Overrated MBA Degrees

Entrepreneur?
Entrepreneur?

This past Sunday in the comments section, we heard a few perspectives on the value of the MBA – Masters of Business Administration. Personally, MBA degrees are a dime a dozen, and mostly overrated.

Count on your hand five people who have been transformed by their MBA.

Not saying that people don’t benefit from getting their MBA.  There’s no question that the enormous effort and expense changes the MBA graduate.

And perhaps there’s a place, a rite of passage so to speak, to follow an undergraduate degree with a Master’s degree when we are in our early 20’s and at the very front end of our career..

But what I’m saying right here, right now, that in later life, people have to admit a certain truth.

The truth is, you must ask some seriously honest questions:

  1. Why is an MBA critical to me now?
  2. What’s my payoff, my ROI?
  3. Will this catapult my career, and why?
  4. Or will it simply pad my resume?
  5. Is there a smarter way to increase my rank and salary?

Please don’t misunderstand, everyone knows that an MBA graduate has conquered what few others have. All I’m saying is this, does it catapult you?

And if it doesn’t, then why expend the energy, effort, time, and money?

So, back to where we started, at the end of three years, will you have a profitable business?

Now that seems like a great payoff, a huge ROI – like being shot out of a cannon.  Or am I missing something?

By jeff noel

Retired Disney Institute Keynote Speaker and Prolific Blogger. Five daily, differently-themed personal blogs (about life's 5 big choices) on five interconnected sites.