Applications to MBA programs across the U.S. are declining. WSJ's Jason Bellini traveled to Boston University's Questrom Business School to hear from students who explain why the investment is worth it. #WSJ #MBA #BusinessSchool
Nova El They have a giant supply of oil so they made a trust fund that gave every citizen like 200K. It’s the country equivalent of being born into a rich family.
At least she was honest, "it's a business," which is all higher education is today. To make matters worse, it's only worth something if it's from a top tier school.
Top tier schools don't exist anymore. They have been debunked by the number of drop outs who have testified on how vapid and predatory these "institutions" are.
It is a business. There's nothing wrong with that; they offer a product and service like any other business, and the goal is to provide value and while ensuring continuity and growth of the business. It's only a "bad thing" when they begin to overcharge while the product/service value declines. At which point, hopefully enough people decide to pursue other options and sends the signal to the university they need to change. This, in my opinion, is certainly the case w/ Ivy League schools. Overpriced.
In England, all public universities charge the maximum they are allowed, for fear of being thought cheap and second rate. For a lot of luxury goods, high prices make them more sought after and low prices are suspect.
Getting an MBA as opposed to an undergrad with no experience places you higher as a potential candidate in a company. Also, a good MBA course will provide international perspectives giving an added benefit in this business climate where everything is intertwined.
Was looking at MBA's last year. Even attended a few mock classrooms hosted by an MBA school. This is what I learnt. A lot of people get MBA'S when they are too young. Without experience, you're not able to easily apply concepts. An MBA exposes you to the corporate mindset way of thinking. If you work in a corporate environment, having exposure to higher level management achieves the same thing. Another thing promoted by MBA'S is networking. If you have an interest in a field, attending conferences and meetups help you achieve the same thing. If you want an education in business, get a business degree or diploma. There are lots of free online resources available. I know a few people who have MBA's and they're not working in a job that utilizes their education. When it comes down to it, it's not the degree, it's your drive and hustle that will advance you.
I'm a first generation college grad from a blue collar family. In a few weeks I expect to close on a great business. Had I not gotten an MBA from UVA, the idea of entrepreneurship through acquisition wouldn't have even crossed my mind and I wouldn't have the capital to invest. B-school was the best decision I made in my career.
Blog of The W3st Honestly, I doubt any salary increase would be worth a $100,000 increase in student loan debt + interest. The monthly payment alone would suck up any extra spending money you gain for decades.
Went to a community college and university that offered online and lecture type courses. I decided to sign up for all my classes online instead of lecture since I learn better at my own pace. What I'm explaining is that just because I was online for 3 semesters didn't mean campus was prohibited to visit. I could show up to campus and still make connections with groups and guest leaders any day. Online courses are more flexible to people working full time and trying to earn an education.
I enjoy my MBA classes. Is it worth it? Maybe only time will tell. I already make decent money as a Software Engineer, but formulating business strategies and seeing things from a different perspective are things I definitely enjoy.
@@ipponsuki Yeah. In the same way you don't need a Computer Engineering degree to code (but I do and don't regret it). Seriously, the hate education gets nowadays is just astounding.
There are alot of reputable universities offering their MBA online (in addition to on-campus). ASU, UNC, Indiana, Carnegie Mellon, etc. There are though alot of bunk online programs.
Why? Their students can read the same books and journals. At postgraduate level, lectures are not so important a way to learn. They can interact more easily on-line than in a common room or refectory.
This is a pointless question. An MBA from Harvard surely opens doors, an MBA from Phoenix University not much. I guess if you have to question whether it's worth it than it's most likely not. Think of it as buying a car, would you even consider buying a particular car if you have doubt in its safety.
@@MrBlinder514 not really. If you think an MBA will help you land a better job then you will be shocked how little value it carries in the job market. A no name MBA is not worth pursuing period. If you pay attention, all the big name MBAs only recruit those already successful so I will let you make up your mind whether it's MBA adds value to the candidates or the opposite.
@@ericz7881 agree. For a MBA a top ranked school is essential. The level of students are also different. There is self selection in the top tier schools.
@@ericz7881 Then what to do Sir? As in my case I am 27 years old with 5 years of no work experience since graduation and I want to pursue a career in logistics/Supply chain. Then what should be my course of action? Should I go for 2 years mba course or some training course of logistics?
@@aveekpaul5545 Sorry I'm not in the position to give out career advice in an area(logistics) I know nothing about. If I have to say something, if you are admitted into an mba such as Harvard, Stanford, Wharton etc. then you are probably not lack of decent job offers already. If not, I don't think an mba will change anything.
@@forever_golfer1981 True, because Harvard uses the case method approach in its class discussion, but they have an alternative at the moment to the MBA, which is just an online grad degree in management. And perhaps after demand increases, there will be an online Ivy League MBA. it's only a matter of time.
