I’ve been known for years at my work as “that guy who goes to college online for his MBA” and often when people meet me for the first time knowing this I can tell that they are just brimming over with questions that they want to ask but for some reason they don’t. Sometimes people will ask me the question after many months once they’ve become familiar with me and always start with “I’ve always been curious…” or “I’ve always wondered….” Then they’ll hit me with a title wave of questions that they were too scared to ask before. Here are the top 10 I get and my responses to them.
1.) “Is it hard?” Now how vague can a question get right? Of course it’s hard. I mean I’m working full time and doing all of the same work that a full time graduate student would be expected to do and it’s an MBA program. Not exactly a program famous for being easy cheesy, fluffy or a piece of pie. But I don’t say all of that out of politeness, instead I say, “it’s just like attending a normal class only without the lectures”. What I’m thinking is heck yeah it’s hard. The sacrifices of time, the workload, the constant barrage of new information, the expectations and deadlines and of course you have your normal full time life as well. I frequently am under copious amounts of stress and MUST be forced to relax or suffer from tension headaches, depression and other stress related conditions. So, yeah, it’s hard.
2.) “I don’t like math, is there a lot of math?” Um…yep. I’ve been doing quantitative stuff that would keep a math-o-phobic awake at night sweating with fear and I’ve been doing it for 19 straight weeks. I’ve got 5 more to go, so yeah, I’d say almost 6 months out of an 18 month program is a lot of math. Honestly though, people fear what they do not understand and once the math begins to click it becomes much less frightening.
3.) “Is there a lot of reading?” Yes, there’s tons and tons of reading over often dry and uninteresting topics. It feels a lot like work actually. Now that I think about it, it IS a lot of work. Go figure.
4.) “How hard is __________?”(fill in the blank) Look, neither I nor anyone else can answer that for you. I can tell you that whatever you are assuming a class to be like is just as likely to be wrong as right. I don’t know your skill level, history, experience, talents, phobias, natural abilities, etc. It turns out I’m not bad at accounting, or at least as bad as I originally thought but I suck at economics whereas I thought I rocked in that area. So I can’t even answer the question for myself much less anyone else. Sorry.
5.) “Isn’t it expensive?” Well I could go into the whole concept on return on investment, the time value of money, etc. But suffice to say that yes, it feels expensive up front and no, it likely will not be expensive over the long run, especially if you are planning on working for the next 30 years. Again however, some schools are more expensive than others.
6.) “Where should I go?” Again, a question only you can answer. I can suggest, attempt to guide you based upon your criteria, etc. but only you know the answer to that question. If you don’t have a criteria and are basing your decision 100% on my opinion, go to Ashford University. (seriously though, do some research, please).
7.) “What can you do with an MBA?” Everything. Nothing. It actually is a degree in general business and management concepts. A jack of all trades master of none kind of approach. However an MBA is a big picture focus kind of degree. One which is designed to prep the leaders of tomorrow in a variety of industries, literally thousands upon thousands of jobs are perfect for MBAs from government to private sector however what you do with it is entirely up to you. Be warned however that MBAs are expected to posses certain skills and understand certain concepts. A paper tiger is welcomed nowhere, except perhaps in government, they love them.
8.) “Where should my (wife, brother, sister, lover, dog) get their MBA?” See question 6 and apply it to them.
9.) “How do you pay for it?” That’s easy, I don’t. At least not yet. It’s called financial aid and of course I use some of the tuition reimbursement from my work (meager though it be) which does help. Other than that, I am expecting this to be an investment that will increase my earning potential to offset the cost of getting the degree in the first place.
10.) “I’m not sure I would be able to do all of that to get an MBA. Do you think I should?” No. If you’re not 100% committed an MBA program will chew you up and spit you out. The workload and sacrifices are no joke. The learning can be tough and you will be expected to learn new things and demonstrate that you’ve learned it. Even worse, you will be expected to accept change as if it were almost 2nd nature. Accepting change is one of the most difficult things people cope with and school will expect you to do just that, with regularity.
Does this post seem kind of harsh? Well it should. I started my MBA program with a lot of excited people who paid a lot of good money to be there. After about 3 classes I started noticing different people with only a few of the names being the same. Now this is partially due to my doubling up one class and accelerating, partially because I am in my own program and partially because people find that they cannot handle the workload. A friend of mine started his MBA at Texas A&M Commerce as a cohort unit. They started with 30 to 40 people in the cohort group. By year two, nearing the 18 month mark there were 14 left who did not fail, drop out or just quit to catch their breath. This is not a decision to be made lightly. If you decide to pursue an MBA you will be undertaking something that a lot of people want to do, but few ever accomplish. Just know this, anyone who has the letters MBA after their name has made some sacrifices in order to put them there. Will you?