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propecia posted:Any first year MBAs here really glad to be done with the semester but also really concerned about internship interviewing season coming up? I was because I recruited for banking this fall, but then the semester ended and I regained my sanity. I'm at Columbia and happy to answer any questions about either life at school or the application process. Btw, zmcnulty, it's been a while. How are things across the pond? I'd love to go back there for the summer.
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Jan 14, 2009 00:25
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@KJ&AR@ posted:How would any NYC goons rate CUNY Baruch's Zicklin School of Business MBA program? CU has an EMBA program. It's our part-time program. It's aimed at older/experienced workers and is more expensive than the regular MBA though.
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Mar 23, 2009 23:26
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Rekinom posted:So, assuming I have 12 years of work experience in a job with tons of leadership and responsibility, keep taking the GMAT over and over until I get a 700+, could I actually parlay that into getting into one of the top programs in the country? Also, I'm an "underrepresented minority" if that helps. If you have 12 years of work experience then your GPA isn't going to matter much since it'll have been so long since undergrad. You need to get a good GMAT, good recommendations, and have an interesting story. (As well as quant to back everything up.) But is that 12 years post-graduation? If so, you'd be 34, which is a bit higher than the typical age spectrum; at least at Columbia we skew young. Most people are 27~28. I can't stress enough how much the interesting story helps. At this point, just to be considered you have to have rocking GMAT, good GPA, good work experience, and recommendations. A single one of those won't help you stand out. One of the thing that always amazes me about my classmates is the fascinating things they've done. You are not putting 12 hours in a classroom but you are putting your entire life into the program. There's class, homework, projects, groupwork, and a lot of social events. People who are from Manhattan and have lots of friends there have noted how they are hardly seen them; we live in our own Upper West Side bubble. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Jun 27, 2009 |
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Jun 27, 2009 18:10
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Tezer posted:I work for a very small consulting company - a good employee for us is someone who requires no direction to accomplish research tasks, writes well, can organize presentations and reports (we don't have an established style guideline (probably need to), people are supposed to just know how to make acceptable, consistent looking graphs/tables). There is also a need to be able to do math, understand basic finance principles, understand technical topics, etc. and an existing knowledge of the field is extremely helpful. If it's from one of the top programs it's basically a sign that the person can do what you're asking. At least in mine, the people are all "A-type" personalities who are self-starters and relentless in quickly accomplishing any task they're given. We all work in teams on a regular basis, constantly prepare reports, have to do complex mathematics, pass several finance courses, etc. I don't know how it is in other top ten schools but I assume the one I'm in is relatively similar in the type of people they accept. In my eyes, the benefit of hiring an MBA outside of finance is less for a specific skillset (because odds are if I've graduated from a program several years ago and not been in a finance/accounting workplace, I've forgotten stuff I've been taught like obscure LIFO rules.) It's more about the type of person you're getting, someone who can be taught and quickly grasp new principals, works their rear end off, and has a powerful network to rely on. The latter is an interesting point; I'm working on wall street this summer, but never worked in finance before. I was given a company to cover. Wanting to learn more about the company, I e-mailed my classmates. Within minutes I had contacts who had worked in the company, worked in the field, and worked for rivals. I setup meetings with them and was able to quickly learn key points, as well as info on industry trends that others in my company (who didn't have a network like this) could not get access to without paying a lot of money for others' research. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Jul 3, 2009 |
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Jun 28, 2009 18:17
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He should apply for the MBA. However, he should wait another 1-2 years. The MBA will give him the network he needs to be successful. He should be aware that some programs are more entrepreneur oriented than others; Harvard and Stanford are known for their entrepreneurial programs. Columbia, Wharton, Chicago are more Finance/Wall Street, though to its credit Columbia is working hard to boost its entrepreneur program. He should wait 1-2 more years because competition is intense right now and odds will be better then, and because more experience on the resume will make for a stronger application. He won't get accepted if he applies in the fall; he should wait for the Class of 2013 or 2014 rounds. My friends who worked at PWC were not sponsored; it doesn't mean that they don't sponsor, but I don't know of a case where they did. Even if they did sponsor, it would mean he'd be coming back to PWC for a while afterward. There are advantages that he has as an African American as well. At Columbia, the black business students association (BBSA) has an incredibly strong network that he can tap to help him raise funds as an entrepreneur. They also offer scholarships for black students to help him pay for the education. If he/you have any questions, send me a PM and I'll give you my phone. I'm happy to chat about my experiences and what I know about the application process. This goes for anyone in the thread also thinking about applying to Columbia; I'm happy to answer questions you may have, just send me a PM.
