MBA Personal Reflection

So, you may be wondering if I've decided to obtain an MBA?

The answer to the question is yes, but.....

This past year has been a difficult one for me. Both my mother and my grandfather have been battling cancer for the last year. My mother had a very dangerous nine hour surgery in June to remove her cancer. They feel it was successful; however, her recovery will be a slow one. My grandfather lost his battle with cancer yesterday.

In addition to taking care of my mother, I've taken a full load of classes each semester and worked full-time. I spent most of my summer traveling for work. Free-time has not been on my agenda for quite some time.

I've decided that it would be beneficial for me to obtain an MBA, however, I've decided to allow myself one year off before pursuing that goal. I went through the decision making process I listed in my blogs and for financial reasons, career related decisions, and family needs, I've decided that taking some time off (after obtaining my accounting degree in the fall)is the best course of action.

Researching the MBA program has allowed me to learn more about the benefits and the downfalls, educated me on the steps I need to take, and shown me how to decide on a school. I hope the information I gathered and shared was somewhat beneficial to you as well.

Getting Prepared- Don't forget the Essay

You're essay is important because it is your chance to differentiate yourself from the crowd. An impressive essay just may be your key to getting an interview.

Here is a sample goal essay.


Goals Essay
It is critical in the goals essay found in almost every MBA application to show that you have clear direction and purpose based on experience and planning. Business school is not another opportunity to "find yourself."

8:00 AM. July 1, 2010. The 23rd floor of the Bank of China building in Hong Kong. A woman sitting behind the mahogany desk calls a Shanghai trader to buy 200,000 shares of China Telecom's stock. Moments later, she dashes into a teleconference with Tokyo analysts. When the teleconference finally concludes two hours later, the woman rushes down the stairs, hails a taxi to the Chek Lap Kok Airport, catches a flight to Thailand, and ends her day with a meeting with the CFO of DynaTech Computers. I look forward to maintaining this busy schedule as a portfolio manager of an international equity mutual fund about ten years after obtaining my MBA. The Top School academic experience can build on my public accounting training and my multi-cultural and multi-lingual background to prepare me for work first as an equity analyst in the mutual fund industry and ultimately as a portfolio manager specializing in Asian Pacific equities.

As a CPA and staff accountant with Big 6 for the past two and a half years, I have developed a solid foundation in teamwork, analytical, and problem-solving skills. As a bilingual associate of the Asia-Pacific Business Group, I specialize in auditing the financial statements of in-bound Asian businesses. However, while Big 6 provides expansive career opportunities in public accounting, I have reached a plateau in developing the analytical and management skills necessary to achieve my ultimate career goal of money management. In public accounting, we measure and examine financial transactions of the past. In contrast, money managers examine the current attributes of securities and attempt to predict their future performance; unfortunately, this forward-looking focus is absent in public accounting. Unable to delve into financial areas beyond accounting and limited in obtaining more challenging analytical experiences, I am also constrained by the compliance nature of public accounting. I cannot acquire the advanced financial skills necessary to understand how financial assets are created and traded and how they are leveraged in national and international capital markets.

Furthermore, an effective manager in the 21st century must be well-versed in international business transactions. Unfortunately, my desire to gain this broader understanding of the increasingly interdependent global economy remains unsatisfied at Big 6. Although I have utilized my Chinese language skills in servicing our Asian clients and engaged in comparative technical analysis of U.S. GAAP and French, Taiwanese, and Japanese financial reporting requirements, my exposure to and knowledge of broader transactional issues such as international transfer pricing has been limited. Finally, as our audits focus mainly on the clients' compliance with U.S. GAAP and foreign accounting and reporting requirements, they provide few opportunities to appreciate the "big picture" of international business.

