To MBA, or Not to MBA?

[bluto 4932]

The real insiders refer to them by the name of the building that houses the campus food court/cafeteria

[52-80 19163]

My friend went to HBS and did a stint at McK, now her social circle is almost exclusively young professionals hotshots.... directors, co-founders, partners, etc etc.  The networking from those institutions are impressive.... if youre into that kind of shit.

[luke duke 6413]

The real insiders refer to them by the name of the building that houses the campus food court/cafeteria

The people on the Surly VIP forum refer to them by the donor’s mother’s maiden name.

[JimmyHoffa 1188]

My two rules are as follows-

1. Are your guaranteed a pay increase by completing it? 

2. Does your current company require it for upper level positions or other fields you are looking to get into? 

If the answer is no to those above than it's just another piece of paper. Most employers (including your own) value what you currently do more than a piece of paper. If they want to keep you they will find a way to get you the position you are looking to get (along with the pay increase) 

If you are looking to completely change careers then it would probably help. 

Interviews are key. I would hire a guy without a degree who has a personality and people skills over some over educated robot that can't carry a conversation for 5 minutes. But that's just me. (Oh shit forgot you were an engineer my bad............) 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

in my experience the only time you're guaranteed a pay increase by receiving a new advanced degree is in some education fields.  And that may only because it's written into the contracts.

[HookEm 2467]

UT ChemE / McCombs MBA here.  Couple of thoughts:

1. The MBA will be SIGNIFICANTLY easier than your engineering degree. I can't overstate this.  Courses that non-engineers will find difficult, like Finance, will be a cakewalk for anyone with a hardcore technical degree.  I had a pretty modest undergrad GPA, but was top-3 in my MBA class. You will honestly be shocked at some of the low test scores from your peers. I am convinced it is almost impossible to fail out of the McCombs Exec MBA program.
2. You just think you don't have time to do it and work at the same time.  I had no trouble fitting it in, you just have to get more efficient.  The first semester you will study like a beast and drop almost all non-value adding activities from your life.  By the last semester you will barely study... along with the rest of your class, so based on the curve you will still do well. 
3. The networking benefits of a top program are significant.  I became close with just about every member of my class - and they are almost all Director / VP and higher in their respective companies.  I would do just about anything for any of them career wise, and the feeling is mutual.  You won't get this from an on-line MBA. At All. I know a TON of people who have hired folks from their cohort.  
4. You will likely really enjoy the coursework. It isn't like engineering where they beat you to death with countless similar classes (e.g. For Chem E you have Chemistry 1 & 2, Physical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry 1 & 2, Biochemistry, blah blah blah).  You get a big variety of classes like Strategy, Finance, Accounting, Law, Leadership, Advocacy, Politics, Operations, Marketing, etc.  If these topics don't sound interesting enough to you that you would want to learn about them on your own... DON'T GET AN MBA.  You simply won't enjoy it, and when you get out you won't want a job in any of these fields anyway.
5. Similarly, the MBA won't make you an expert in anything, but it will give you a very broad exposure to a ton of different business functions. This can be a very helpful and efficient way to figure out the kind of career you want to pivot into.  After graduating, I moved into a role in M&A which let me get experience in almost every topic learned in the MBA. I never would have been considered for this role otherwise.

All of the above said, if I had to pay for it myself, I wouldn't have done it. It takes a long time to make up $100K in tuition. A better option is to get a job with a company that will pay for your MBA. First, you know they value your education and will likely continue to invest in you as an employee.  Moreover, since they are paying for it they will likely try to get a return on their investment by moving you into a role that leverages what you have learned.

[52-80 19163]

1 hour ago, HookEm said:

1. The first semester you will study like a beast and drop almost all non-value adding activities from your life.

Confirmed: this guy talks like an MBA

[Helobious 9462]

2 hours ago, HookEm said:

UT ChemE / McCombs MBA here.  Couple of thoughts:

1. The MBA will be SIGNIFICANTLY easier than your engineering degree. I can't overstate this.  Courses that non-engineers will find difficult, like Finance, will be a cakewalk for anyone with a hardcore technical degree. 