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Jul 9, 2009 03:39
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Greve posted:Thanks for the info, I will pass it along. I don't even know if he has a business plan or if he just wishes he didn't work for a company like pwc (pressure constantly, 70hr work weeks which when money is factored in he ends up making minimum wage) Yeah, people at that level tend to burn out quickly. Used to be that they'd parachute into better jobs but it's really hard in the current situation, which is why many are trying to hide away in school for a while and applications have shot up 30%... If the job's killing him, he could also spend two years doing social enterprise work and that would give him a good story for the MBA application. Several of my classmates were Peace Corps/Teach for America for a while, the school likes it. Btw, if you're in NY, you should consider coming to the goon meet this month: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3147082
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Jul 9, 2009 05:31
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Ours costs significantly more than the full-time MBA. Almost always paid for by companies. Fridays, Saturday, Sunday classes. EMBA's purpose is completely different from that of a full-time program.
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Jul 13, 2009 05:07
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still a child posted:I really enjoy the things like event planning, organizing, leadership, etc. and I've realized that's kind of like what business school is about. No, that's not what business school is about- at least not a school like Stern. Stern being a finance school, it's not going to help you with your entertainment industry prospects. While you take some courses like leadership, it's heavily quantitative and focused on financial statement analysis, corporate finance, and capital markets. Even their film stuff, if it's anything like Columbia's media program, is going to be media finance which is the accounting used by studios. I once had lunch with the head of the Japanese bushiness center at Stern when I was applying to schools and asked him about the school. He said the only reason people apply to Stern is to get into Goldman Sachs. This was in spring 2007, before things turned to poo poo. But having known some Stern students, this is completely true; it's a wall street school. Regardless, at 0-1 years outside of undergrad you have a low probability of getting into Stern no matter no how impressive your application is, unless daddy is a big donor or you're a financial wizard. I know one 22 year old in my MBA class; he graduated Harvard and his father is CEO of a major corporation. For your application you'll need several years of relevant business experience, a strong math background, high GMAT, good recommendations, and in this economy (with applications up 30-40%), a ton of luck. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Jul 28, 2009 |
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Jul 28, 2009 13:20
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Omne posted:Well, to be fair, Stern does have an entertainment/media focus. It, along with UCLA and USC seem to be one of the few with legit offerings. One of the courses at Stern that always interested me was the business side of the Cannes Film Festival, which culminates in a trip to the actual event. Yes, it is a quant school, but don't discount the entertainment/media options Stern provides. My dealings with Stern have shown it to be finance, with other programs being underwhelming. Some of my friends are in our media program and dissapointed so I'm curious: Are you in one of these programs at another school? Did it meet your expectations? Edit- oh you haven't started yet. I've learned, sadly, there's a difference from what the school says a program will do, and what it actually is. For example, Stern is one of two schools with Japanese business centers and if you go by materials it seems cool but the head of it admitted the center doesn't play any useful role outside academia. (My background is Japanese biz dev so I thought they'd be able to give me some useful hookups. The other school with a center is Columbia. Its center doesn't do poo poo. I'm pretty dissapointed.) Edit 2- I was curious so I checked the