead to the same MBA degree earned on their campus. Classes will be held onsite (at our offices), after work hours, 2 nights a week for 3 hours. The tuition cost will be covered by the tuition reimbursement program. And the program will take 3 ½ years to complete. Classes will be held during the spring and fall semesters, summers will be off.
- First question, is this a good idea? The University is very well known here and their MBA program is respected. Of course my concern is that maybe this won't be well rounded since classmates will all be employees of the same company (or is that a plus?) and well I don't know how to phrase this well but that this program may be diluted? Should I just take the time off and pursue my MBA full time? Do it "properly"? Having it all paid for is ideal though.
-And last question, classes will start this fall and I have yet to take my GMAT, can I realistically have time to study and get a good score by end of August if I am only starting to study now? If this isn't a bad idea, I would like to have 100 hours of studying done before the exam.
I don't know about the pros and cons of different MBAs, but I do know that the GMAT is basically just a test of algebra skills, reading comprehension, and basic analytical writing, similar to the SAT or GRE. I'm not sure that studying for it is particularly necessary, unless you know that you haven't used algebra, read thoughfully, or written analytically in a number of years.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:46 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by hydropsyche at 5:46 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
How good of a GMAT score do you need? If you need something competitive, I'd say maybe, depending on your skills; if you're not strong in one of the sections, you might not be able to catch up before August. If you just need a score that isn't outrageously terrible, I think it can be done. I would say absolutely take advantage of this deal, unless you think you might want to do a full-time program at one of the top schools (Harvard, Wharton, etc).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:52 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:52 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Full disclosure: I haven't done an MBA, so you might want to take what I say here with a grain of salt (I do know several MBA students and have taken classes with them).
MBAs seem to be "worth it" for two reasons. One is signalling/credentialism. I've know a bunch of people who got them because it meant they were eligible for more promotions/higher pay (but I worked in a civil service type job where higher degree == more pay was a pretty straightforward proposition). The second, and this is probably most true of the really high-end programs (HBS, Wharton, etc) is networking with other super fancypants people and getting recruiting by national fancypants firms.
The skills you pick up are maybe helpful but if you've been working for awhile doing something you probably already know or could teach yourself whatever you'd be learning in the coursework (at least that's my impression).
It could be that doing this program is less useful for networking purposes because the students would mostly be from your firm. It might be nice to cultivate contacts with people outside your company if you want to switch jobs eventually.
On the other hand, tuition being covered for a professional degree is awesome, this sounds like it'd be convenient for you and if you were already planning on staying for tuition reimbursement you probably like your job enough to stick around for a couple of years if you're able anyway. If you'd really like to advance in your company it might be that internal networking is helpful. And if having the MBA from a credible institution is what matters to you, then I'd say it's not a bad idea. So basically, what ThePinkSuperhero said.
posted by dismas at 6:21 AM on July 23, 2013
MBAs seem to be "worth it" for two reasons. One is signalling/credentialism. I've know a bunch of people who got them because it meant they were eligible for more promotions/higher pay (but I worked in a civil service type job where higher degree == more pay was a pretty straightforward proposition). The second, and this is probably most true of the really high-end programs (HBS, Wharton, etc) is networking with other super fancypants people and getting recruiting by national fancypants firms.
The skills you pick up are maybe helpful but if you've been working for awhile doing something you probably already know or could teach yourself whatever you'd be learning in the coursework (at least that's my impression).
It could be that doing this program is less useful for networking purposes because the students would mostly be from your firm. It might be nice to cultivate contacts with people outside your company if you want to switch jobs eventually.
On the other hand, tuition being covered for a professional degree is awesome, this sounds like it'd be convenient for you and if you were already planning on staying for tuition reimbursement you probably like your job enough to stick around for a couple of years if you're able anyway. If you'd really like to advance in your company it might be that internal networking is helpful. And if having the MBA from a credible institution is what matters to you, then I'd say it's not a bad idea. So basically, what ThePinkSuperhero said.
posted by dismas at 6:21 AM on July 23, 2013
It depends what you want to do with it. If you want to stick with your current job or a similar / slightly better one and think it would be nice to have a degree, do the one through work. If you are going to apply to a superstar MBA program in the hopes of getting some crazy job elsewhere, apply to your dream program.
