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01 Apr 2020, 03:53
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I was accepted to Wharton, Booth, Haas, and Cornell for MBA class of 2022. WL at Columbia. Wharton, Booth, and Haas offers don't include any scholarship. Cornell offered a full-tuition scholarship. Pre-MBA experience is management consulting and a cross-functional, CoS-like role at Series A/B startup, reporting to the CEO. Post-MBA: I want to find a co-founder in business school and start a business.
When I began applying to schools, I had a singular focus on starting a business as my next career move - regardless of admission to an MBA program. Thus, I'm open to skipping business school altogether. If I am looking for an entrepreneurial network, I might instead apply to YCombinator or TechStars with a cofounder and/or one of my side projects (very small, but profitable in the proof of concept stage). However, I now find myself considering Wharton/Booth/Haas and postponing business ownership to pay off loans in a salaried job after graduation (would look for a startup job in an industry of interest or in a skill-relevant role, ultimately in service of starting my own company). It seems counter-intuitive to put myself in debt if my ultimate goal is to start a business and work for myself. After lots of thinking, reading, some basic calculations, and conversations, I'm still undecided.
I am sure that my final career destination is to start a business. To me, the feeling of ownership/equity is unparalleled by any other job situation. Since ownership and freedom are what I'm primarily after, I don't need access to large amounts of funding to feel like I'm making an impact. I'd rather build slowly and take less institutional funding to retain ownership and control.
I'm curious how you folks would evaluate this decision or any questions that might come up.
When I began applying to schools, I had a singular focus on starting a business as my next career move - regardless of admission to an MBA program. Thus, I'm open to skipping business school altogether. If I am looking for an entrepreneurial network, I might instead apply to YCombinator or TechStars with a cofounder and/or one of my side projects (very small, but profitable in the proof of concept stage). However, I now find myself considering Wharton/Booth/Haas and postponing business ownership to pay off loans in a salaried job after graduation (would look for a startup job in an industry of interest or in a skill-relevant role, ultimately in service of starting my own company). It seems counter-intuitive to put myself in debt if my ultimate goal is to start a business and work for myself. After lots of thinking, reading, some basic calculations, and conversations, I'm still undecided.
I am sure that my final career destination is to start a business. To me, the feeling of ownership/equity is unparalleled by any other job situation. Since ownership and freedom are what I'm primarily after, I don't need access to large amounts of funding to feel like I'm making an impact. I'd rather build slowly and take less institutional funding to retain ownership and control.
I'm curious how you folks would evaluate this decision or any questions that might come up.
01 Apr 2020, 20:58
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Congrats on your admits!
What do you think is the most likely use of the MBA for you?
1. Network/Team
2. Skills/confidence
3. Funding
4. Support for your startup
5. Other?
It is hard to recommend to an entrepreneur who can't wait to start their own venture to get a bunch of debt and be burdened by it. The value that someone who is looking to start their own business gets out of a Bschool is different from those looking to get a job in consulting or tech or .... your value will be confidence, time to apply concepts and models to your idea in classes, find people to help you out and build a network you can draw upon for help or to recruit down the road. Some programs offer incubators/startup assistance (e.g. Booth has the new Venture Challenge, Polski Center, and Haas has a few smaller programs including a Magoosh scholarship, Wharton has their own Startup Showcase) but I don't know how much value those are vs. schools that don't have a structured program. Johnson does have an entrepreneurship track in their program: https://crea.cornell.edu/project/johnso ... hip-track/ it is not as sexy as Booth or Haas or Wharton though.
One consideration is seeking funding and getting investors on board. If you have a Wharton brand on your resume, it will likely bring more people to the table and have people take you more seriously as some of those investors likely tried to get in and got dinged.
I don't know how things will play out with the crazy virus but I can see going to Wharton with debt potentially a much stronger and serious play than Johnson with a scholarship. While you may not be able to be fully independent, you may be much more likely to secure funding for your venture out of Wharton than Johnson and starting up with financial backing and Wharton's network will likely result into better chances. Of course the keywords are likely and chances... it is all a probabilities game. Also, Wharton will present you with a lot more Tech and Finance and Consulting opportunities should you change your mind mid-stream and decide to recruit for a regular job and run your venture on a side....
Congrats on your admits!
What do you think is the most likely use of the MBA for you?
1. Network/Team
2. Skills/confidence
3. Funding
4. Support for your startup
5. Other?
It is hard to recommend to an entrepreneur who can't wait to start their own venture to get a bunch of debt and be burdened by it. The value that someone who is looking to start their own business gets out of a Bschool is different from those looking to get a job in consulting or tech or .... your value will be confidence, time to apply concepts and models to your idea in classes, find people to help you out and build a network you can draw upon for help or to recruit down the road. Some programs offer incubators/startup assistance (e.g. Booth has the new Venture Challenge, Polski Center, and Haas has a few smaller programs including a Magoosh scholarship, Wharton has their own Startup Showcase) but I don't know how much value those are vs. schools that don't have a structured program. Johnson does have an entrepreneurship track in their program: https://crea.cornell.edu/project/johnso ... hip-track/ it is not as sexy as Booth or Haas or Wharton though.
One consideration is seeking funding and getting investors on board. If you have a Wharton brand on your resume, it will likely bring more people to the table and have people take you more seriously as some of those investors likely tried to get in and got dinged.
I don't know how things will play out with the crazy virus but I can see going to Wharton with debt potentially a much stronger and serious play than Johnson with a scholarship. While you may not be able to be fully independent, you may be much more likely to secure funding for your venture out of Wharton than Johnson and starting up with financial backing and Wharton's network will likely result into better chances. Of course the keywords are likely and chances... it is all a probabilities game. Also, Wharton will present you with a lot more Tech and Finance and Consulting opportunities should you change your mind mid-stream and decide to recruit for a regular job and run your venture on a side....
Congrats on your admits!
ArtVandaley
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06 Apr 2020, 01:20
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Interesting Question. I can feel what you are thinking and where you want to be. To be very honest, Entrepreneurship is less dependent on school and depends more on the 1) Quality of students you study with and 2) at what cost.
Since you have been offered decent scholarship, I would rather go with the money, as the path to entrepreneurship is risky to walk on with debt.
Since you have been offered decent scholarship, I would rather go with the money, as the path to entrepreneurship is risky to walk on with debt.