Stern Entertainment/media course list. It's similar to ours; all media finance. "Accounting and valuation," "Corporate strategy and finance in entertainment," even the "Business of music and film" class says that "it emphasizes the characteristics of deals, cash flows, and project valuation." It's quant for media companies' corp fin departments. I don't get the sense this is what he's looking for. I came from a liberal arts background and when researching schools years ago I was taken aback at the extent to which quantitative valuation methods have become the bedrock of all MBA coursework at finance schools. I wanted to learn finance so I'm okay with this but I know where still a child is coming from in terms of thinking the MBA program would help me learn "business" in the general management sense. While that happens with some schools it's not the case for the NY ones. They're finance in every class. Even our leadership class used a combo of psych and quantitative analysis, it was hilarious. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Jul 28, 2009 |
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Jul 28, 2009 16:07
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Stryguy posted:I have a few questions / comments. I don't know how the difference effects you between schools outside of the top ten, but there's a wide gulf between the top ten and those below it depending on what you're looking for. Where do you want to work? Do you want to work in investment banking for JP Morgan? You want to be at Wharton, Boothe, or Columbia. I was an officer in my school's banking club and spoke with the head recruiters at every bulge bracket on the street; this year, even with all the poo poo that went down, although the banks reduced overall numbers of interns and full-timers, they kept numbers from top schools high and eliminated intake from the lower tiers. The experience is different. I was speaking to the CEO of Citigroup's investment bank (John Haven) the day their stock crashed in November. Vikram Pandit, John Thain, Jamie Dimon all came to our school, we got to ask them about the market situation firsthand. Their firms arrived on campus to recruit with dozens of bankers in tow, and gave us special access that other schools didn't have. You get those jobs not because of what you know, but because of who you know. If you're looking to go into management at a small or medium sized firm, you don't need a top-tier MBA. If you want to work for Mckinsey, be the next CEO of GE, or work in PE/VC, you want to be at a Harvard, Stanford, or Kellogg. Their networks are amazing; and in the end, that's what the top-tier MBA is about. Describing it doesn't do it justice; once you see the alumni database full of industry leaders and understand that you can reach out to any of these people and get in front of them based solely on the connection you have through your school, you'll understand why it's so powerful. Keep in mind that none of this guarantees you a job. It just gives you the access; you're expected to take it from there. quote:Everyone also keeps mentioning having a good "story". What does that mean? Make sure you have a good story. I worked my way through school to pay for everything, graduated with a good science degree and a solid GPA. I got a really good job after I graduated and will work 2-3 years minimum before applying to an MBA program. However that is an apparently boring story. At most schools this is fine. At a top school these days, it's not going to cut it. You've got to be interesting. Everyone has good work experience, every got a solid GPA, everyone has a high GMAT. That doesn't get you into school, it just means they'll actually read your application instead of tossing it out. My classmates include an Olympic silver medalist, the drummer for a famous Israeli band, an NFL linebacker, a NY times #1 best seller, and a Peace Corps member who worked in Ghana in addition to people who spent years doing Private Equity in Spain, banking in Brazil, etc. Some had more mundane jobs, but did interesting stuff in their private lives; one of my teammates worked for five years at Morgan Stanley but he also founded a charity that helps city kids reconnect with nature. They've got a story to tell about what they did before and where they want to go from here. The schools are looking for something that makes you stand out.
