Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

For the MBAs in the haus, I`d like to get your take on whether grad school has been a help or whether the additional student loan debt load has been a hindrance to you.

I had never planned on continuing my education except with the occasional technology or art/design class, but recently a friend pointed out a terminal master`s at UW that is so in line with what I love that I`m actually considering applying. It would take 2 years and classes are held entirely in the evenings so while I`d have to delegate some of what I do, it wouldn`t interfere much with business. The big down side is that at the end of it I`d have an additional $46k or so in student loan debt.

So what do you think -- was your MBA worth it? Would you do it again in the current credit environment?

—paula

Tough question as there are pros and cons.  I already have a BSBA and I have one more semester to go to finish my MBA and have wondered in this current and future market if it will pay off.  While the book knowledge is valuable it is not a replacement for experience gained by the act of doing.  You could also just buy the books and learn the material on your own and forgo all the papers, tests and stress.  After all so much of the work is reading and then applying to projects that may or may not be interesting.  The most important factor is how good the professor is.  If you get a bad one then you will not learn as much as with a good one and it makes it not worth the time and effort. This is just my opinion though. 

 

I would write more but I have a 12 page, single space, 10 font, Times New Roman not including cover, abstract, graphs or figures, references and appendixes paper to do over something completely useless

-------------------------

Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

-------------------------

http://www.slowcookermate.com
http://www.twitter.com/yslowcook

My husband went and got his MBA at 36.  He looked at the night school route but after talking to some former students, they said, "You will get up in the morning and go to work, head right to school after work, come home, study and go to bed every single day".  Well, with a family, that was impossible for him to do.

So, we ditched his job, sold our house and moved to Indiana for a year and he did the one year program at Notre Dame on a full fellowship.  We lived on the equity from our home so I didn`t have to work and neither did he. 

It was the best decision we ever made.  It was an investment in our future and in 364 days, we were back in Seattle. 

~Kim

Paula,

I received my MBA from Babson College in their new FastTrack program which is a full-time pace (2 years) done with a combination of monthly face-to-face intensive sessions and weekly distance-based work. It was amazingly intense to work full time and do school full time, but it was absolutely worth it. Here is what I got out of it:
-- great education and knowledge
-- network of other business owners, execs, and managers
-- confidence to strike out on my own and dream big dreams
-- tools and techniques that I use weekly on my businesses
-- a badge that helps build credibility

I walked away with $40k in loans, but I am quite sure I will make plenty more than an extra $40k because of my experience.