While it's nice to have a mixture of people in your program, your coworkers probably have different backgrounds despite all working at the same company now, so you will probably get enough of that anyway.
The exception would be if you found a more specialized or faster program. I just did mine in a little over 2 years part time. But really, you can't beat the convenience / price of doing it through work if that opportunity is available. I don't think it's worth quitting to do an MBA full time unless you are applying to a top program.
posted by beyond_pink at 6:45 AM on July 23, 2013
While it's nice to have a mixture of people in your program, your coworkers probably have different backgrounds despite all working at the same company now, so you will probably get enough of that anyway.
The exception would be if you found a more specialized or faster program. I just did mine in a little over 2 years part time. But really, you can't beat the convenience / price of doing it through work if that opportunity is available. I don't think it's worth quitting to do an MBA full time unless you are applying to a top program.
posted by beyond_pink at 6:45 AM on July 23, 2013
I earned (and paid for) my MBA from a well known private university just north of the City of Chicago in a little town called Evanston. However, I went to their night program and took most of my classes in downtown Chicago with similarly suited individuals. I was self employed at the time (trading on the floors of several Chicago exchanges) and have pretty much remained self employed for my entire career, so not sure about what doors the credentials will open, but I can say in hindsight that one of the great benefits of being in a night program with other working stiffs, was just that, the other working stiffs.
I think I learned a great deal from other students, almost as much as I learned from textbooks and lectures. I can only use me as an example, but I took an options class (I was trading options for a living at the time and was hoping for an easy class to offset the other two classes I was taking that semester) that turned out to be great about options theory, but was so disconnected from the real world that it moved me to talk to the teacher about me guest lecturing. The teacher was teaching how to derive the Black Scholes formula. I was trying to teach the class the practical use of Black-Scholes. I was able to take the class down to the CBOE for a mock trading session at the end of the semester.
Everyone agreed, especially the professor, that it was a great experience. My point is that this happens in a lot of classes with different subjects. A teacher will be talking about marketing and someone will chime in who does marketing for a living and give a real world example or contradict what was taught. I have been in a finance class where the teacher was talking about a takeover from a few years back and someone in the class chimed in with additional details because they were a junior analyst working on the deal at the time.
My real point is what you mentioned, the other people in the program are almost as critical as the curriculum. If you want to move up within your firm and the important part of the MBA is the degree, then attend your in house degree program. If you want to go to actually learn and learn from people in their respective fields, not just theory from a professor, go to a well respected evening program somewhere.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:56 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think I learned a great deal from other students, almost as much as I learned from textbooks and lectures. I can only use me as an example, but I took an options class (I was trading options for a living at the time and was hoping for an easy class to offset the other two classes I was taking that semester) that turned out to be great about options theory, but was so disconnected from the real world that it moved me to talk to the teacher about me guest lecturing. The teacher was teaching how to derive the Black Scholes formula. I was trying to teach the class the practical use of Black-Scholes. I was able to take the class down to the CBOE for a mock trading session at the end of the semester.
Everyone agreed, especially the professor, that it was a great experience. My point is that this happens in a lot of classes with different subjects. A teacher will be talking about marketing and someone will chime in who does marketing for a living and give a real world example or contradict what was taught. I have been in a finance class where the teacher was talking about a takeover from a few years back and someone in the class chimed in with additional details because they were a junior analyst working on the deal at the time.
My real point is what you mentioned, the other people in the program are almost as critical as the curriculum. If you want to move up within your firm and the important part of the MBA is the degree, then attend your in house degree program. If you want to go to actually learn and learn from people in their respective fields, not just theory from a professor, go to a well respected evening program somewhere.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:56 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I did my MBA at night in 3.25 years while working full time. One thing to check into is the professors and instructors. Do you get the A team at night? My school, which is constantly ranked in the top 10 part-time MBA programs in the country, expected the professors to have consulting businesses by day. It was beneficial to us because they brought real-world experience (and sometimes NDA'ed documents!) into the classroom. Being able to take what I learned and try it at the office the next day was cool too. Also, doing group projects with other fully employed over ambitious types allowed for a lot of cross pollination of ideas among people from different companies and work environments.