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Jul 31, 2009 02:46
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SiDeath posted:I can tell you, based on my personal experience, I am going to attend LSU's Masters in Finance program, beginning in the next three weeks and going through the loan process was pretty easy. The Government guarantee loans are really great and offer phenomenal protection as a debtor, plus you can qualify for a Grad PLUS loan if you have good credit. They're private loans designed to help you out with whatever extra your current loan won't cover. Yep, I did the same. Very easy. You'll have a lot of debt coming out of it, but there aren't that many scholarships for MBAs out there. quote:As far as recommending schools, if you want to be the CEO of Kellogs, you might do well to attend a program that many of their executives went to. You should be able to find bios on their website or in an investor's info packet. If you want to work for Kellogs and move up the ladder, try going to a program near their headquarters or major facilities. It's likely that they've already hired some of those guys and they might be able to get you in the door. This is a good tip. If the company is hiring a lot of people from one school, you can bet it's an easier in. quote:Basically, if you are trying to work for a local or regional company, go to a program near them. They'll be familiar with your school and the kinds of students there. It's basically the same no matter what. Want to work in New York? Go to one of the big boys or a NYC school. The big boys are only different in the sense that they will carry you a little bit farther. The question is whether you want or need that push to get where you want to go. This is true as well. In some situations (e.g. not wall street), the big boys will only give you a slight push further, and they cost a lot. Though I think an additional benefit of the big boys is that they're more general. For example, let's say Kellogs hires a lot of people from regional MBA, but they also hire people from Fuqua. Lots of other companies also hire people from Fuqua, but perhaps not many from regional MBA. There are thus more options out there for Fuqua people. Stryguy, if you want to go for a top tier, try looking for the school that's ranked highly in the categories you're interested in. E.g. Sloan could be a good fit if you're interested in Operations (http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/production-operations).
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Jul 31, 2009 05:28
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Agent Escalus posted:^ University of Toronto, NYU, and Columbia's programs. will set you (and possibly, me) back $160,000. I'm at the latter and my student loans are crazy. I just spoke with a professor who was shocked to hear how much the school charges us. quote:Also, for current MBA enrollees: I'd be interested to know what "professional experience" you had prior to acceptance in your school. I graduated with a BA in English in '06, and haven't had the ability to get a permanent job, with the exception of a retail gig. It's one of the reasons I want an MBA, but frankly I get worried when I think about it: I haven't been able to obtain what I'd call meaningful employment or experience and I worry if my attempt to improve my situation will be denied precisely because I don't have it - and the ironic vicious cycle will continue. I had several years of professional work experience before the MBA, as did the rest of my class. The average age is 28, with 5 years professional experience in accounting, consulting, finance, biz dev, strategy, etc. Recruiting is like going into battle and you wouldn't get far without good work experience to pair with the degree; the two work in tandem. (Let me put it this way; when I hand my resume to recruiters, they don't ask me what classes I'm taking at school, they ask about what I did before school and during my summer internship.) That's assuming you could get into the degree without the work experience to begin with, which would require connections. I have friends in the temp job cycle. School won't help. You need to network your way out of it into a full-time position, then go to school after several years of gaining good bullet points for the resume.
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Oct 8, 2009 22:13
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The price of trying to get a better working life, I guess.
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ion posted:I think the gist of what I'm saying is that the MBA is seen more for advancement rather than a career switch/start. Switching careers by leveraging business school is almost a whole other ball game. In some companies, there is no pressure or need for management and workers to spend two years for a degree at all. In other companies, there is. It really is all positional. I agree that the MBA isn't a replacement for a career start, but (and I may be misunderstanding your point...) I disagree that the MBA is seen more for career advancement than a career switch. Many people going into finance are career changers. Consulting as well; even for our 2009 graduating class, McKinsey took 45 people, and you can bet most of those didn't work in consulting beforehand. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Oct 9, 2009 |
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Oct 9, 2009 04:20
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I wanted to share some videos from the MBA follies show that I'm a part of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7nz1TgUsvU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZrbOhebTaQ
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Dec 21, 2009 01:31
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I don't know what their focus is in the UCLA MBA, but at least with our MBA, the skills you'd learn are stuff like how to do a corporate valuation or conjoint marketing analysis, which I don't believe would help you at all with your medical career. That said, we have a joint MD/MBA in our program at Columbia and I'd be happy to put you in touch with him.
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Jan 1, 2010 08:58
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My school is top tier and has its fair share of armed services officers. Whether the Marines are better at it than one of the other services I can't say, they all seem to get a couple in. Most of their backgrounds are similar to yours with varying lengths of service. What you need to make sure of is to get experience within that period which you can write about in your applications.
