Topic: Who Should Get an MBA -- And Who Shouldn't (FWD) @枫下论坛 The Rolia Forum

工作学习 / 求学深造 / Who Should Get an MBA -- And Who Shouldn't (FWD) -map(恭喜); 2002-5-8 {5344} (#510577@0)
本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛An MBA can be expensive; this year’s Stanford tuition, for example, is more than $31,000. And getting an MBA will consume two years of your life, if you’re in a full-time program.

Obviously, then, before spending your time and money applying to school, you should decide if you really want and need an MBA.

Who Should Get an MBA: People With a Plan
Business school isn’t for the clueless; it isn’t meant to be a two-year placeholder in your middle or late 20s. Business schools look for people with a career plan that includes a legitimate need for an MBA -- so even though it’s okay to go to b-school without being sure what you want to do with your life, you should think about possible career goals, and whether attainment of them would be made easier with an MBA, before applying.

You won’t be doing yourself any favors by going to b-school without direction or focus. If you haven’t narrowed your focus at all, you’ll probably be too swamped to do justice to career-direction decisions once school starts.

Who Should Get an MBA: People With Experience
Business schools focus on enrolling students with at least some real-world experience; the average student at a top business school is in his or her middle or late 20s. Why? For one thing, schools feel that if you have some experience, you’ll have a better idea of how business works and what you’d like to do with your life than if you’re fresh out of college.

In addition, if you have experience in industry you’ll have more to contribute to your peers. One of the drawing cards of business school is the opportunity to learn from your peers -- but of course that’s only possible when you and your peers have something to teach each other.

If you’re a college student who’s dead-set on going straight to business school, you shouldn’t necessarily fret. But you need to know that, to get into a top school, you’ll need significant business-related coursework, a compelling reason for getting your MBA now rather than later, and impressive internship or temporary work experience.

Who Should Get an MBA: Leaders and Would-Be Leaders
The MBA is not essential for a leadership role in business – plenty of top executives got where they are by moving up through the ranks – but business school can be a great weigh station on the road to a leadership-oriented career.

By the time you graduate, you’ll have spent thousands of hours in class or on group projects reading about, thinking about, and talking about a wide variety of businesses. As a result, you’ll be better equipped than ever to make high-level business decisions.

And you’ll probably spend some time studying “softer,” people-focused coursework and projects, which will give you tools that will help you manage people in the pursuit of business goals.

Who Should Get an MBA: Career Changers
In business school, you’ll get a chance to think through a wide range of business problems in a wide range of industries. You’ll gain the skills needed to perform a variety of specific job functions. Having an MBA can make you attractive to a range of employers no matter what industry you worked in before b-school.

Who Should Get an MBA: People in Industries that Require the MBA for Advancement
In some industries and job functions very few people hired as college grads are promoted to more advanced positions.

On Wall Street, for example, people in sales and trading often can advance without a graduate education, but at most firms an MBA is necessary for advancing in a banking career. And the need for an MBA may be even greater in consulting.

Who Shouldn’t Get an MBA: People Who Want More Academic Focus than an MBA Offers
Whatever unique MBA program you might attend, the MBA is still a general business-management degree, designed to train people in a variety of topics to help them run a business. Some people are more interested in learning deeply about a single business-related subject, such as accounting or economics. If you’re one of these people, you should seek out a specialized graduate-degree program in your subject of interest.

Who Shouldn’t Get an MBA: Some Entrepreneurs
For some entrepreneurial types, the opportunity cost of going to b-school can be too great to justify taking two years away from work. Those with a great idea might blow the chance to be first to market with that idea; those already in entrepreneurial work situations can lose the opportunity to grow a business in the real world.

On the other hand, there are some good reasons for entrepreneurs to consider business school. You’ll get exposure to a wide range of business issues that should make you more equipped to run a business. You’ll learn about better ways of managing people. And if you’ve got a great idea but no capital with which to make your entrepreneurial dream a reality, business school can plug you into a network that can help you find funding.

Who Shouldn’t Get an MBA: Those Without a Deep Desire for a Business Career
Artists, writers, craftspeople, scientists -- these and others like them rarely have reason to get an MBA. Of course, there are exceptions: for instance, the craftsperson who wants to start a business, the scientist who wants to work in management for a biotech company, the business journalist, and so on.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

Who r MBA or MBAing here? -map(恭喜); 2002-5-8 (#510578@0)

I am. What's up? -daqiao(Bill); 2002-5-8 (#510932@0)

me too. any idea to share? -hardstudying(将再回到校园); 2002-5-9 (#511335@0)

Me 3. -diao_david(静心读书); 2002-5-9 (#511356@0)

me 4. -lazycow(心情); 2002-5-9 (#511526@0)

willing to be me 5 -mamamio(玛玛米哦！); 2002-5-9 (#511555@0)

$31,000 x 5 = $155,000 !~ -mildkiller(M.K.); 2002-5-9 (#511558@0)

up! -hardstudying(将再回到校园); 2002-5-8 (#510903@0)
不错的文章，通读过了，决定继续攻读GMAT，迎着困难前进！前进进！ -amber(琥珀); 2002-5-9 (#510978@0)

