Just looking for some feedback. Is it worth getting an MBA if one has no experience other than teaching and writing?
I am looking to get out of teaching English and must do something.
There are a lot of variables involved and I’m sure others will disagree but it really doesnt make that much of a difference… besides, you have some life experience now. Just dont wait too long to go back for the MBA.
I did my MBA fulltime at 34 and was ‘the old guy’… once out of the MBA program no one cared that I had all that experience before hand. Fresh MBAs from the same school are largely valued about the same. That changes a few years afterwards but it shouldn’t make you wait to get the MBA. Get it first, then get some experience.
oh yeah… get it from a school with a name that is valued where you want to work. MBA diplomas are like women’s handbags. They might be exactly the same quality but the one with the right name on it commands more a higher price
I am 31 and was accepted in a Master’s program in Speech Language Pathology but am wondering if I should do an MBA instead. I am talking about an MBA outside of Taiwan not a local one.
My goal is to live abroad and work for an international company either in the Middle East or China.
The receptionist at the company I work for was talking about taking the test for admission into an EMBA program at a local university. Is an EMBA degree like an “e-learning” version of an MBA?
A friend wasted two years and a shit-ton of cash on an MBA. When he got out, he couldn’t even get his old job back, he had to get into the one he’d moved up from several years earlier.
An MBA isn’t worth it unless it’s a top program.
MBAs were supposed to be something experienced business people did, not the other way around. They are networking and paper getting opportunities really,it’s like buying club membership in many cases. Getting an MBA without significant experience or other skill is unlikely to help too much. For instance you say you want to work for a big company in China or the middle east? Those places have significantly different needs regarding employee backgrounds, plus they favor local hires in multinationals unless you have worked with them previously. How do you know you would like to work for a larger company or business. If you don’t own the business itself it is not as fulfilling. Plus you said before you would enjoy time to move off to do things, that won’t happen I’m business in general.
Im not saying an MBA might not be a bit useful, but something else might be more interesting and solid skills wise…like speech pathology or IT as you have identified.
I think your goal is to see the world a bit more, there are better ways in my opinion.
I notice you have written a book, you can also think
about working in educational publishing in china or middle east. Again an MBA is not going to get you Into any companies really overseas but your book writing experience might.
I currently have a job writing business lessons for the online platform.
My goal is to work somewhere other than Taiwan and make more than 60,000NT a month.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]MBAs were supposed to be something experienced business people did, not the other way around. They are networking and paper getting opportunities really,it’s like buying club membership in many cases. Getting an MBA without significant experience or other skill is unlikely to help too much. For instance you say you want to work for a big company in China or the middle east? Those places have significantly different needs regarding employee backgrounds, plus they favor local hires in multinationals unless you have worked with them previously. How do you know you would like to work for a larger company or business. If you don’t own the business itself it is not as fulfilling. Plus you said before you would enjoy time to move off to do things, that won’t happen I’m business in general.
Im not saying an MBA might not be a bit useful, but something else might be more interesting and solid skills wise…like speech pathology or IT as you have identified.
I think your goal is to see the world a bit more, there are better ways in my opinion.[/quote]
Thanks for the advice. Maybe getting my M.S. in Speech Pathology will work out better. I can apply for a job at one of the US military hospitals abroad or work as a Speech Pathologist in the Middle East.
Actually I have already bought my plane ticket home.
[quote=“shibari”]A friend wasted two years and a shit-ton of cash on an MBA. When he got out, he couldn’t even get his old job back, he had to get into the one he’d moved up from several years earlier.
An MBA isn’t worth it unless it’s a top program.[/quote]
But the difference is I want to get an MBA to help me get out into another sector. I am willing to start with an entry level management job.
MBAs have concentrations, sort of like undergrad majors. Job prospects depend alot on what your concentration is. IT concentration is in more demand than marketing concentration. Some B-Schools now grant “MBA in Finance”, or “MBA in IT”.
How about an MBA in Finance?
Let’s assume you’re more interested in money than a mate (har).