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Jan 18, 2010 09:01
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I'm at Columbia. Our bulge bracket finance and consulting students have done remarkably well. Although banks took fewer students over the summer, many had 100% retention ratios for full time. That said, students in investment management, marketing, and "other" category are only starting their hardcore recruiting now so its a bit early to say. I got my dream job so maybe my outlook is a bit rosy.
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Feb 1, 2010 20:46
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dividebyzero posted:Thanks a lot for this. I was positive that consulting students wouldn't fare too well, but it's interesting to see that this was not the case. Us and Wharton are pretty strong with consulting firms so we may not be representative of the majority of the top-tier; our '09 class had 46 people in McKinsey according to school documents. There was one major consulting firm which took 0 new hires for the 2010 class, but they were the exception. That being said, a good percentage 2010 grads who wanted to go into consulting did not get full-time job offers, but that's because consulting was overloaded. What happened was that in fall 08, when the financial meltdown happened, many of the people who got into the MBA program that wanted to be bankers instead went into consulting recruiting thinking it would be an easier job market than finance. But there are only so many consulting jobs out there and consulting firms couldn't handle the sheer numbers of people recruiting. Still, things work out. One of my friends who recruited for consulting in the fall didn't get an offer but took a nice job at American Airlines. edit- the areas that are still hosed these days are S&T, PE, and VC but we're not a school known for PE/VC so that may just be our situation. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Feb 2, 2010 |
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Feb 2, 2010 00:24
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dividebyzero posted:I have no idea what these mean Sorry. Sales and Trading, Private Equity, Venture Capital. sludge posted:Additionally, I feel like I'm sort of an "average" candidate, even though from an objective perspective I've done well professionally and academically. What advice do you have to someone on differentiating one's application and building one's narrative when my background, to me, doesn't seem so attention grabbing? One of my good friends at school worked at E&Y for quite a while and now is one of the people in charge of the Real Estate Association at Columbia. Send me a PM and I'll put you in touch.
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Feb 4, 2010 04:05
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GregNorc posted:But is it realistic to expect a high GMAT with little quant experience? I hadn't taken anything other than basic calc my freshman year of college (which was something like 6 years before I applied), and was godawful in math my whole life. But I went to Princeton Review, got tutored on the quant, and rocked it. Just gotta put the effort into it. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Feb 9, 2010 |
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Feb 9, 2010 06:19
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anonexpedient posted:No man, like I said he is from one of the big 3 MBA schools. He makes plenty of money so I don't think it's bitterness over that. I also have a good amount of respect for him and think he is a pretty cool and nice guy too. He is weird. flyingfoggy posted:I dunno, as an undergraduate business major I feel like when I'm talking to non-business friends I have to preface saying my major with "I'm not a tool" and then follow it up with "I legitimately enjoy it" since it seems like a lot of people have the preconception that any business-type person is a tool, a greedy bastard, and/or destroying the world. Your friends are a bunch of hippies if they think studying business automatically translates to douche.
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Mar 11, 2010 02:55
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Agent Escalus posted:Fellow applicants, always make sure to read the fine print on the eligibility sections. As I don't have a year of Calculus under my belt, I can't go to Rady at UCSD. And thanks to my learning disability with Mathematics, I sure as hell doubt that I could get even a B on it if I did a summer course! I'm not sure what it's like at USD or USF but at our school if you can't handle basic calc and statistics you can't graduate. Math's one of the most important skills, and this is coming from someone who never cared much for it. Are you sure the MBA is the right fit?
