Second And Park — Web Copy That Works by Tiffani Jones

Lots of people around my age (mid-late twenties) who’ve had a job for a while seem to be kicking around the idea of getting their MBA. They talk about the pedigree and competitive edge it offers. Many assume it will allow them more freedom and flexibility in their career down the line.

In some cases, this is undoubtedly true. But in many others, getting an MBA can be a waste of time and money–and lead you down a path which in which you relinquish too much control over your life.

So should you get an MBA? Here are some things to take into account before you make the leap:

It’s expensive.
Like, tens of thousands (or fifties of thousands) of dollars expensive. Unless 1) someone else is paying for it or 2) you know that you’ll love and want to keep your resulting future job, seriously consider your future debt-to-income ratio. Gigantic monthly loan payments hurt bad. And think: the time you spent acquiring debt in your MBA program, you could have spent making money and learning new skills instead.

You can learn the same skills in a real job.
Depending on what field you’re in, an honest-to-goodness job can provide just as much ROI as an MBA. If you want to start a cookie business, for instance, it’s probably smarter to work hard gaining real-time experience at a specialty bakery than to get an MBA.

It’s a horrible way to avoid the real world.
MBA’s are costly and time-consuming. If you’re worried about jumping headfirst into the real world or a corporate job, why not spend your time working at a coffee shop and learning something new at night, or testing the waters in a number of fields? If you’re not sure about your future, why acquire debt and lock yourself into a situation where you must have a high-paying job, forever, to afford your loan payments?

MBA’s are great at teaching you about some, but not all, industries.
If you want to be an executive at a large corporation like Bank of America, an MBA can be very, very helpful. But if you want to run a more creative business, say a handmade jewelry shop, you might not need quite so much wind-up. Just learn how to make great jewelry, then learn basic marketing, finance, and sales. Then work very hard, and you’ll succeed.

The MBA pedigree matters in some industries, but not in others.
In the nonprofit industry, where you can spit and land on a Master’s degree, an MBA might give you the competitive edge you need to find a great job (say, at the UN). But in the web industry, where a lot of folks learned their skills as a hobby in high school, an MBA is probably not as important–especially considering that most MBA programs are far behind the times in terms of technology. Make sure you know what field you want to go into, and what the landscape is like, before assuming you need post-secondary education.

You DO learn a lot in an MBA program.
I don’t want to do too much MBA bashing, since you do learn some very important business skills–skills that can make the difference between entrepreneurs and businesspeople who succeed and who don’t–in such programs. This is especially true of people who know exactly what they want out of their MBA program.

It can be refreshing to see a newly-minted MBA do business. They’ve usually got a deeper understanding of finance, accounting, operations, and even HR than non-MBA folks, and the time they’ve spent prepping for their jobs can make them more efficient.

So, should you do it?
If you know what you’re after, have a solid understanding of the business climate you’ll be entering into, and suspect that an MBA is essential to your long-term success, then go right ahead–make the (time and/or monetary) investment.

But if you’re using an MBA as a procrastination tactic or if you’ve got the “screw it, I’ll just go to law/grad/business school” blues, stop dead in your tracks. Take a deep breath and think about what you really want out of life. If you need to get a new job or spend your weekends learning a new skill, be brave and do it. Don’t bury your head in post-secondary education. In the end, your tenacity will pay off.