In the USA, there are two traditional paths to CEO. One is through finance, the other through manufacturing operations. The MBA was designed for the second path, the talented engineer with significant business experience who demonstrates an understanding of how project finance fits larger strategic goals in the organization.
Who pays depends on who first realizes this talent. In most cases the engineer figures out first that with a bit of intensive work on broader biz skills s/he could sit in the CEO’s seat very quickly. Hence demand for a two year crash course in graduate management a.k.a. the MBA.
Again I encourage you to open your own wallet ONLY IF you are accepted into a top program. It’s not worth the investment otherwise (because it really is a bit of a bullshit degree).
$0.02
I have to disagree. I went to a highly ranked B-school for my MBA and I can assure you there is nothing about it like a club membership and the networking was completely inapplicable to my situation (granted, that might be different had I stayed in the US but my friend who went to Wharton says the same thing)
Whatever an MBA was ‘supposed to be’ in the past, it is now a degree where your pre-MBA experience is largely ignored unless you aggressively market its importance and force a hiring authority pay attention to it.
Of course, it all gets subjective and depends on what the individual does with it but there is one thing that an MBA is definitely very good for… If you want to change careers and start a new career from a reasonably strong position, an MBA is a good way to do it.
[quote=“steelersman”][quote=“shibari”]A friend wasted two years and a shit-ton of cash on an MBA. When he got out, he couldn’t even get his old job back, he had to get into the one he’d moved up from several years earlier.
An MBA isn’t worth it unless it’s a top program.[/quote]
But the difference is I want to get an MBA to help me get out into another sector. I am willing to start with an entry level management job.[/quote]
Umm, so did he. And so was he.
I forget where he went, but it was a decent school, just not one of the best MBA schools. So nobody really cared that he had gotten a new degree.
[quote=“shibari”][quote=“steelersman”][quote=“shibari”]A friend wasted two years and a shit-ton of cash on an MBA. When he got out, he couldn’t even get his old job back, he had to get into the one he’d moved up from several years earlier.
An MBA isn’t worth it unless it’s a top program.[/quote]
But the difference is I want to get an MBA to help me get out into another sector. I am willing to start with an entry level management job.[/quote]
Umm, so did he. And so was he.
I forget where he went, but it was a decent school, just not one of the best MBA schools. So nobody really cared that he had gotten a new degree.[/quote]
Umm, so did I and so was I… and it worked out great.
It comes down to what each person does with that degree once they get it. No one is going to just give you a job because you have a new degree… you have to apply what you learned getting that degree.
It depends on the industry but for many high tech areas an mba is not going to be much use without relevant expertise, employers generally want people ‘ready to go’ these days. Our company top management is mostly sales management and scientific background, they would never hire somebody fresh out of a business school. We are more the norm than the exception. Finally corporate culture is very hard to adjust to for many teachers , it just pays a lot better.
Thanks for the feedback. It looks like I should just become a speech pathologist.
One approach is to first do your GMAT. If you can do around maybe 730 and up (~97th percentile) and you have a clear rationale as to why you are doing the MBA, it’s worth it. The reason you need the score is to get into a top program. The reason you need a top program is because an MBA is most valuable for network and for brand equity as you launch yourself.
A decade after you do your MBA, it won’t matter as much anymore, but it’s valuable in that first step. The network however, really is “for life” and this is where the association matters.
I did my MBA a few years back from a top school in the US. Perhaps the top school for what I wanted to do in terms of network and brand equity, particularly in Asia. I had the option, thought hard about my aspirations, and chose it over Wharton and others for this reason. Most fun I’ve had in two years and now doing exactly what I wanted to do when I went in. It is about the network. Getting “in” at decision-maker level at most organizations I would need to work with is an email or call away to classmates. Failing that, contacting random alum from the alumni database will almost always net a response.
My feeling is that value of the MBA increases immensely going between lesser-known schools to the few top-branded schools in your field. So if you’re going to spend the time and money, gun for the top.
I could be wrong but even if I could get into Harvard or Wharton, I don’t know that it would help me that much in getting a job outside of the US.
I was actually thinking of attending an MBA program in the region that I want to work in to make contacts.