Is an MBA degree worth the time and trouble?

 What is your strategy for going back to get your MBA?

Your Rant: I can’t decide if I should go back for my MBA. On one hand I think it will help my career; on the other, it’s a lot of time and money.

911 Repair:

Join the club. At last count there were 372,000 people enrolled in business graduate programs (up almost 40%). Even with enrollments leveling off in the mid-90’s, according to my calculations, by the year 2046 there will be more MBA’s in the United States than people. And you thought the lawyer glut was scary!Would the MBA experience be good for you? A qualified yes (but then so are castor oil and enemas). The question is, does the glut of MBA’s make the degree meaningless, or is it the price of admission for a management level job in the future? Unfortunately, the future value of an MBA is about as predictable as hog bellies on the Chicago exchange with decidedly less short-term gain.

I’ve seen MBA programs from both sides, as a student and adjunct professor, and I believe that it can pay dividends for you. However, I also think it’s important to ask yourself some tough questions before you ante up your time and cash.

Is it worth the money? Let’s do a little cost-benefit analysis (after all, this is business school we’re talking about). Take the amount of time and money an MBA degree will cost and compare that to other investments you could make in your career—specialized training in your field, non-degree classes, an apprenticeship with a mentor, etc. This kind of comparison is commonly called “opportunity cost analysis” and grasping this concept should allow you to skip approximately the first month of your class in finance.

Is it worth the time? For most people, there are two concepts that business school conveniently eliminates from your vocabulary—evenings and weekends. Those who plan on working while going to school will lose yet another—sleep. Are you ready for the salt mines?

Is the information you’ll be studying current? There’s an old saying in the military that generals are usually trained to fight the last war. MBA programs can suffer from the same dysfunction. The business world has changed dramatically in the last decade. Has the MBA curriculum at the schools you’re considering kept pace? To find out, talk to recent grads (not the ones the school refers you to; ask for the whole list!); check out the reading lists (sure, there are valuable classics, but are most of the books the same ones the professors studied when they were students?); ask how they’ve integrated current topics into the curriculum. (Such as how to use the Internet and Intranets—and while you’re at it, see if they back up their talk with a cutting edge web site for their MBA program.) And finally look to see if the program gets local business leaders involved in the classroom. The further removed that MBA programs get from the real world the more stale they’ll become.

Does an MBA scratch where you itch? There are lots of reasons to get an MBA—to get ahead, to up your pay, to impress your parents. Before you register, be clear on your goals—and make sure the program and the degree will really help you meet them.

Can you deal with the jokes? Uh, how many MBAs does it take to screw up a light bulb company? This is not a degree for the thin-skinned.

Finally, to get a feel for life as an MBA—and a decidedly different point of view from university catalogs—check out Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA by Peter Robinson (Warner Books, 1994). It’s a revealing peek under the gown of an MBA grad. Not always a pretty sight.Bob Rosner and Sherrie Campbell author the nationally syndicated workplace911 column weekly. Bob’s a best-selling author and award-winning journalist who has responded to over 50,000 emails from employees, bosses and entrepreneurs. Sherrie’s a relationship expert and award-winning comedian who has offered quick, intuitive and humorous responses to over 30,000 people. He’s been called “Dilbert, with a solution.” She’s the counselor with a kick. Together they’ve turned rants into raves via TV, radio, print and live on their website at workplace911.com.