MBAs - talk to me
Discussion
Short answer, yes, providing it's a decent business school. Longer answer is it depends what you want it for.
Tell recruiters etc you have an MBA and they say 'where from?'.
INSEAD, Harvard, Said etc, obviously fine.
Cranfield, Warwick, Imperial, Henley, Open etc, still count as a good tick in the box.
MBAs from places like Loughborough or Greenwich are perhaps unfairly not regarded as being such good qualifications. Look at tables in the Economist or FT, also make sure you are looking at somewhere accredited by AACSB, AMBA or EQUUS. Ideally all three.
An MBA is satisfying and surprisingly enjoyable to do, and impresses employers. The days when you could get a job purely on the strength of having an MBA are long gone, but that doesn't mean there isn't a significant benefit. One guy on my course hoped the MBA would give him a big advantage when the next senior management role became available in the multinational he worked for. Now he's found that the company is advertising these roles as specifically for MBAs.
The MBA qualification is most useful if you already have plenty of middle management or strategic planning experience. If you are looking for a change of direction, particularly out of a technical role, then the MBA is great to have as the third or fourth item on your CV but won't get you into the boardroom on it's own.
But the more subtle benefits of the MBA, the things you get from the studying experience rather than the letters after your name are probably even more pronounced if you are a techie. It helps you deal with finance, marketing etc with much more confidence, you find yourself more reluctant to simply assume that there is some perfectly good reason behind whatever they are doing.
Tell recruiters etc you have an MBA and they say 'where from?'.
INSEAD, Harvard, Said etc, obviously fine.
Cranfield, Warwick, Imperial, Henley, Open etc, still count as a good tick in the box.
MBAs from places like Loughborough or Greenwich are perhaps unfairly not regarded as being such good qualifications. Look at tables in the Economist or FT, also make sure you are looking at somewhere accredited by AACSB, AMBA or EQUUS. Ideally all three.
An MBA is satisfying and surprisingly enjoyable to do, and impresses employers. The days when you could get a job purely on the strength of having an MBA are long gone, but that doesn't mean there isn't a significant benefit. One guy on my course hoped the MBA would give him a big advantage when the next senior management role became available in the multinational he worked for. Now he's found that the company is advertising these roles as specifically for MBAs.
The MBA qualification is most useful if you already have plenty of middle management or strategic planning experience. If you are looking for a change of direction, particularly out of a technical role, then the MBA is great to have as the third or fourth item on your CV but won't get you into the boardroom on it's own.
But the more subtle benefits of the MBA, the things you get from the studying experience rather than the letters after your name are probably even more pronounced if you are a techie. It helps you deal with finance, marketing etc with much more confidence, you find yourself more reluctant to simply assume that there is some perfectly good reason behind whatever they are doing.
Graduated from my MBA in November (last year). It was a fulfilling two years of learning. As others have mentioned, you will get out what you put in. So it is really important to consider how you might combine your existing job function, and/or your career plans. Would your company sponsor you? Ideally your company would also provide an environment with challenging problems/data for assignments (finance, strategy, marketing, operations, organization behaviour, Etc.) and your thesis topic. Also consider the differences between an executive MBA and regular MBA (full-time), how much time can you commit. If you do an MBA are you aiming for a distinction? If so, you need to plan on extra time and research.
I would echo an earlier comment about accreditation. Find one which is accredited by the AACSB, EQUIS and the Association of MBAs. Also location has a big impact on cost, both on travelling and fees. London Business School and Said/Oxford were 40k and 50k, Lancaster, Warwick, Cranfield were between 20-30k. Some are focused on specific areas, London has a focus on finance, Said is entrepreneurship, Lancaster is strategy. Although all cover the basic areas and business departments/functions.
Some entry requirements are quite high, do you have a degree? Having flunked out of school with a single GCSE I had to take a GMAT test (>600), and provide an entry essay/assignment.
Given the benefit of hindsight I would choose to do the MBA again. I found it to be occasionally enlightening, and generally informative. Although I often challenged the lecturers, having built my own software development company with 30 employees, I have some experiences with business. I sold out to VCs and basically decided to take some "time off", the MBA allowed me to fill that time. It also provided a springboard to my current time filler, a PhD.
I would echo an earlier comment about accreditation. Find one which is accredited by the AACSB, EQUIS and the Association of MBAs. Also location has a big impact on cost, both on travelling and fees. London Business School and Said/Oxford were 40k and 50k, Lancaster, Warwick, Cranfield were between 20-30k. Some are focused on specific areas, London has a focus on finance, Said is entrepreneurship, Lancaster is strategy. Although all cover the basic areas and business departments/functions.
Some entry requirements are quite high, do you have a degree? Having flunked out of school with a single GCSE I had to take a GMAT test (>600), and provide an entry essay/assignment.
Given the benefit of hindsight I would choose to do the MBA again. I found it to be occasionally enlightening, and generally informative. Although I often challenged the lecturers, having built my own software development company with 30 employees, I have some experiences with business. I sold out to VCs and basically decided to take some "time off", the MBA allowed me to fill that time. It also provided a springboard to my current time filler, a PhD.
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