Yea because ivy schools are too prestigious. They accept so few students to their MBA program they expect them to be present cause of extremely rigorous amount of work
Starting your own business, owning and running it for a few years, looks way better than just simply having an mba on your resume when applying for a corporate business position.
I thought this interviewer was condescending in the beginning but his burning questions are actually very enticing for the audience. Good job well done
I wonder how the future of MBAs will change after the covid pandemic? A lot of people do the MBAs because of the networking possibilities. That’s hard to do when all the courses are online.
Graduate school enrollment has actually been pretty stagnant over the past 9 years and undergraduate enrollment has been decreasing during the same period.
@@SenKyrstenSinema the reason enrollment is going down is because people are realizing college is a scam. there is a shitload people with degrees working in jobs that dont require degrees. youtube peter schiff college.
Depends on the institution which grants said MBA. MBAs from top business schools are certainly worth the money. I have a MBA and it has paid for itself 3 times over. I graduated in 2013. Right out of b school I was making over $100k base. That didn't include bonus of 15%. I had the MBA and about 6 months experience from an internship when hired. Now 7 years later - well, let's just say I'm in my 30s and I own a townhouse in Manhattan on the UES. Was it worth it for me? Yes.
I dropped out of a top-30 MBA program because I felt it was just repackaged common sense and a huge waste of my time. I now run my own business and make high six-figures. Never felt that I was missing anything that I couldn't learn on my own from the internet.
Funny because I've been into finance and business for about a year and have been studying it on my own-- no I haven't started a business or anything but so far in my journey in learning, I've found that every free university course or book recycles the same concepts and ideas from other each other. So a part of me doesn't expect an MBA course to be any different if I can redo the courses I've done and get certificates on them which could eventually be equivalent to having a MBA degree. Mind you I just graduated highschool and supposed to have a career in mind but I figured that MBA was not my path when I know or can get everything I want to know off the internet!
MBA is just a lie making people believe they will be rich through this kind of training, but in fact, being rich depends on what kind of resources you have in your hands rather than a piece of paper.
@@raybod1775 too young?! C'mon man. By the time you're in college you should already have a very good idea what you want to do. Unfortunately many in college these days don't
It’s really quite simple. Over time more and more people are realizing that to be successful in business, for example to own your own successful startup wether it be in tech, fashion, food, etc, you really don’t need an MBA and in many instances it actually saddles you in tremendous debt and damages you. Combine that with the rising costs of high education and you see why the numbers are declining.
I'm a retired CPA with an MBA from the Bauer School(UHouston). We don't predict the future well, do we? So what will succeed is hard to do and an MBA isn't much use there. What it does do is shield you from the pitfalls and mistakes that lie ahead of us. As Ben Franklin said, a penny saved is a penny earned. My degree actually caused me to miss 1 or 2 great opportunities, but it also saved me thousands in avoiding poor investments, bad business ideas, and foolhardy partnership proposals. Overall, it was well worth the degree. But my degree was in 1984 and cost only $5,000 post-grad.
There's also a trend in which some schools are adding the MBA as a dual degree option. Some of them are like the JD/MBA or MEd/MBA. It's making the MBA a secondary degree as opposed to one that someone would focus 2 years on.
You would think MBA’s are worthless, but at the same time when you go on a lot of these applications they specifically state “master’s required”or “masters preferred”
Myself and a few of my classmates from university all became self made millionaires around 30 after working in corporate America. Do you know what we have in common? None of us wasted $200k and 2 years of not working to chase a fluffy MBA degree. Unfortunately a few of our friends did. And they went to Top 10 MBA programs. Now they're mired in interest bearing debt. When you are not clear about what you want and don't have a vision for yourself, it's much easier to get swindled by a school with a "big name".
@@playtimewithemihle2544 many different ways 1. target school --> ibanking --> private equity --> vc 2. big tech (specifically FAANG) 3. early employee in start-up that has liquidity event 4. start investing in stock market super young and constantly crank base salary + bonuses to then immediately reinvest 5. rental properties But all of the above rely on you getting good grades, going to a top university, not taking on debt (i.e. lots of scholarships) and living frugally for a long time The bottom line is if you want to be a millionaire by or before 30, you have to avoid debt like the plague
It all boils down to the job prospects. Having an MBA degree is not a necessity for starting a business and if one seeks a job then MBA degree acts as an add-on degree to base qualification. For an employer, experience will always come first and MBA would then make a bigger impact. Book formula doesn't necessarily translates well in real life. When degrees are on sale, and most have it, experience makes all the difference. As the lady in the video rightly said "it's all business" and irrespective of what happens to those students, the University is doing good business and most will live below their means to cover the expenses!
It’s not a necessity for starting a business, but it’s definitely a necessity for growing a business. This is coming from first-hand experience as a business owner, who’s business makes six figures.