So I'm on the side of go to the traditional night program. I don't think you'll get the same quality of instruction or classmates doing it in the office.
posted by COD at 7:49 AM on July 23, 2013
So I'm on the side of go to the traditional night program. I don't think you'll get the same quality of instruction or classmates doing it in the office.
posted by COD at 7:49 AM on July 23, 2013
Hiya, is that Nova Southeastern University by chance, because that's EXACTLY how I got my MBA.
Here's the thing, unless you go to Harvard, Penn or Stanford, where you get your MBA doesn't mean shit.
For the most part, the MBA is a box an HR manager ticks on his list of credentials needed for a a particular job. My MBA makes it easier for me to be hired. Tick!
I thought my program was pretty good. I liked going through classes with the exact same students. We formed study groups and 20 years later, I'm still close with those guys.
I liked that our instructors had real world experience, and weren't just Ivory Tower dudes. My Finance instructor worked for the CIA doing forensic accounting.
I didn't study for the GMAT at all. Just took it one day. Passing is passing.
I would much rather have a convenient, free and networked MBA, than schlep to a campus, and deal with all that nonsense.
Here's the thing. Enroll and see if you like it. If you don't, you can still go somewhere else, but seriously, just do this program.
Me mail me with questions, I'll answer anything.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:05 AM on July 23, 2013
Here's the thing, unless you go to Harvard, Penn or Stanford, where you get your MBA doesn't mean shit.
For the most part, the MBA is a box an HR manager ticks on his list of credentials needed for a a particular job. My MBA makes it easier for me to be hired. Tick!
I thought my program was pretty good. I liked going through classes with the exact same students. We formed study groups and 20 years later, I'm still close with those guys.
I liked that our instructors had real world experience, and weren't just Ivory Tower dudes. My Finance instructor worked for the CIA doing forensic accounting.
I didn't study for the GMAT at all. Just took it one day. Passing is passing.
I would much rather have a convenient, free and networked MBA, than schlep to a campus, and deal with all that nonsense.
Here's the thing. Enroll and see if you like it. If you don't, you can still go somewhere else, but seriously, just do this program.
Me mail me with questions, I'll answer anything.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:05 AM on July 23, 2013
Unless you go to a top-tier school, an MBA is simply a checkbox you get to fill in -- so go ahead and let your employer pay for that check mark.
As for the GMAT, it really depends on your current skill level vs. what kind of score you need. Take a practice test and see what kind of score you get -- and don't forget that people often score a bit higher on practice tests vs. the real thing. If the difference between your practice score and what you need to get is negligible, go ahead and take the GMAT soon. (I studied for it for about a month because, like you, I had a deadline. It worked out okay.)
posted by cranberry_nut at 8:22 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
As for the GMAT, it really depends on your current skill level vs. what kind of score you need. Take a practice test and see what kind of score you get -- and don't forget that people often score a bit higher on practice tests vs. the real thing. If the difference between your practice score and what you need to get is negligible, go ahead and take the GMAT soon. (I studied for it for about a month because, like you, I had a deadline. It worked out okay.)
posted by cranberry_nut at 8:22 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
First question, is this a good idea?
A graduate-level degree at 0 dollar cost to you which you will attend without having to add one second to your commute? A better question would be whether there's anything else you could possibly do with that time which would show a greater return on investment. I'd wager no. You could get that flexibility with an online program but the encouragement you'll get to stick with it in this sort of arrangement is huge, IMHO.
The lack of a wider networking opportunity and a non-varied cohort is indeed a downside but, again, 0 dollar cost and a big plus in completion odds.
All the questions about quality are valid but I'd suggest you be very honest with yourself about the tradeoff. You say that "we have a tuition reimbursement program at work that I wanted to take advantage of next year in hopes of earning my MBA" but my #1 question to that would be why next year? Why haven't you done it already? Be honest with yourself.