握个手吧！我也正痛苦攻读GMAT中呢。你是自己复习的吗？我准备8，9月份考试，你呢？ -zhengying50(交出表格，折磨开始了); 2002-5-9 (#511563@0)

需要被单词吗 -mamamio(玛玛米哦！); 2002-5-9 (#511570@0)

你不是已经是MBA或MBAING, 还问这个, 难道是冒牌的? :)))) -julia2000(自由鸟); 2002-5-9 (#511593@0)

i said "willing to be" -mamamio(玛玛米哦！); 2002-5-9 (#511600@0)

握手！本想7月考，但感觉还没有ready，所以可能推迟。 -amber(琥珀); 2002-5-9 (#512842@0)

me 2 -forex(内疚中); 2002-5-9 (#511625@0)

看上面的名字，好像都是姑娘们。男的计算机，女的accounting。现在变过来了吗？女的mba，男的学什么呀？ -forex(内疚中); 2002-5-9 (#511637@0)

男的本身就是mba. (married but available) :))) 玩笑。 -lilyba(Sunshine); 2002-5-9 (#511645@0)
至少David和Daqiao是男士啊。呵呵。 -lazycow(心情); 2002-5-9 (#512042@0)

Here are some of my random thoughts about getting an MBA. -daqiao(Bill); 2002-5-9 {2062} (#512822@0)
本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛First, I must say a lot of people fom China had a wrong perception about MBA, which is MBA is for future managers. I shared the same perception when I applied for MBA . This is right in China, but not quite right in North Amerca, at least in the short term. The truth is, in north America, the jobs for MBAs are quite standardize. From what I saw from the job potings at Ivey, basically there are 4 kind of jobs: analysts in consulting firms, associates in I-banking firm or corporate finance position, commercial banking and brand manager positions in maketing department.

After knowing what kind of jobs you can get after you get your MBA, here comes the question of who (for Chinese) should get an MBA in north America. From my personal perspective, I think you need to answer 2 questions first: 1) what do you really want to do in the future, in other words, what's your long term career plan? 2) where do you want to work? China, US or Canada? If you intended to pursue, or change to, a career in either finance or consulting field, then MBA is right for you, especially in north America. If you want a short cut to management, I don't think an MBA can help you with this in the short-term. In China, a good MBA degree in 1st class north American MBA could be really helpful for you to get a management position in international firms.

Another thing, I think, you need to take into consideration is age and previous working experience. Some of my Chinese classmates have already held management or senior management position in China, before they entered into the MBA program. As I mentioned, the firms recruiting on compus only provide entry level position. Therefore, they are kind of over qualify for most of the jobs and begin to question whether the MBA experience really add value to their career.

Overall, my one year learning experience at Ivey was extremly positive. I think it can really help me success in the long run. But from the job hunting perspective, it is really not so easy.

Hope my information can help you a little bit.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

^^ -edge(犯困); 2002-5-9 (#512829@0)
very helpful! thanks! -amber(琥珀); 2002-5-9 (#512839@0)
其实我个人认为，任何的学习（包括MBA），最重要的是学习到的知识和能力，而不是带来的荣誉和利益。 -amber(琥珀); 2002-5-9 (#512853@0)

Well, I can only partially agree with you. I don't think I paid $45,000 only for skills and knowledge. Getting a job is also a very very impaortant aspect of MBA. -daqiao(Bill); 2002-5-9 {410} (#512881@0)
Just tell you a little story. The accounting professor of our section is the MBA director of Ivey. One day, in his class, he stated the vision of Ivey is balh, blah, blah...(kinda like what you said) and one of the student (canadian) in our class followed him and said that "AND FIND A JOB". And we change the vision statement on the wall in our class the day after that to " blah, blah... AND FIND A JOB".

是啊 -amber(琥珀); 2002-5-9 {433} (#512938@0)
找到一份工作是很实际的事情.但是,如果只是为了找一份工而投资$45，000和两年的时间，那么我认为是不值。因为，如果你可以得到MBA的入学资格，那么，相信你有能力找到一份足以糊口的工作。
之所以做这样的时间和金钱的投资，必定每个人都有各自的初衷，但是归其根本，还是在学习商业知识、管理技能，使自己无论转行还是继续自己的职业生涯都有竞争能力。
窃以为学习不该舍本求末，学习的目的是学到东西，假如只是为了得到一个学历，那么吴征的做法也就无可厚非了。

Bill：同意大部分，亦即朋友们说过找不到工是否有上学打算时，我的回答通常是：即便先躲了一阵，可最后还是需要找工作的。（你们还年轻，我们老喽……）另外，不明白MBA出道只有这四种主要集中在金融咨询领域的方向吗？ -wooway(wooway); 2002-5-9 (#512974@0)

Agree with you on the 1st part. About the jobs, unfortunately, that's the case in north America. -daqiao(Bill); 2002-5-9 {241} (#513059@0)
From what I remembered, 30-35% of Ivey grads got jobs in consulting, about the same number found jobs in finance, another 15% found marketing jobs. That's just some rough numbers from the statistics of Ivey grads in the past several years.

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