One of the most common questions I get from career driven friends is “should I get an MBA” or “should I go to business school?” Many of these individuals care deeply about career growth and achieving career goals, and at a high level understand how a top MBA degree has a lot of potential ROI. However, the reality is that without thinking through some of the own unique goals you have for yourself for the short or long term, people often jump through the application process without understanding why and how an MBA degree will be valuable to them.
While business school could very well be the best next step for you, it’s important to take the time to engage in introspection and delve into the costs and benefits of an MBA. Doing so will help to clarify your own thought process before applying, and ensure you can reap the rewards of whichever decision you make.
People go to Business School for a variety of reasons – from making a career change, advancing to management positions, meeting potential co-founders and investors, to just expanding their network and outlook. The truth is, no matter how amazing a school is, Business School will not hold the same value for everyone. So, before you start the application process, take a moment to make sure there is real value in it for you, and you’re not just going because you see others doing the same.
To guide your introspection and to help you answer the question “should i go to business school?” I’m going to offer a few thoughtful questions.
TLDR: Whether or not you should go to business school is a personal question that everyone must answer for themselves. Here are some questions to ponder to evaluate if it’s the right path for you.
What are my short term career goals, and how does an MBA help me achieve them?
Understanding your short term career goals and the various paths to achieve them is critical to determining whether or not you should go get an MBA. An MBA is often a stepping stone to a career or opportunity that you currently don’t have, and knowing where you want to go is a critical component of knowing whether or not an MBA makes sense to get there. To start, ask yourself and write down what you believe your short term career goals are, whether that’s a specific role, job, industry, or function, or some combination of those characteristics.
Answering this not only requires you to have a sense of what your short term goals are, but how specifically an MBA will help you achieve them, whether its through formal coursework, relationships with specific companies you are interested in, or other valuable aspects of the MBA Experience. Depending on your familiarity with the MBA degree you may have some ideas of this right now, or, you may have to do more research.
Finally, this question is also important because regardless of where you apply to school you will need to answer this question in the form of your application essays, as well as within an interview with an admissions committee.
What are my long term career goals, and what skills and experiences do I need to reach them?
The MBA has a strong ROI over the course of an MBA graduate’s career. Furthermore, while an MBA is helpful in transitioning to a new career, or accelerating into a new one, the rapid pace of change in markets and industries coupled shifting norms on careers (ex: the average person may have presents employees with more chances to have multiple careers over the course of their career.
While nobody can 100% predict the future of the next 5-10-15 years of their life, it’s important to have a grasp on some of the high level career goals that you have for yourself, and to begin thinking how an MBA would help you work toward those goals.
If I didn’t go to business school, what other paths would I be pursuing?
While your short term goals could be achievable through an MBA, it in theory could also be achievable through some other path, whether that’s through a promotion, job change, or some other form of education such as a bootcamp, training, or online classes. In some cases, an MBA could be an option to help you achieve your career goals, but there could be other options. In other cases, perhaps the MBA is the only option. so it’s also important to u
When you evaluate the path of getting an MBA against other alternatives, you can start to evaluate and understand the pros and cons, of going to get an MBA, or any of the other options that you have on the table. Furthermore, it also helps you do some of your own career development and career planning, which is never a bad thing.
What is the financial cost, and what is the opportunity cost? Is that something I am comfortable with?
In life, there are benefits, and there are costs. Part of this exercise is mapping out what those costs and benefits are, and factoring that into your decision making.
When evaluating business school, there are two types of cost. Financial cost, (salary increase as a result of a new job or career, tuition, living costs, other costs associated with the MBA) as well as opportunity cost (two years of salary earned, other potential benefits) The financial ones are what most people understand and can calculate (although make sure to estimate living costs and other costs outside of just tuition) However, the opportunity costs are also important. This could be forgone salary (since you won’t be earning income for at least two years)
To facilitate and capture some of this data and information, make sure to use the resources at your disposal. Almost every school will post the median and mean of salaries of their MBA graduates by industry or function, which can give you an estimate of what to expect to make in a specific industry or function when you graduate. You can also get a sense of the tuition and estimated living costs, either through the schools website or through talking with students.
Action Items – If you’ve made it this far, here are four things you can do right now to answer the question of “should I get an MBA?”
- Identify short and long term goals – write down your short and long term goals for your career. While this doesn’t need to be 100% accurate it’s a great starting point that you can evolve over time
- Go speak to 5 people who have a similar path, and learn some of their best practices and advice – One of the best things to do is to go out and speak to current or former MBA students who have been in your shoes. While their circumstances won’t always be the same as yours, there will be enough similarities at least to learn and get started on your path. Furthermore, they can share with you their best practices, lessons learned, mistakes, etc which can be valuable in your own MBA process.
- Map out all the potential short term options instead of business school – Business school is a great career development opportunity but there are certainly others. If it makes sense for your desired career path, map out or identify potential other options you could take, so you can begin to evaluate the pros and cons of each option.
- Research the financial cost, and then research the opportunity cost – Do your homework by looking at the financial costs and mapping out the opportunity costs. Leverage school data on salary and tuition, and speak with students.
To learn more about what some current MBA students attended business school, check out these stories: