GMAT and MBA Advice

Why would you need to do quadratic equations in an MBA program? The only thing you need to learn is how to breath through your mouth while your nose is jammed up your bosses ass.

I wonder if Mr Bateman ever got into Harvard MBA …. I heard the selection committee will consider nsmb.com rep points in lieu of actual work and life experience (which can include having a billionaire CEO or politician for a Daddy).

In lieu of rep points, you can publish faulty, non peer-reviewed bullshit.

I'm going to strike this up from the dead. Do any of you have an MBA? My perception from the outside looking in is that the market is flooded with them, however, most are of a somewhat useless concentration…

After a shit ton of soul searching/thinking/pondering/etc. I've decided to at least write the GMAT and see where I stand. The way my circumstances sit right now, I'd best be getting into the U of A - GF lives a few blocks away, and we're getting a place anyway. She's totally supportive of my decision to go back to school since she already has, and I can afford tuition.

Me: tons of contacts in my industry, positive relationship with my employer, 3 years in business through a series of promotions from grunt labor, and a BA with some professional development from various executive education schools.

Given that I already have those things going for me, is the 100th best school in the world going to do fine? My end goal is to either stay with my current employer and work into the C-Suite or join an investment bank focused on energy companies and specialize in service providers - my area of expertise and passion thus far.

General advice? Opinions on the marketability of an MBA and best choice of focus?

Help me out, oh great NBR life advisor!

I have one. Indeed there are a lot of MBAs out there and there's definitely a difference in the programs. So obviously employers start looking for secondary signals like the "brand" of the school that you got your MBA from. And if you want to go into i-banking, the brand can mean a lot indeed. In fact, if you want to work at a top tier i-bank (Goldman, Morgan, etc.) or consultancy (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.), it's basically required that you go to a top-tier school because that's where they recruit. If you want to be in industry, there's a lot more flexibility.

Is #100 worse than #1? Not necessarily. The FT 100 list has a lot of quality schools on it and to some extent the rankings get jumbled. It's a good list to use as your shortlist.

If you're serious, I would do a couple of things.

1. Spend some time digging through the information on their Career Services departments, finding out where graduates end up, what type of salaries they received, etc. Make sure there's a match between the school and where you want to end up.
2. Go visit! Most programs will let you visit and sit in on some lectures, see the school, have some social drinks with folks from the class.
3. Extension to #2 - make sure that you're scoping out the types of people that get admitted. This isn't the type of program where you're going to extract all the information from the lecturer. You're going to learn as much from your classmates as you are from your profs - make sure they're good! IMHO, this point is the real difference between the top schools and the rest of the pack. Second tier programs don't get the best people so your ability to learn is restricted…

I got my MBA in 2004, it was one of the best things I have done. I went from Ski bum to good career in 2 years. I also met my wife there, so that is another bonus. I echo what has been said here, if you want to work for top IB or Consulting you need to go to a top teir school. Otherwise, try to go where you want to live, the connections are truly valuable. You will get out of it what you put in, I hustled and worked my ass off for two years and it was worth it.

Otherwise, try to go where you want to live, the connections are truly valuable. .

Something to be said for quality-of-life and work-life-balance. I could make more money than I do now if I were more ambitious, but would I still be able to spend 30 days a year in Whistler with my kids? Probably not. And that is more valuable to me than a fat paycheck. Will re-evaluate when my kids are grown up and independent. Hopefully I won't be considered "too old" by then when I think about climbing up the ladder some more. That's what keeps me motivated to stay both physically and mentally fit and active.

…I hustled and worked my ass off for two years…

Without this the degree is useless.

No one has pulled a full-on NBR yet, so I will.

Are you getting an MBA because you are jonesing to learn what they are going to teach? Or is it simply for phat $$$, bitches and respect from people you'd otherwise not give a shit about?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnFUDVpFwFQ

If you really enjoy what you're doing, you will succeed regardless.

No one has pulled a full-on NBR yet, so I will.

Are you getting an MBA because you are jonesing to learn what they are going to teach? Or is it simply for phat $$$, bitches and respect from people you'd otherwise not give a shit about?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnFUDVpFwFQ

If you really enjoy what you're doing, you will succeed regardless.

I figured this was coming at some point.

I'm getting increased responsibilities that are in line with what an MBA teaches anyway. I'm responsible (though it's not in my job description and not done in an official capacity) for training new employees, on boarding people, auditing sales systems in other provinces/states, and gaining more assignments by the day. I want to gain the qualifications that will allow me to pull away from day to day low and mid level sales and get into strategic planning, high level business development, and policy structure. I've had some good luck over the last few years, and I want to ensure that I can cement it with a solid educational background and really find my niche. The business of oil and gas is actually my passion, not the money that comes from it.

I enjoy the fast pace, the challenges, the stress (never thought I'd say that in a million years when I quit a couple years back), and the inherent risks to the investments that we make. I also truly believe that consistent returns are possible through careful budgeting appropriate to the cyclical nature of the business and that oilfield service companies don't have to suffer from "busts" if they're well diversified. I want to turn that gut feeling into a reality down the road and implement some of my ideas in a meaningful way that provides a great return to the investors that I hope to represent. I love this stuff, not the cash - I need some strong foundations in my education to make my dreams a reality. I have a BA right now, not a business education.

Best of luck to you.

I want to gain the qualifications that will allow me to pull away from day to day low and mid level sales and get into strategic planning, high level business development, and policy structure. I've had some good luck over the last few years, and I want to ensure that I can cement it with a solid educational background and really find my niche. The business of oil and gas is actually my passion, not the money that comes from it.

My experience has been that many (but certainly not all) people who are very good at what you want to do have no formal business education of any sort. They just "get" the business they are in and are able to put things together. A lot of the VPs in my company (a Fortune 100 company) are guys with engineering degrees that were willing to look beyond being product developers, willing to take on roles that were outside their comfort zone, and figured out how to play the corporate ladder climbing game.

Several of my co-workers have done executive MBAs (mostly SFU), and, in a few cases, I think they have found their jobs more frustrating because, as part of a massive corporation, change comes slowly, rarely from the bottom up, and all the creativity that was fired up during their classes slowly gets squashed. As a result, a few have left once they served their 2 years in return for the company paying for the degree. In at least one case, the new job was a direct result of networking through the program.

An MBA won't hurt, and in some companies it is a minimum requirement to get above a certain level. More education is rarely a bad thing.

Several of my co-workers have done executive MBAs (mostly SFU), and, in a few cases, I think they have found their jobs more frustrating because, as part of a massive corporation, change comes slowly, rarely from the bottom up, and all the creativity that was fired up during their classes slowly gets squashed.

haha that's totally me.

I've worked at 2 Fortune 15 companies, and it's impossible to get anywhere without either gargling some bawls, or coming in with an MBA, working up other ways doesn't happen. Performance and results just means you get taken advantage of.

And then management complains about employee loyalty…

Starting an MBA program this August. I can't wait, except for the price.

I have an interview for SFU on Tuesday..