B-School

October 6, 2018 by Eric Butts Leave a Comment

5 things you should do to stand out at a job fair (plus one thing to avoid)

As many of you know, I recently attended the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Conference in Detroit. During the two-day job fair, I came across a lot of hungry young professionals trying to figure out this whole career thing. While there, I realized I’ve discussed the importance of showing up to conferences and job fairs and my own experience in turning a job fair into a management consulting job offer, but never really talked about what to do once you’re *at* the job fair. I’m going to change that now and share the 5 keys to job fair success. These have held true since I was in the recruiting process several years ago, and they are just as true today. [Read more…]

May 11, 2015 by Eric Butts 1 Comment

Is a Free MBA Worth Your Time?

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…]

April 19, 2014 by Eric Butts 2 Comments

MBA For $1000 From a Top 5 School May Be A Reality

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…]

September 28, 2012 by Eric Butts 2 Comments

Bschool Dropout Explains MBA Application Decline

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.

August 9, 2012 by Eric Butts Leave a Comment

5 Reasons To Choose A Part-time MBA Over Traditional Business School

In one of my first posts on determining if business school is the right move, I talked about some of the issues students need to consider before going back to school, specifically the full-time business school student. As promised in that post, I want to spend some time sharing my top reasons for pursuing a part-time MBA.

Work Experience
Part-time MBA students can get their MBA without sacrificing the professional development that goes along with leaving to the workforce for two years. Oh yeah, and the income that comes with continuing to work full-time is also a benefit.

Fewer Required Courses
This seems to vary by institution. For example, at the Kellogg School of Management (the best business school in the world in my humble opinion) and the Hass School of Business, part-time students are required to take fewer courses to graduate than their full-time counterparts. On the other hand, the Stern School of Business and the Booth School of Business do not reduce the required coursework for their part-time programs. All of these are top-notch programs that simply have

The idea behind reducing the coursework (at least at Kellogg) is that you will compensate for that discrepancy in coursework by continuing to learn in the workplace since full-time employment is a requirement for the Part-time program.

Tailored Coursework
Perhaps the most interesting difference in choosing to go to the Part-time MBA program is the fact that you can tailor your coursework around the needs of your job/company. For example, I was working at a global consumer goods company that always invested in derivatives. Once I became responsible for consolidating North America financial results, I wanted to better understand how derivatives were structured so I enrolled in an investments class and an international finance class. When you are able to see the value like this immediately, it makes it easier to prioritize things you may not have prioritized otherwise, like studying perhaps…

Instant Professional Network
While going to business full-time allows you to develop a network with your colleagues that will go onto leadership positions in their respective business endeavors, it may take more time to realize this than when you’re in the Part-time program. Similar to how you going part-time means you won’t forgo career advancement for two years, you may also reap the benefits of your classmates continuing to advance their careers. I’ve seen multiple instances where classmates have changed jobs in the middle of the part-time program because of a connection made with a classmate.

Ability to Handle Multiple High Priority Tasks
By successfully completing an MBA program while maintaining your career progression, a potential employer immediately knows that you can take on multiple demanding tasks at a time to achieve a desired outcome. Honestly, people respect the fact that you were even brave enough to try going back to school while working full-time. And if you have a baby in the middle of the program like I did, it makes for a great story.

People always love a great story.