We recently discussed whether you should try and get your company to foot the bill for your bschool education. In that prior post, we offered some things to think about that you might not have considered. One other point that needs to be addressed – and this may be controversial, but when have we ever strayed away from that?
We hear that the sponsored MBA students are lazy. In fact, they’re sometimes accused of being L-A-Z-Y. That they are just sorta coasting. Biding their time. Phoning it in. Not fully engaged. Wasting the opportunity.
You appreciate what you pay for, right? You might want to think about this all-too-human phenomenon, that might be setting yourself up for two years of apathy, if you’ve got someone else footing the bschool bill.
Exhibit A for this assertion:
Yes, that’s Columbia Follies, which is meant as jokes and parody and satire… but a joke is only funny when it’s based on truth.
If you’re sitting here now saying you want the MBA for the education part of it, great. We applaud you. But will you be able to maintain that noble commitment to yourself in the midst of case overload and way too many models to run and all you want to do is go to Happy Hour and drown your DCF sorrows?
As ignoble as it may be, a big motivation for many people to do the homework and get good grades (yes even with grade non-disclosure) is because they need to land a great job coming out. They REALLY need to land a great job, given the mountain of grad school debt that they’ll be facing. So, double-motivation: need the grades to get the job, need the job to pay for this very expensive endeavor that they’ve embarked upon.
Will you end up just coasting, since you have a job secured already? Even more so: Will you be coasting, because there’s no threat of a student loan payment starting to creep up on your horizon?
Yes, some employers require a minimum GPA to get the tuition reimbursement, but it’s not like you’d need to be at the top of your class. The bare-minimum has this odd way of becoming an acceptable level of performance in certain situations.
Just make sure that you’re walking into all this with a clear head and honest assessment of who you are and how you will (truly) react under this situation. It would be a shame for all your pre-MBA excitement and enthusiasm to get drained out into apathy when you’re actually going through the grad school experience.
MBAfiend says
Wait… So some employers really require a certain GPA minimum for their MBA hires? Blimey, I guess the quest for a ‘high’ GPA never ends…
Unfortunately a ‘high’ GPA/grades doesnot necessarily translate to a full grasp and understanding of … (Re; cramming and rote learning)…. in my opinion at least…
As an MBA applicant, I really look forward to the ‘education’ part of it… (YES, I said it) and the thought of possibly having too much course overload is as exciting and it will be challenging…. As long students pick courses they’re genuinely interested in, alot of coursework should only be challenging and not daunting (I hope)…..
Nice post, by the way… Great food for thought….
essaysnark says
@MBAfiend, to clarify: If you’re BEING SPONSORED then your employer may require you to maintain a minimum GPA as part of the contract of paying for your tuition. Hiring companies don’t usually have strict minimums, and many bschools have grade non-disclosure policies anyway, so the bschool GPA doesn’t always factor in with MBA recruiting.
It’s pretty hard to do cramming/rote learning in bschool; it’s just not how the environment is set up and it’s not how things are taught. You need to demonstrate an integrated understanding of the subject matter. Some schools (Yale) even have a cross-disciplinary approach. You can’t fake it.
The coursework is daunting for most people. You can never get through all the required reading assignments and it’s constant overload on too much to do, particularly the first year. This is GRADUATE SCHOOL which is a fact that seems to escape many people. And you’re surrounded by the smartest and most ambitious people you’ve ever met. This is not college redux.
Glad to hear that the actual education has an appeal though. it is an important part of the mix. That whole ‘school’ thing… 🙂
EssaySnark