What would you choose over an MBA?

Question

With r2 calls just round the corner, I'm as hyped as any of you to get a call. But while surfing the net and letting my mind loose in the office, I started thinking - what's more important than an MBA to me?

So you've put in the hours into the GMAT, wrote and edited those essays a gazillion times and now, you've got into the school of your choice - be it HBS, Tuck, Owen, Yale, whatever. No scholarship. Just a straight up simple admit. My question is, what would you choose or what would need to happen for you to reject that admit? What would you choose over doing an MBA?

Family? Girlfriend? Job? Dog? Setting up a burger stall? Share with me....

For me, maybe marriage to the girl of my dreams.

bsd_lover · Answer

Great questions adc. Kudos. They could make this an MBA essay question. Let me think about this one before I come up with an answer.

togafoot · Answer

anything involving my children

Audio · Answer

Winning the jackpot at Euromillions.

helg · Answer

Same for me, please.

That goes without saying, but think positive, Togafoot!

togafoot · Answer

in that case, if i was offered a senior position which incorporates high-tech, music and business.

helg · Answer

Like a CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment?

adcxaway · Answer

Sounds about right, unless togafoot is gunning to replace Steve Jobs...

togafoot · Answer

nah, not interested in steve jobs position. Something more like Simon Cowell + High Tech

Darden2010 · Answer

oh this is so cute

I didn't think any romantics apply for MBAs I thought that MBA people are just overachiever workaholics

anyways... if I got an associate position with one of the big 3 consulting companies in their London, UK office I wouldn't go to b-school, because that is what I want to do post-MBA, and if I could get it now there wouldn't be interested in getting an MBA

helg · Answer

Na-ah, wrong answer! MBA is a lifetime investment, this is not something you do to just land in a typical post-MBA job. I expect the knowledge I will obtain in the b-school to benefit me in decades.

Darden2010 · Answer

really? and just how much do you remember from the stuff you learned in udergrad? I don't think I even rememebr 10% of the things I learned in undergrad and it has been less than 2 years since I graduated

For me an MBA is just the next step to get me where I want to be at a few years from now. MBA is not relaly about education

it is about opportunities that it gives you, exchange of ideas, network .... and a bunch of other intangibles

Trust me, the balance sheet analysis that you will learn in your MBA will evaporate from your brain pretty quickly

... but if you have your dream job by then it won't even matter

dosa_don · Answer

So, will your dream job be sufficient enough to drop an MBA? What about 5-10 years later? You might not be able to progress to, say, a partner or whatever your next step is without an MBA right?

Darden2010 · Answer

The last time I checked most CEOs of Fortune 500 companies didn't have MBAs. I don't need an MBA to be successful, I need an MBA to have my dream job

, once you are in the door the piece of paper that represents your MBA degree doesn't mean much

dosa_don · Answer

Well you probably need a Masters, not necessarily an MBA. According this  "62% of all S&P 500 CEOs have earned an advanced degree beyond their undergraduate degree (this includes MBAs, other master degrees, PhDs, etc.)." 
 https://content.spencerstuart.com/sswebsite/pdf/lib/2005_CEO_Study_JS.pdf

From this it shows that 67% of  S & P 500 CEO's  have a Masters:  https://www.taibros.net/archives/2005/11/07/so-you-want-to-be-a-ceo

aviroop · Answer

someone please say that an MBA gets you a hot chick tooo...

that is why I want an MBa.. MBA = $￥ and pounds = hot women (mostly gold diggers, but who cares)

I would not do an MBA, if I seriously got a job from lonely planet asking me to travel all around the world..

westsider · Answer

I would work at a think-tank (if you aren't aware what this is, here is an example https://rand.org/) . Wouldn't that just be the coolest job ever?

branson · Answer

wrong approach apiroop.

I dont think its difficult to get a hot chick, its difficult to get an intelligent hot chick that makes money. THAAATs why you go to b school, so you can find that girl that will make six figures post-MBA and has some topics to discuss.

(Dartmouth Medical beware... hahah) Kellogg should have been your choice..I just read they have A&F models there...

Darden2010 · Answer

oook so I have 38% chance to become a Fortune 500 CEO with my undergrad? that ain't too bad. And also, people with advanced degrees are generally more motivated, work harder... which translates into more success. If all the undergrad diploma holders were as motivated and worked as hard, don't you think the gap between grad vs. undergrad CEOs would have been more narrow? So it is not the degree, it is the personality that counts

Darden2010 · Answer

Dartmout Medical beware gold digger !!

What would you choose over an MBA?

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