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Photo: “Power suit, power tie, power steering…”
This is more or less a rant against higher education (specifically – the declining value of the MBA degree), so if you don’t care, don’t bother…
In 2004, I was working for Fellowship of Christian Athletes as a Field Representative in Northeast Oklahoma, and through a series of events found myself searching for a new path in life – a search that ultimately led me to pursue a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) from The University of Oklahoma (OU). It was not a decision made lightly and I spent a lot of hours researching schools and programs, in order to find one that made sense both financially and academically.
I chose OU, for two profoundly important reasons:
- It was one of the top 30 Business schools (or B-Schools) at that time,
- It’s in-state tuition was very affordable.
I felt I had made a very educated decision and after studying my can off for the GMAT, I received a partial scholarship for my exemplary score to OU. My first two semesters at The Price School of Business, were the hardest nine months of my life, as every grad student in the program carried 16 credit hours of class each semester, which is a very high class load, as the normal full-time grad student is expected to carry 9 credit hours.
During the second semester you were expected to apply and secure an internship for your second year, and I locked down a Marketing Coordinator position at Nextep, a Human Resource outsourcing firm in Norman, OK. So on top of th 9 hours per semester the 2nd year, I was required to work at least 20 hours in my internship.
ALL THIS TO SAY:
These MBA programs that are sprouting up everywhere that are branded as 7 credit hours (total) or 1-day a month for 16 months are a slap in the face to the Degree program I slogged through, all for the same set of letters after your name. I guess, I’m the fool…
When I brought this up with the advisors at OU, they countered with, “Well, people who do the hiring know the difference between an OU MBA and a University of Phoenix MBA.” The more I live and work in the real world, the more I disagree with their blanket statement. Yes, my degree required much of me and was very valuable from an educational standpoint, and because of this OU is a top program. But, in the marketplace the proliferation of middle management schmucks toting MBA degrees from lesser-than University’s has diluted it’s inherent value.
The perception is that the MBA is a cheap degree, and until the “power’s that be” figure out a way to have standards for this particular degree program it will remain so… because perception – whether right or wrong – has always been and will always be… everything.