I've worked many years in education as well as confronted my own inertia and in my experience you cannot overstate the difficulty and importance of retention. If you're equally likely to attack and finish this MBA when you're having to pay up front and get reimbursed, travel somewhere, re-up every semester, etc etc - great. Maybe that increased overhead/challenge is justified by the increased networking opportunities and better quality education.
posted by phearlez at 8:50 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
A graduate-level degree at 0 dollar cost to you which you will attend without having to add one second to your commute? A better question would be whether there's anything else you could possibly do with that time which would show a greater return on investment. I'd wager no. You could get that flexibility with an online program but the encouragement you'll get to stick with it in this sort of arrangement is huge, IMHO.
The lack of a wider networking opportunity and a non-varied cohort is indeed a downside but, again, 0 dollar cost and a big plus in completion odds.
All the questions about quality are valid but I'd suggest you be very honest with yourself about the tradeoff. You say that "we have a tuition reimbursement program at work that I wanted to take advantage of next year in hopes of earning my MBA" but my #1 question to that would be why next year? Why haven't you done it already? Be honest with yourself.
I've worked many years in education as well as confronted my own inertia and in my experience you cannot overstate the difficulty and importance of retention. If you're equally likely to attack and finish this MBA when you're having to pay up front and get reimbursed, travel somewhere, re-up every semester, etc etc - great. Maybe that increased overhead/challenge is justified by the increased networking opportunities and better quality education.
posted by phearlez at 8:50 AM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Find out what score you need on the GMAT, then take a practice test ASAP and see how you do. It is totally worth spending $20 on a used GMAT prep book. The only thing the GMAT really tests is how well you know that GMAT - it will benefit you to understand how the test is structured and how to "beat" the test. Also - I'm a former Kaplan teacher for the GMAT, memail me with questions.
Also - unless you were planning on going to a top 20 MBA program, this sounds like a good deal. See if, once you get in, you can take classes at the "main" campus - things like electives. This will help you network.
posted by Farce_First at 4:22 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also - unless you were planning on going to a top 20 MBA program, this sounds like a good deal. See if, once you get in, you can take classes at the "main" campus - things like electives. This will help you network.
posted by Farce_First at 4:22 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
As far as the "diluting," it's unlikely; faculty won't want to take the time to develop a separate version of their courses just for your employer. However, you might not have the same faculty as on the main campus; that's one question to ask.
Also, the accrediting organization(s) for the university and/or the business school (AACSB for the business degree is the most stringent for b-school) have standards that they have to meet regardless of where the classes are held.
Regionally, it totally can matter where you get your MBA, especially if it's one with a strong alumni network and feeling of loyalty to the program. (See next paragraph.) But it sounds like this is a well-regarded school.
Another question is whether or not all the students would be from your employer, or whether your employer is sort of renting space as well as providing students. If it's only with your colleagues, you miss out on developing your network of people in other organizations.
Finally, even though an MBA is a general degree (basically one of everything, no "major"), you still should have a couple of electives. Will they offer a choice of those from the courses offered at your location, or will you be stuck with whatever they choose to offer? Similarly, if you want to take summer courses and finish faster, is that an option?
AND I just looked at your profile after writing all this, sigh. I'm pretty familiar with the schools in your area, so MeMail me if you want to disclose the U.
posted by orange (sherbet) rabbit at 5:02 PM on July 23, 2013
Also, the accrediting organization(s) for the university and/or the business school (AACSB for the business degree is the most stringent for b-school) have standards that they have to meet regardless of where the classes are held.
Regionally, it totally can matter where you get your MBA, especially if it's one with a strong alumni network and feeling of loyalty to the program. (See next paragraph.) But it sounds like this is a well-regarded school.
Another question is whether or not all the students would be from your employer, or whether your employer is sort of renting space as well as providing students. If it's only with your colleagues, you miss out on developing your network of people in other organizations.
Finally, even though an MBA is a general degree (basically one of everything, no "major"), you still should have a couple of electives. Will they offer a choice of those from the courses offered at your location, or will you be stuck with whatever they choose to offer? Similarly, if you want to take summer courses and finish faster, is that an option?
AND I just looked at your profile after writing all this, sigh. I'm pretty familiar with the schools in your area, so MeMail me if you want to disclose the U.
posted by orange (sherbet) rabbit at 5:02 PM on July 23, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by xicana63 at 5:33 AM on July 23, 2013