MBA - should I do it, and when?

Question

Hey everyone,

I'll soon be joining a top tier 2 firm in Europe (think Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman..) at the entry-level post undergrad.

I've always been interested in doing an MBA at some point. I have two main questions:

1) In your experience, what is the main benefit of an MBA to one's career?

2) When would you recommend doing an MBA? Two years in, four years in? If a firm is sponsoring your MBA, when's the best time to do it to jump position-wise upon your return (e.g. leave as an Associate, come back as an EM)?

Would appreciate any insights.

Cheers!

Answer 1

Hi Anonymous,

please find below the answers to your questions.

1) In your experience, what is the main benefit of an MBA to one's career?

Generally speaking an MBA is good for three things:

Building a network – you could easily get in touch with people who attended the same MBA in the past
Allow to switch career – after an MBA you will be qualified for industries not available before
Business knowledge – the actual classes you will take

The most useful long-term is usually the network. An MBA gives also credibility for a corporate career.

2) When would you recommend doing an MBA? Two years in, four years in? If a firm is sponsoring your MBA, when's the best time to do it to jump position-wise upon your return (e.g. leave as an Associate, come back as an EM)?

In many consulting firms you can join an MBA program after 2-2.5 years. You may have a chance to do that also later, but usually, the sooner the better since you will have an increasing opportunity cost later on.

The standard process is that you leave as an analyst and are hired in a pre-manager position after the MBA (Associate at McKinsey, Consultant at BCG and Bain).

Best,
Francesco

Answer 2

Hello,

1) Network, possibilities to switch and start a new career. Talking about business knowledge it depends on your background: if you have a business background, it will not add that much

2) As soos as possible. After the MBA you will have this "Lock-in" period and they won't let you to switch career immediately. The sooner you do it, the sooner you will be owner of your career.

Best,
Luca

Answer 3

Hi,
1. Network and CV are the most important benefit of a top MBA
2. With an experience in consulting 2 years are enough. You will come back as an associate but after few months you will be became a junior manager

Hope it helps,
Antonello

Answer 4

Hi,

1) First of all it's network. Soon you will be at the point when you will be "Pulled" for the job rather than searching for yourself. For example, in my current company, 70% of the VP / CXO level are from HBS.

Secondly, it's a good option to switch and restart the career (e.g. switch to PE, Product management, Startups, General Management with P&L ownership)

2) Your application should be very strong to get into top schools (and in my subjective opinion only Top schools make sense). Thus it can be 2-5 years, depending on how much time you need to build a strong case

(Usually, the strongest cases have a double profile - e.g Tech and consulting)

Best!

Answer 5

Hello and congrats!

I would indeed advise you to do an MBA. Responding your points:

1. Why?

- Knowledge - particularly when you come from a tech background

- Network you build + the school´s alumni

- Personal growth

- Chance to chnge industry, position, etc.

2. When is the best time?

When MBB are the ones sponsoring it, the decision of wheter to sponsor comes after 2-3 years -depending on firms and offices-. This implies that they cover most of the cost, but you need to come back at least 2 years.

However, most people who have actually done an MBA would say that is too soon, and that you profit much more when you have more working experience.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 6

Hi Anonymous. That’s an interesting question. Since it is not clear whether you are referring to consulting work ex... (read entire answer)

Hi Anonymous. That’s an interesting question. Since it is not clear whether you are referring to consulting work experience or not, I would assume you have three options: O... (read entire answer)

Answer 7

Hi! I totally empathise with the confusion on the topic. It's very difficult to form an opinion from the outside. Yo... (read entire answer)

Hi! I totally empathise with the confusion on the topic. It's very difficult to form an opinion from the outside. You can start from the following resource that will give you a... (read entire answer)

Answer 8

Hi Anonymous, As for your first and third question: there are several criteria to define which is the best business... (read entire answer)

Hi Anonymous, As for your first and third question: there are several criteria to define which is the best business school; Marco provided a good analysis here: https://www.... (read entire answer)