Going back to school. The thought conjures up serene campuses, summer vacations, and a laid-back lifestyle. After several years of 60-hour workweeks, heading back to class might sound like a much-needed two-year break. And, hey, MBA grads can command six-figure salaries. What's not to like?
Well, business school can be a great experience, but it's no picnic. MBA programs are academically rigorous, highly competitive, and demand your full attention for two years. As for that summer off? Forget it: Almost all MBA students spend their summers interning. Plus, an MBA is expensive: Two years at one of the top schools can easily run you $100,000-on top of the salary you'll be giving up.
So should you go for it? Only you can decide that, but here are a few things to consider.
Where Do You Want to Be in Three Years?
The first step in deciding whether or not to strap on your backpack and head back to school is to figure out what you want to get out of an MBA program. Business school can mean a heavy investment in time and money-two years for most full-time programs, give or take a year for executive MBAs and part-time students. "It is an expense," admits Linda Baldwin, admissions director at UCLA's Anderson School, "and you do need to get a return on that investment."
UCLA's two-step self-examination: Ask yourself first how business school will help you meet your goals, then consider what you'll be bringing to the mix. "We like to have someone who can articulate where they want to go and have some examples of how they are moving," Baldwin says.
It was an easy question for Tedd Cittadine, who recently got his degree from Georgetown's McDonough School of Business after two years working in start-up funding at a Chicago bank. "The more I got into banking," he says, "the more I really wanted to be on the small-company side. I was a guy sitting on the sidelines funding the exciting things, but not doing the exciting things myself."
Already armed with an undergraduate degree in finance, Cittadine concentrated his time at Georgetown on extracurricular activities and marketing classes, eventually meeting a friend who would become his business partner. Now they're starting a company that will work with builders, setting up high-speed Internet connections in new homes.
Do You Need an MBA to Get There?
It's important to investigate the skills needed for the particular type of position you want. You may be surprised to find out that while an MBA is de rigueur in fields like investment banking and consulting, it won't necessarily even guarantee you an interview in some industries. "We've had a lot of MBAs apply for positions here," says David Alagno, a recruiter at The Motley Fool, a Washington, DC-area new-media company. But "I wouldn't say that anything we look for is 'MBA only.' It's really just a culture thing." It wasn't that way at his last job at a large mobile-telecommunications company, where an MBA was required along with shirt and tie.
So, though advanced degrees are certainly valued in some departments at the Fool-business development and marketing, for example-they're often interchangeable with three to five years of relevant work experience. "If you can do the job," he said, "you can do the job." And an MBA won't necessarily allow you to name your own price: Some MBAs, Alagno admits, have salary expectations that may be "out of whack."
However, an MBA can confer a certain credibility that comes from the assurance that a graduate has spent two solid years building a base of good, old-fashioned financial know-how. Companies want their MBAs to be ready to tackle high-growth areas and developing industries-but not at the expense of the basics. "Major corporations, when we consult with them, tell us 'We don't want you to lose sight of your core,'" says Christine Wagner, a career development coordinator at the University of Arizona's Eller Graduate School of Management. And so a grounding in finance and accounting, it seems, will always be key. If you're ambitious but lacking in those departments, an MBA might be the answer.
If you're looking to move to a completely different career, an MBA can definitely facilitate the switch. Many students at Eller, for example, enroll after tiring of engineering work at Tucson tech firms such as Honeywell and Burr-Brown. "They want to get a better job," says Wagner. "They're in positions where they can't get any higher."
"An MBA," says Baldwin, "is probably the tool that's most expedient for creating a transformation. It's rare that the engineer goes back to being an engineer."
On the Other Hand ...
And then there's Ian King. To say King was surprised when he lost his job at a Big Six consulting firm two years ago would be an understatement. "Getting laid off, with the kind of expenses I had at the time, was one of the toughest things that ever happened to me," says King.
He returned home to northwestern Ohio and began studying for the GMAT and browsing through brochures from MBA programs. But after consulting with a group of mentors-all prominent and successful Toledo businessmen-he decided it was more important to get back to work. He joined a firm developing Internet businesses in the health-care industry, and was rewarded early this summer with hefty equity stakes in his ventures.
But even King admits that an MBA provides other key benefits. "Until one of my companies is successful, I'm just 'Ian King, and here is my resumé,'" says the consultant. "There's something to be said for 'Ian King, Harvard MBA.'"
Hey, What About the Money?
Of course, salary is an important consideration. According to a recent Forbes magazine study, students with MBAs from top programs can expect as much as an additional $100,000 in salary over the five-year period after they graduate, even after the cost of the degree is factored in. Even the better-known regional programs can set you up for as much as $50,000 more.
But cold, hard cash isn't the only benefit. Business school can offer a rare opportunity to take a break from work to focus exclusively on the business world and your desired place in it. For many, that can be a uniquely energizing experience. "It's a great two years to spend," agrees Cittadine, "because you're learning the whole time. You also have the time to sit back and learn what opportunities are out there. That's important for a lot of people."
Business school students might find themselves putting in longer hours than ever as they balance school, recruiting, extracurricular activities and social life-but it can come off feeling more like a lark than work. "They look younger when they graduate," marvels Baldwin.
And yet, there's King, who's doing exactly what he wants to do. "I still think there are a lot of pluses to going to business school," he said. "But there's point A, and there's point B. I guarantee there are 20 different ways to get there-and to get there successfully."
