Are MBA students career focused or business focused?

Question

Just from reading books and reading about some of the goals a lot of people here have. It seems that the MBA is unique in the type of student it attracts.

MBA, technically is an academic qualification. However the focus for most people is in securing employment. Therefore the schools which have the most powerful/desriable recruiters tend to attract the most applications. A school which is strong in academics may not attract as many students, it would seem logical that the ulterior motive is not the gain knowledge in business, but that the motive is to get a foot in the door to be employed by a desirable recruiter.

Therefore business knowledge is not a key driver in choosing to do an MBA.

From my experiences of talking to some of my new fellow students, a lot of them were highly focused on finance employment, and were scoping networking opportunities, recruitment processes etc. Whereas, I am more interested in research such as Myers-Briggs, Belbin, Neuro-Linguistic Programming etc, and how to effectively use this research to build teams and in negotiation.

How about you, what is your  main  motivation for b-school, is it to get to a desired industry/employer, or is it knowledge acquisition?

89nk · Answer

I am an engineer, with background experience in a business field. My main motive is to break into finance, and gain solid business knowledge. 
I think Wharton is heavy on academics, and at the same time has a lot of recruiters, and applicants. So there are some schools that do exist regarding your post.

forcefeed · Answer

I vote: breaking into a new industry. Of course, the only way for me to do that is by expanding my knowledge and developing new tools.

Is there any way to change the thread to a poll?

kidderek · Answer

I'd say 90% are in it for career/money.

lanter1 · Answer

career/industry...i would not have 100k in student loan debt for knowledge. i can read the same books the students at top programs read to gain knowledge, but the MBA from a top-15 school is an entry into fields closed to most without the degree.

R.E.D. · Answer

I'm knowledge-driven and this was one of the main motives of applying to b-school - increase knowledge and develop it further. Industry, which employs knowledge at its best is consulting

And here I get on the parallel track with career-driven guys. But choosing employment between two companies/locations I will choose the one that gives opportunities of better applications of knowledge and of knowledge creation in my chosen field, even with a smaller salary.

Raabend · Answer

Judging from the poll, we are all in agreement! :twisted:

Rubashov1 · Answer

A mix of the two in my case.

Why I want to go is business-focused.

Why I should go is career-focused.

gixxer1000 · Answer

Well I would definitely say career focuses. In undergrad you can pretty much study anything you want and then work in any field you want. You're pretty much getting a degree to prove you're not and idiot then from there you learn what you need to know on the job. And it's not like your giving up much. How many 18 year olds are giving up high paying salaries to go to undergrad. But getting an MBA is different. Most of us already have solid jobs with good experience, but we either want to change fields or break through some plataeu in our current field and all of us want more $$$. If we wanted striclty knowledge we would all be getting MS and PhD's in finance. There's a reason you can find employment reports usually 2 clicks away from the front page. So career focused all the way, especially for full-time programs. If people really wanted to just expand their knowledge they would be going to part-time programs. But most people rather risk it all and quit so they can get a great internship and land their dream job.

togafoot · Answer

So if there was a school which was highly academic producing lots of research papers but did not have a high level of top tier recruiters, i`m guessing people would generally pick the school the top tier companies recruit at, i.e. the knowledge is secondary to the career opportunity.

3underscore · Answer

I think the academic strength of the institutions go hand-in-hand with the strength in recruiting at the school. That said, I find it hard to describe Business School as an academic pursuit. Maybe I am a touch cynical - I think the academic direction is to do a PhD.

TimeSquareDesi · Answer

Just a variation of a joke... "They say that 90% of applicants / students going for an MBA are in it for the money. The other 10% are lying." :lol:

fooFighter · Answer

Yeah I have to go with career focused. Don't think most business focused people go for MBA degrees, they just work

togafoot · Answer

So then the next question pertains....

If it was booth which you go through to get a ticket stamped so that you have access to desirable recruiters, a list of people who are doing the same as them so you can contact them later at a cost of $90k without you having to study or learn anything. Would you do that?

89nk · Answer

No, because although business school material might not be difficult to absorb, I do feel the involvement and experience leads to greater career growth. I have not experienced business school so my reply is from what I speculate.

Are MBA students career focused or business focused?

Are MBA students career focused or business focused?

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