You engineers/STEM folks are so full of yourselves it's hilarious. I'm horrible at math (like scored in the 44th percentile on the math portion of SAT horrible), but I majored in finance because I thought it'd be useful to know. Never got lower than a B in any finance class. It's a very easy type of math, anyone can do it. Never did grad school but I can't imagine the finance required for an MBA is that much harder, unless it's derivative heavy for some reason. Even then, that's not insanely complex.

[Huckleberry 32997]

lol B in finance class

 

(had to be said)

[HookEm 2467]

Quote

I can't imagine the finance required for an MBA is that much harder, unless it's derivative heavy for some reason. Even then, that's not insanely complex.

You are making my point. Finance wasn't hard. It was way way easier than Differential Equations or Thermodynamics or Physics, etc.  It isn't being "full of yourself" to state that an engineering degree is hard af. 

And Finance may have been easy for you, but for many of my classmates it was pretty damn hard. 

[Rougarou 594]

Checking in to say MBA Finance was hard for me, you super geniuses.

But I rolled off early and at the beach for 10 days checking emails while you guys are being case staffed in Edmonton or Ponca City working on the O&G deck and getting extended out in the middle of nowhere for weeks on end because y'all are smarter than me.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Rougarou

[tucker 238]

After MBA, do you pronounce it Fine-ance or Fin-ance?

[RDCanecutter 26452]

On 2/27/2019 at 2:06 PM, SuperSport said:

I have an Aerospace Engineering degree from UT.

You need to find a way to make Cool Shit that Flies, and you need to do it now.

[Rougarou 594]

Had my first MBB partner "swoop and poop" moment. Nice.

[52-80 19163]

On 3/27/2019 at 2:54 PM, Rougarou said:

Checking in to say MBA Finance was hard for me, you super geniuses.

But I rolled off early and at the beach for 10 days checking emails while you guys are being case staffed in Edmonton or Ponca City working on the O&G deck and getting extended out in the middle of nowhere for weeks on end because y'all are smarter than me.

I work in my pajamas at home where your boss goes to for vacation

On 3/27/2019 at 3:26 PM, tucker said:

After MBA, do you pronounce it Fine-ance or Fin-ance?

Fee-nan-say

[tucker 238]

On 3/29/2019 at 2:37 PM, Rougarou said:

Had my first MBB partner "swoop and poop" moment. Nice.

sea-gulling is the proper term

[Rougarou 594]

On 4/2/2019 at 10:09 AM, tucker said:

sea-gulling is the proper term

Never heard that one; credentialize yourself.

[Sbbruin 21861]

On 3/18/2019 at 5:30 PM, HookEm said:

You are making my point. Finance wasn't hard. It was way way easier than Differential Equations or Thermodynamics or Physics, etc.  It isn't being "full of yourself" to state that an engineering degree is hard af. 

And Finance may have been easy for you, but for many of my classmates it was pretty damn hard. 

I am one of those people.  Math just isn’t my bag, man.  I dropped my Econ undergrad degree when the Calculus classes kicked my ass (well, to be honest, what I hated about them is you had to show up to ALL of them or you’d be lost, and that wasn’t consistent with my other pursuits), and moved over to PoliSci, where I could BS essays with the best of them.  So when I did my MBA, Finance and more so Statistics, where a bitch.  Although to be honest the Finance class was mostly a course on how to use the TI financial calculator.  Statistics was brutal though.  Of course my emphasis was marketing.

[fattyflattie 4639]

I graduated UTSA with a finance and construction mgt degree. Went into O&G. A few years into it, one of my bosses goes Rice MBA. He calls me in, “hey, you were finance right?”   Ugh...   They didn’t let them use calculators and he was working out some amortization schedules by hand, iirc.   I realized at that moment I was not nearly intelligent enough. I worked hard and have made a good career out of it.  He finished his Rice MBA and became a VP upon graduation.  He still gives me shit years later, but he was responsible for doubling my salary at one point, so we’re all good.  

[tx 3 putt 77061]

good stuff fatty