Economy plunges, grad school applications increase. This time around, business school applicants are leading the surge, which is no surprise given the carnage on Wall St.
B-school costs a ton of money and takes two years. Is it worth it?
Last Spring I saw a lecture from Frank Brown, the Dean of INSEAD. For those of you who don’t know it, INSEAD is one of the most prestigious international business schools in the world. Promoting his new book, The Global Business Leader, he offered some timeless guidance to prospective applicants.
Brown said that there are three possible reason to get an MBA:
- the network: people often cite this as the single most important aspect of a b-school
- the knowledge: the information acquired at b-school is often cited last in the order of importance
- the credential: in many industries (consulting, for instance) there is only so far you can go without an advanced degree
A lot of people go because it’s “the next step” or, as Lee Sure pointed out, because “it’s a versatile degree.” Both of these may be true. Dean Brown said that an MBA is only worth the time and money if you need any two items on the list above. Network, knowledge, credential. Pick any two.
If only one of those perks applies to you, then you should reconsider the best use of your time and money. This sounds simplistic, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s a perfect litmus test. Think about it before you dismiss it.
March 24th, 2009 at 11:51 am
i see how this works philosophically. but this hypothetical seems like an exception: you have worked for a company for several years and have gone as far as you can without an mba. your company offers to pay for your degree, with the assumption that you return after school to a nice promotion. neither the network nor the knowledge matter here, only the degree.
i get your point, that the high costs (tuition + foregone income) are high and need to be justified. but the costs decrease significantly when your employer sends you to school….
March 24th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
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March 26th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Skeptic_System: in your hypothetical, where a degree is basically just a commodity, wouldn’t it make sense to enroll in the most convenient part-time program and earn your degree slowly, one class at a time? The prestige of the program wouldn’t matter.
Either way, somebody who has been laid off does not have the luxury of that choice. For unemployed folks, I think this framework makes sense.