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Mar 20, 2010 08:50
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Hey zmcnulty, knowing about your particular situation from the times we've spent together, here are my thoughts. As I recall, you're in an investment bank but you're not actually in an analyst position, is that correct? Do you do any modeling work? If you were in the typical IBD analyst track, I would probably recommend against the MBA. Used to be that the young analysts switched from IBD to PE/VC using the MBA, but PE/VC have largely dried up. If you want to continue in finance, if you don't have the modeling experience, the MBA (from a top-tier; don't consider anything below) will help by leaps and bounds; it'll let you do a lateral across banking from S&T into IBD, equity research, etc. Also, given that you're in an overseas branch, if you want to work in finance in a US office, the MBA helps a lot. Being realistic, though, don't have expectations to earn millions with the MBA off the bat. Even in IBD the graduating associate will earn around 200k in a good year. It'll take a while to reach the VP/MD level where you can rake in seven digits, and you'd have to sell your soul to the finance gods for that. That said, even if you don't want to work in finance, the top-tier MBA helps a great deal. The network you have access to is incredibly powerful, the modeling skills you learn unparalleled, and the pedigree will help you well into the future. I didn't expect to get the job I did when I started, but I landed a dream position just working through the network.
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Mar 20, 2010 10:34
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zmcnulty posted:I should have been clearer in my earlier post. I am not interested in FO roles at this point; I realize they're more glamorous, but I get the feeling I would burnout before getting to a level (MD) where the rewards vs. my current role outweigh the hours & pressure vs. my current role. Maybe I'm just not well-informed about the breadth of what's available in the FO. Perhaps I should do some more investigation and see if there's something I could aim for. Definitely, let's talk more when I'm back this summer. If you're planning to stay in Japan long term I don't think the MBA is the right path, but if you're coming back to the states, I think it's a great move. quote:I've convinced myself that I would prefer to switch industries before switching into FO. What, specifically, can an MBA be used for in this case? Jay you mentioned modeling skills and networking, is there anything else? I'd like to think I have better networking skills than most people, I mean I organized and executed a 175-person banking BBQ from scratch, but I don't exactly have Fortune 500 CEOs on my speed dial either. Most of the people in school already have the networking skills- you need it to even get in. It's helping you build that rolodex. In addition to the modeling skills and powerful connections, if you're at a top ten then there's the pedigree and the companies working to beat a path to your doorstep which help pad the usefulness of the MBA. People return your e-mails and calls when you drop word that you're a student at one of the schools. I think for someone in your position, already at a powerhouse firm, the MBA is less useful than for others, but opens up new doors. And for some types of entrepreneurship, the MBA may also not be the right path given the cost/benefit ratio. For other types, like real estate, though, it's a very good choice because it helps you connect to the REITs that might otherwise not talk to you, or give you access to the venture capital guys through the various forums that we hold here with them, etc. quote:Thanks for the suggestion about consulting. I'm quite interested in seeing how things work (that's why I did SCM in school and why I'm in Ops now), so perhaps consulting would be a good fit out on the other side. At least here in Japan the travel wouldn't be as much of a hassle. One guy in Ops here put in 2 years at Accenture, so he'll be a good resource. I'm on board with consulting as a pretty good option as well.
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Mar 22, 2010 06:19
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Hard to believe that I first started posting in this thread when I got accepted, and now I've graduated. Time flies!Busy Bee posted:I just finished my Junior year of Undergrad and I am seriously considering going for an MBA. Besides the GMAT and the admission deadline, is there anything else I need to expect? Also, when is an ideal time to take the GMAT? If you live in the US, unlike most grad schools, the MBA is not applied for from undergrad. You typically need 4-5 years work experience before getting into an MBA program; the average age is 28-29. Of our class of 721 students at Columbia, there were only two who got in direct from undergrad, and they were the sons of CEOs. There are some programs like Harvard's 2+2 but these are exceptions. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Jun 12, 2010 |
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Jun 12, 2010 20:32
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Busy Bee posted:So since going straight from undergrad to an MBA is out, what are some other paths I can take if I am interested in business? I've thought about going to Law school but I'm still not positive about that. As AreWeDrunkYet noted, the usual path is busting your chops for a couple years in finance or consulting. If you're interested in business, Law School is probably not the right path. If you're interested in the MBA but don't want to work in finance or consulting, I highly recommend getting international business experience. At least at my school, it was a pretty significant thing to the admissions department.