I'm currently in a tier 2 MBA program. My company is picking up the tab... Otherwise, I wouldn't be doing it. However, I do believe it can be very beneficial for stem undergrads. Having a technical background with an MBA is gold. Unfortunately I majored in accounting.
In my grad program, part of the reason I made it into my second year was through networking and befriending my cohort. I cried a lot during my first semester of grad school and if it wasn’t for my cohort, I probably would not made it into my second year. Due to Covid, everybody is remote. I definitely don’t feel like it’s worth paying on campus prices for online but what can you do...
I remember back then when I was in College in early 90s .. I paid none for my tuition .. got my BS and Master. Today? Kids are paying the astronomical tuition and jobs have been outsourced .. jobs are not paying good enough and kids owe so much debt. Not Worth it ! You can do Online Degree now especially after COVID-19. Everything changes. Screw that University with crazy tuition !
Higher education is all about connections and luck. I always wanted to get a Masters or Professional degree but when I graduated with a BA and no job opportunities while people with my same degree were getting nice jobs because their recruiter liked them or they had some connection here or a family member there I realized it really wasn't worth the risk to go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt and be considered over qualified for a $40K a year job but underqualified for a $80K a year job because you don't have work experience.
My cousin got her bachelor's degree in finance years ago and she often talks about wanting a master's degree because there are some jobs you can't apply for without a master's degree.
Jerry N. I got my bachelors and masters in criminal justice because of my masters degree i moved up rank faster then my peers and make 70k a year. Its masters degree is worth it only if it gives you the competitive edge.
MBA changes your way of thinking and the way you manage/strategize your business. It gives you a deeper understanding and appreciation of the corporate world in different areas - finance, hr, strategic operations, leadership, etc. It prepares you for the bigger role in the corporate. Having gotten an MBA degree myself, I can definitely say that it is worth it! 💥💥💥
So that an MBA can go and work for a company built by someone who didn’t finish high school? Do you not see the irony there? The issue here is that if you are in competition with a self starter who consumes business books like air, and hits the real world during the time you are “getting your MBA”, you are going to be at a disadvantage while people like him get the head-start. The public has seen too much of the latter, and not enough the MBA making the cut. The cost of it is causing alot of people to scratch their heads and rethink the college approach.
If you listen to the students carefully, you can tell that it is only for certain career fields that an MBA would be worth it. Careers like the medical and engineering fields where an MBA is necessary for advancement. Getting an MBA nowadays is not the sure thing that it was a couple of years ago and people are starting to see that which is why enrolment is down for MBA programs.
Yikes. It's a hard no. Better off putting the 50k + into a house. Also I've worked with many MBAs and they're no more proficient than people with BAs. If anything they're worse because many think they're better they really are due to their over confident dispositions.
@Richard Dixon oh geeze. Lot of ground to cover here which is a clear sign I'm deal with an idiot. For starters educated people dont make such bold assumptions. I have a fiance degree and also operate in dats science so I don't only know the numbers, I know how to build a code to process that data so it can prove you wrong for me. Next up I'm rather suprised they never taught you cognitive bias with all the money you poured in. Maybe they skipped that because it was in their interest to pad your ego so they could pick your pocket and have you feel good about it. Lastly your field is the one of the only ones where an MBA makes sense as you often need it to be a CPA which is in fact lucrative. The same is not true for social sciences, more general business specialities, or any other field that isnt commercially viable. Even in my field that is lucrative we dont feel a masters is worth as much as just getting more certifications/skills that will make you more competitive in the field. So you trying to correlate high salaries with MBAs likely doesn't adjust for two things. First it likely doesnt adjust per industry or by age. Of course there will be higher earners in some fields or are in more mature cohort that are at the peak of the lifetime earning potential which will inadvertently drive up the average. So go back and make a group of just 20-30 somethings then splice it by field then let me k know if everyone is on the gravy train.
@Richard Dixon you have 2 millions in investments and have enough lack of selfworth to argue in the youtube comment section like a 5 year old? Interesting!
What if I got a master of business administration at the highest university of Belgium, would that be worth it? I could also do a double degree (so 2 masters, they offer that program here)
I am taking online school right now due to the pandemic. I was thinking of a top school like USC but the cost is just crazy. I decided on a state school. I think it’s what you make of it, if you get out of your comfort zone, email, and have a specific realistic goal then you’ll be in good shape. Im an accountant and would like to start my own tax and accounting firm, but I could’ve started without the MBA. I want to get into teaching at a CC. Requires an MBA so I think I’m good just need to grind it out
80% of what you learn in an MBA school, one can learn online. The rest can be earned through life experience. You would be better off finding something to sell and begin selling it. You will probably fail on your first tries, but each of those failures will make you learn more in the few months you get back up on your feet and tackle your next idea, than 6 years of business school.
