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The MBA Thread

cchen

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Originally Posted by newinny
Where did you go and what's your definition of a party?

Columbia
party = socializing all the time, barely any homework, a lot of recruiting and networking
 

SirSuturesALot

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Originally Posted by newinny
I don't know about you but an MBA isn't a party (at least not the first year).

Where did you go for your MBA? I can guarantee you from firsthand experience that at least one of H/W/S parties it up like it's Armageddon. And I suspect the same is true at the other two.
 

newinny

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Originally Posted by Milpool
Often times on a company's dime.

Company presentations/informationals are not "partying". They are excruciating networking events.
 

Milpool

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Originally Posted by newinny
Company presentations/informationals are not "partying". They are excruciating networking events.

The companies would take us out after the networking session for drinks. Got to know a few recruiters pretty well that way.

If you don't want to believe me that there was plenty of partying when I went to b-school that's fine. My liver is quite happy I'm done with that phase of my life.
 

newinny

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No, it's not disbelief, just the events I went to are still fresh in my mind. Also I only went to banking events which are a little more regimented.
 

Flambeur

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Originally Posted by newinny
No, it's not disbelief, just the events I went to are still fresh in my mind. Also I only went to banking events which are a little more regimented.

I don't know, aside from having to dress more formal, banking events were just as fun as all of the others.

It's actually always the companies you least expect to that throw the best parties. You know, some random regional utilities company that brings their own strippers and coke.
 

Don Carlos

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Originally Posted by SirSuturesALot
Where did you go for your MBA? I can guarantee you from firsthand experience that at least one of H/W/S parties it up like it's Armageddon. And I suspect the same is true at the other two.

Definitely NOT Harvard. HBS gives a shitload of case homework, and you're expected to participate in every class. Wharton? Maybe, but your classmates are plotting your death behind your back anyhow. So exactly how much fun you can have in that shark tank is questionable. Stanford? Probably parties more than the other two, but very nerdy.

In general, though, most business schools involve a shitload of drinking. It's an extremely fratty (or at least wannabe fratty) atmosphere. Imagine a bunch of dorky overachievers who want to play fraternity. That's basically b-school social life in a nutshell.
 

ramuman

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I should've gotten an MBA. Sounds fun.
frown.gif
 

Don Carlos

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Originally Posted by ramuman
I should've gotten an MBA. Sounds fun.
frown.gif


Totally worthless degree in today's society, IMO. Especially if you don't go into finance. 99% of my friends from my MBA class are now in lower positions than their peers and contemporaries who didn't get a graduate degree and just spent those two years staying put and working. Years of work experience seem to trump everything these days, regardless of the quality of the experience. It's a fucked up calculation, but it's what the vast majority of corporate recruiters use.

CS degree > all.
 

Buster

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Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard
Totally worthless degree in today's society, IMO. Especially if you don't go into finance. 99% of my friends from my MBA class are now in lower positions than their peers and contemporaries who didn't get a graduate degree and just spent those two years staying put and working. Years of work experience seem to trump everything these days, regardless of the quality of the experience. It's a fucked up calculation, but it's what the vast majority of corporate recruiters use.

CS degree > all.


I am not questioning whether the degree is worth its price, but for the top 7 schools, this is just not true. During the recession people did not improve as much as they thought (and some indeed had to go back to their old positions), but in consulting, brand management/marketing, general management and finance business school is a pretty important stage.
 

Don Carlos

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Originally Posted by Buster
I am not questioning whether the degree is worth its price, but for the top 7 schools, this is just not true. During the recession people did not improve as much as they thought (and some indeed had to go back to their old positions), but in consulting, brand management/marketing, general management and finance business school is a pretty important stage.

I went to a "top 7 school," and trust me, you're off base a little bit. The MBA is no longer table stakes in these positions the way it used to be. Especially in brand management, for example. Brand managers no longer need MBAs, and many who went and got MBAs are now reporting to those who stayed put and got the extra 2 years of work experience.

This is definitely true in finance, as well. Over the last 5 years especially -- but stretching back even further than that in many cases -- banks have been encouraging their top performers to stay put rather than bail for the MBA. The degree doesn't help there. If you have a non-finance background and want to break into finance, maybe. Sure. But if you come from finance, and you're doing well, there is absolutely no reason to get an MBA unless you are told that you cannot advance without one (which, as discussed, is increasingly unlikely to be the case).

I'll maybe agree with you on consulting. You can't get to certain tiers within consulting unless you've got an MBA. So it's still helpful there.
 

yjeezle

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good. all my time studying for the GMAT isnt' a waste then
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Don Carlos

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Originally Posted by yjeezle
good. all my time studying for the GMAT isnt' a waste then
tongue.gif


An MBA is still a decent entrypoint into a reasonably well paying, middle-of-the-road career. But it's not the gateway to the stars that it was a few decades ago. A lot of folks don't realize how far the credential has fallen in recent times, due to a number of factors that include: the glut of MBAs now swimming around the workforce, the (wholly unfair, IMO) blame apportioned to MBAs for the recent economic crisis, the realization by many industries that top performers do just as well without an MBA as with one, the perceived arrogance and entitlement MBAs bring to a position, and the changing landscape of industry itself -- particularly, a shift in power toward the high tech industry, which keeps MBAs at arm's length.

The MBA curriculum, as a whole, has largely failed to keep up with the modern face of industry within America, and with the shift in power from America to elsewhere. It is an increasingly anachronistic degree. It'll still get you places, but it won't get you as far as you'd hope.

CS is the degree of the present and future. I'll sound like a broken record saying that, but it's the God's honest truth. When I have kids, I'm basically not letting them pursue anything unrelated to technology. Or golf. If they're amazing golfers, I'm fueling that gravy train as best I can.
smile.gif
 

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