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Jun 18, 2010 14:45
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Omits-Bagels posted:how do people get international experience? No foreign companies want to hire Americans and I could never find any US companies willing to send new hires overseas. In general the US firms want to train their new hire before sending them overseas, for at least a year. Language experience is one of the best ways to get hired and at least my experience was different from your thoughts that foreign companies don't hire Americans and US companies don't send people overseas. I studied Japanese as my language of choice in undergrad, worked in US-Japan business development before my MBA from a firm that sent me to Tokyo, and was hired by a major Japanese firm both during and after my MBA. It's possible with language abilities. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Jun 19, 2010 |
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Jun 19, 2010 00:13
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madkapitolist posted:Im about to graduate with an undergraduate degree in econ in June 2011 and I want to pursue an MBA immediately. How realistic is this? Are there programs for people with no work experience? While I haven't been working a 9-5 for a few years, I do have multiple summer internships at different companies and research gigs from university. The MBA isn't like grad school. As I've written several times in this thread, the only 22-year-old in my class at Columbia Business School was the son of a well known CEO, and his life is a bit different. Even if you could get into the MBA after your BA, I advise against it. You will be at a severe handicap recruiting compared to your peers with work experience, and you will have no real career experience to draw upon in classes. You also don't get much respect. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Oct 5, 2010 |
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Oct 5, 2010 18:45
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xdimitrix posted:Don't do it. You will waste 2 years and tons of money going to a less than stellar mba program. Once you get out with no work experience, you will have extreme difficulty finding a job. You will still only be qualified for entry level jobs at entry level pay. And you will have shot your wad, unable to do an MBA program at the traditional time where it might actually boost your pay enough to be worth it. This, this, and this for anyone who is graduating with their BS/BA and thinking about an MBA immediately after school. Do not do it. The MBA is not a JD. You will only get use out of it if you have real work experience and a career that can be boosted.
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Jan 20, 2011 05:37
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Koine posted:In my situation, I'll have seven years work experience in sales, but at a smallish family store, with nowhere to go upward. Should I consider it then? I don't want to put off my future much longer than I have already. Gotcha. In that situation, going for an MBA immediately after the BA is fine. That said, where do you want to take your career? That will better answer the question of whether it's worth doing an MBA now, or starting on the new career path.
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Jan 21, 2011 06:28
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baronvonwalz posted:Here goes, The advice for not getting an MBA after your BA is for those who entered college after high school and have no work experience other than summer internships. I assume that with seven years of work experience, your BBA was earned in your mid/late 20s? If so, then the MBA route is acceptable, though you will be hard pressed to get into a top ten with a 2.8 GPA and customer service experience. For non-top 10 schools, I recommend finding an employer willing to sponsor the program.
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May 25, 2011 08:22
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Alright, I'll bite. I attended the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School. Our class of 700 people was divided into clusters of 60-70 people, who you take your classes with your first year. In the first year you spend much of your free time with them- you play sports with them, do events like put on skits with them, and also work in teams for all your homework. To encourage you to meet people outside your cluster, we have weekly happy hours sponsored by the school with free drinks, dinner and music, and dozens of "interest" clubs where you get to know your classmates in different fields, as well as alumni. In my cluster alone we had the son of the CEO of Cadbury Schweppes, the daughter of a famous political pundit, an Israeli rockstar, a NYT bestselling author, etc. They are my friends now. I got my current job after running a study tour to Japan for forty of my fellow students, where I met our head of HR at an alumni networking event. One of my classmates is now a portfolio manager at a fund which owns our stock and we are in regular contact. Another classmate who I didn't know well my first year but we had pho after a party and became friends is now an analyst at a company in my industry; we ran into each other at a hotel during an event recently. His boss and my colleagues all know each other- it was a good hook up. I also have classmates in my industry and if I need to reach out to their firm, I go through them to get to the person I need to meet. This company is one of the world's biggest game publishers- not a small company. I used to report to one of our executives. After nine months on the job, I now report to the CEO as corporate business