I go to Boston U, but I'm not a Questrom student. Took several courses there. One thing my questrom friends and me agree: business school courses are pointless and useless, you can learn all of it and then some by downloading the syllabus and reading the textbook. Networking is why you are there.
The journalist was great, and the dean was transparent giving honest response like terming education as business and courses as products which is pretty rare nowdays.
Yes, the applications are declining but they didn't say anything about if there is a demand for MBA graduates in the job market. That's what I really wanted to know.
still doesn't answer the original question ...at least one thing's certain, an MBA education is just another product, only that it costs you and arm and a leg and then some 🙄
Great video! As an INSEAD MBA and Ex-McKinsey, I recently created a video on my channel what I believe the top 5 reasons are to do an MBA. Hope this is helpful - interesting topic!
MBA = general degree with no real specialization (no, your specialization does not make you a specialist). Get a degree in a business skill: accounting, economics, or finance.
As someone who grew up with blue collar parents, the Ivy League MBA taught me how corporate America works and how to talk the talk walk the walk, and how to sort of fit in, i sound smarter, I can BS my way through a hard question, but in gaining real skills that improve the world, it’s a waste of time. It’s good for getting a traditional job in the corporate world, lock in a relatively comfy upper middle class 200k a year income, and open some doors for certain professions, like finance and consulting. You don’t gain real skills in demand however.
You all should read starting 30 pages of personal mba book It explains how teaching mba is just a business. Business can be learned by many other and better wayd
I just got a new job at a corporate office and half the questions they asked were regarding my masters program...... it definitely helps regardless of what anyone says
avereus sabine well yeah but I didn’t even finish my masters yet and that’s all they seemed to car about , and now that I’m 6 months in they told me that was one of the main reasons they hired me so no not dumb actually
After seeing my undergrad loans, I refuse to pay for my masters. I'll look for fellowships/scholarships/or get an employer to pay for it. 78k a year is INSANE
Jesus, 78K/year? Tell this to an average European, and they'll think you are joking. Higher education is free/almost free here. In fact, when I was doing my BSc, the state didn't just pay my tuition, I received scholarships that almost covered my living expenses. Not to mention the Erasmus+ programme, which allowed me to study a semester abroad (in a way better uni) for free. They even paid for about 2/3 of my expenses there.
I've been eyeing this exact MBA on EdEx website for about a year now. I think that school is a huge waste of time in general, and we learn almost everything through work and life experience. But since everyone wants all these degrees and diplomas, we need to get them *rolls her eyes* So, once I'm done with my bachelor, I'm signing up for an online MBA. It's convenient, and I don't have to take a break from advancing my career while I'm working on the MBA.
For those actually interested in running a business and making some real money, steer far away from an MBA and go to school for whichever degree will make you the most money as soon as you graduate. Use that money to buy real estate, ETFs, or to create a product. That’s the only real way to retire by 30.
Well said, I completely agree. The probability of those assets appreciating, despite what overhead or upfront costs there may be, is far greater than trying to retire at 30 by leveraging yourself to the hilt. STEM is well worth it for a degree, and it's much more feasible to pursue those business ventures 'on the side' when making $80K-$100K a year.
I feel MBAs are for people who want to be consultants or corporate people in big companies. (This is only worth it if you get an MBA from a top 20 school). Yeah, I agree, they are not for people who want to start a business.
I think the question: there is this online mba program that BU is offering which is not quite the cost you guys are paying, hit these students the hardest. They still seem to be unsure as why did they spend so much money staying in campus and seeing online mba would have been hands down best option. Good questions by interviewer
Why not look at the broader industry? Is this an ad for Questrom? Uninformative of the larger trends happening in this market and how DIFFERENT schools are tackling them.
I know a girl that dropped 80k and 2 years at Wharton for an mba. And once she's done, she started a drop shipping Korean skin care biz, albeit with better photoshopped pictures! So there is value in an mba kids!
Really skeptical about online MBA as it lacks networking and ambience while knowledge we can get it anywhere in this digital world. As far as MBA as overall is concerned, I believe it isn't meeting industry requirements rather will make you - Jack of all trade. Hence, be cautious while going for any MBA degree.
back to Sept 2019, they never know there would be a global pandemic in next quarter, or they will focus more on job security and more expensive campus-MBA becoming online MBA
As a graduate of a business school in Canada (top 5), and having majored in accounting (a very useful area of specialization, as opposed to a lot of floofy majors), I can attest to how helpful it has been for me. However, I see a lot of strangely marketed and titled business degrees that I would not touch with a 10 foot pole.
MBA is networking. And it boosts your pay into industries like consulting. Don’t expect to be a business tycoon from a 2 year program, but do expect to earn more in an industry you were already qualified for
