THE Career Site for Accountants and Consultants.
A while back, I shared with you the story of a student cobbling together a top tier MBA for little to no cost aka the “No Pay MBA”. I had some reservations that make-shift MBAs would gain mainstream traction, but several people insisted this is the future of business education. Recent news of MBA education taking another step in the direction of a “freemium” delivery model suggests those people had it right all along. [Read more…]
What would you say if I told you there’s a way to take a Wharton MBA class for less than $1,000?
It sounds crazy, right? After all, I’ve been known to rant every now and again about people taking on crippling debt to get their MBA with zero plan for the future.
Now what if I told you that you can have a top-tier MBA for less than $1,000? [Read more…]
You’re all invited to join in a twitter chat hosted by +Black Enterprise that will be taking place this Friday. The conversation will cover the pros and cons of leaving the workforce to go back to school. The logistics are as follows:
TITLE: @BlackEnterprise“Grad School vs. School of Life” Twitter Chat
Join us as we talk the pros and cons of attending graduate school in lieu of getting into the job market. Experts will weigh in on the return on investment, what to consider when making the decision and other alternatives for maximizing your professional marketability. Tweet #GradvsLife to chime in or submit questions.
HOST: Janell Hazelwood, Associate Producer, BlackEnterprise.com @JPHazelwood
CO-MODERATOR: Jamie Harrison, Career Contributor, BlackEnterprise.com @JayNHarrison
If you’ve never joined a twitter chat before don’t worry. The simplest way to participate is to click the “sign-in with Twitter” button located at the top of the Tweetchat window below at 11AM EST on Friday and begin tweeting.
Note:Be sure to include #GradVsLife at the end of your tweet.
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| All the preparation in the world is useless if you don’t apply it |
I was thinking about what to post for this week’s cartoon and I started to look within…like a young martial artist on a search for “the master.”
If you’re not familiar with such things, you can see what I’m talking about on YouTube here. That clip is from an 80s movie called “The Last Dragon” that I’ve seen so many times it’s actually embarrassing, but there is a lesson to be learned here which I’ll get to in a moment.
I’ve had multiple friends of mine tell me they really want to go back to business school but haven’t done anything yet because they are either afraid of taking the GMAT or still preparing to take the GMAT (read: procrastinating). Preparing is crucial to excelling in whatever you do but should not be relied on as a crutch when the real hurdle you’re facing is fear.
This week’s cartoon was born from the experience I’ve had learning how to swim as an adult…with teachers that are accustomed to teaching young children and parents that are shocked when they see me get in the pool for my lesson right after my 4 year old daughter. Initially I thought I would look stupid (which still hasn’t been ruled out) but I was finally not just willing but driven to achieve this goal. After all my hesitation about the money or the looks I would get, I’ve had people come up to me saying they’re impressed that I would take this on as an adult.
One of my favorite yet hashtags I’ve seen on twitter is #GoDo tweeted by @LouImbriano. There comes a time when rubber MUST meet road, so make sure it’s on your terms.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this post on applications declining at top business schools. Today, I came across an interesting post with a slightly different perspective on the topic. What made the post worth a (full) read for me is the fact that the author immediately discloses that he dropped out of business school. So while I can say it’s not worth it for everyone in theory, this is a real life example of someone who started and came to the conclusion that it STILL wasn’t worth finishing.
He makes some great points on the return on investment being a risky proposition and more time being spent on networking and recruiting than actual coursework, but I question his premise that people can take online courses and network through LinkedIn and get the same results in their career search.
For learning purposes, of course you can learn online just as much as in the classroom, I’m not sure self study carries the same weight as saying you studied a certain topic at Kellogg, HBS, Anderson, or any other top school.
On the networking side, you can make some powerful ontacts on LinkedIn but the effort required to do so is MUCH more than when you’re networking at business school. It’s much easier to network with people on campus in your class or actively recruiting for talent than it is randomly reaching out to an executive at the firm you’re targeting for your next gig. I’m not saying the difference justifies the full cost of going to get your MBA, but there is no denying that it has some advantages over an individual job search.
What are your thoughts? Do you think self-study is the new trend in resume building/career search? Let me know in the comments.