development manager. He was impressed with how many people I knew. If he wanted a meeting at Google, I knew who to get to. Facebook? Same deal. That's how the job works. This is a small sample of ways that it's helped me personally. Of the hundreds of friends I met at business school, I keep in touch with a good deal through Facebook and other means. Many are steadily growing in their careers and will be amazing resources in the future. Several are now lifelong friends, and whenever I fly to LA, SF, Paris, London, NY and other cities due to my job, I always spend my free time hanging out and catching up. They're spread out all over the world. Furthermore, this is just my classmates. Then there's the massive alumni network, many of whom are eager to help and reach out. Sometimes I email them out of the blue, sometimes I met them at events. The CEO of Wendys Japan, an alum, took me out to lunch a few days ago and explained his upcoming business launch strategy to me. While eating with him at the Tokyo American club, I ran into a guy from McKinsey who covers my industry, and who I had just met the night before as part of a possible hiring. He's the boss of one of best buddies from b-school, knew the CEO I was meeting with, was impressed by the wide range of people I was friends with. In business, it's always about who you know. That is all thanks to the b-school. And I haven't even brought up the amazing personal stuff that's happened thanks to the people I met. One of my buddies from our follies circle, the CEO of a major mining company in India, flew me and a few others to Dubai last year. I understand that there are some MBAs where you need to get a piece of paper to get a promotion. If you're satisfied with that, cool. But as you go up the executive chain, you find that no one cares about the MBA as a degree. And most don't really care about what you learned in classes unless, for example, you are changing careers into an investment bank and you need the financial skills (though CBS teaches those quite well.) They care about how your skills and network will help their company grow. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 08:51 on Jun 24, 2011 |
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Jun 24, 2011 02:22
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TheChimney posted:Can you tell us what your application looked like? Work experience, GMAT, etc.? I had a strong application. Attended Fairfield University in CT as a triple major/double minor (History, Politics, Philosophy/Asian and Judaic studies) with a 3.6 GPA, followed that with a Masters in Japanese History from Columbia University, followed that with a stint as Japanese government research fellow, then spent several years working in Tokyo and New York at a small consulting firm that does Japanese business development for US firms. Also founded a tiny company in college that sold books and did tours in Japan. GMAT was 740. I had recommendations from Columbia alums, professors, and one of the trustees of the university who wrote directly to the dean on my behalf. Columbia wants to know that you're the right fit for the school. The GPA and GMAT don't help; it just doesn't get you rejected. They like the fact that I went to Columbia beforehand, had contacts at the university, and my significant international experience as well as fluent Japanese meant I fit with their interest in having an internationally oriented student body. Founding a company and being a Japanese gov't fellow gave me that uniqueness that their admissions department loves. Recommendations sealed the deal. Columbia is also the only school with an active Japanese Business and Economy Center; Stern has one, but it doesn't do much. So I was a particularly good fit for the school and they knew I would pick them over HBS and Wharton. (Technically I had to, as that was my agreement with the trustee.) I received an international business fellowship from CBS as well, though it only covered a fraction of the huge cost of attending school in NYC. I want to point out, though, that I had no special family background in achieving the above. My parents were both Iraqi-Jewish immigrants with only pennies to their names when they moved to the USA, and I attended a Jesuit university for undergrad because it was a short drive from my house. I took out $200k worth of loans to attend school even with the fellowship.
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Jun 24, 2011 04:30
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prankquean posted:This has been a helpful thread and I was wondering if I could get some thoughts from folks about my own situation. Your GPA ought to be fine. Get 2-3 years work experience then apply.
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Aug 21, 2011 20:25
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903352704576540991022035316.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_second great article on the changes to application essays in recent years. glad it was easier when i applied in 2007!
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Sep 1, 2011 16:18
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rouliroul posted:Any interesting career paths post MBA that doesn't go through management consulting or banking AKA having no life for 2 years? Social enterprise, general management, entrepreneurialism, etc.
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Feb 16, 2013 08:05
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Your academic record is not as important if you have good job experience and recommendations. MBA is not grad school. You won't be getting a scholarship.
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Jul 11, 2013 07:44
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