A background in financial reporting and servicing Asia-Pacific business clients. The ability to converse fluently in Chinese. An understanding of Chinese, Japanese, and American cultures. I will bring these qualities to the Top School program and ultimately to my career in international investment management. As a first step toward achieving my career goals, I have registered to take level one of the CFA examination in June 1993 and plan to complete the entire examination series upon graduation from Top Ten. Armed with the CFA certification and Top School's international bent, strength in finance and management training, I will be ready to place that call to the trader in China, conduct the teleconference with Tokyo, and visit the CFO in Thailand.

Getting Prepared- The Interview

It is important that you prepare for your interview. You'll only get one chance to impress and chances are you'll be competing against several qualified candidates.

Here are some sample questions to help you prepare:

Sample MBA Interview Questions

A group of applicants have offered the following as questions asked of them when they interviewed for admission to MBA programs:

Discuss your career progression.
Give examples of how you have demonstrated leadership inside and outside the work environment.
What do you want to do (in regard to business function, industry, location)?
Why the MBA? Why now?
Describe an ethical dilemma faced at work?
Describe your career aspirations?
What would you do if not accepted?
What are your long- and short-term goals? Why?
Why are you applying to business school?
Why does this school appeal to you?
What is an activity you are involved in? Why is it important to you?
Talk about experiences you have had at work.
Why are you interested in a general MBA program?
Why did you choose your undergraduate major?
Discuss yourself.
What contributions would you make to a group?
Name three words or phrases to describe yourself to others.
What is most frustrating at work?
How would co-workers describe you?
Describe a typical work day.
Have you worked in a team environment? What were your contributions to the effort?
Discuss any experience you have had abroad.
How did you choose your job after college?
What do you do to relieve stress?
It's two years after graduation, what three words would your team members use to describe you?
Describe a situation where you brought an idea forward, and it failed.
How do you define success?
What would you do if a team member wasn't pulling his own weight?
Is there anything you would like to ask me/us?

Getting Prepared- What is the GMAT

Why is GMAT Preparation so Important?

The GMAT is one of the primary factors that will determine your acceptance into Business school, as well as your eligibility for merit-based grants, scholarships, assistantships, and other financial aid. A GMAT score is typically the single component that all applicants have in common, and is considered by most schools to be a relatively accurate predictor of how you will perform academically.

Admissions committees will often waive application fees for those who have received GMAT scores in the top percentiles, and studies have shown that graduates from higher ranked business schools typically have the highest starting salaries. Serious preparation is about more than just a GMAT score; it is an investment in your future.

There are several options for preparing for the GMAT such as review classes, reading material, or online review classes. There are even mock test that you can take prior to taking the real test, so there is no excuse not to prepare yourself to take this test. If you are serious about going through an MBA program, it is essential that you do well on this test.

What are the top MBA Programs

So, if you could have your choice of school, which school would it be?

BusinessWeek reveals these as the top 30 full-time MBA programs of 2006:

TOP 30 U.S. PROGRAMS
1 University of Chicago
2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4 Harvard University
5 University of Michigan (Ross)
6 Stanford University
7 MIT (Sloan)
8 UC Berkeley (Haas)
9 Duke University (Fuqua)
10 Columbia University
11 Dartmouth (Tuck)
12 UCLA (Anderson)
13 Cornell University (Johnson)
14 NYU (Stern)
15 University of Virginia (Darden)
16 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
17 UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
18 Indiana University (Kelley)
19 Yale University
20 Texas - Austin
21 University of Southern California (Marshall)
22 Georgetown University (McDonough)
23 Emory University (Goizueta)
24 Purdue University (Krannert)
25 University of Maryland (Smith)
26 University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
27 Washington University (Olin)
28 Rochester (Simon)
29 Michigan State University (Broad)
30 Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Where do MBA students want to work?

Where do MBA students want to work once they completed their degree?

Fortune lists the top 100 companies for MBA students to work for as well as some other interesting statistics. Here is the top 20 list:

1 McKinsey & Company 18.27%
2 Google 12.55%
3 Goldman Sachs 12.54%
4 Bain & Company 12.31%
5 The Boston Consulting Group 10.67%
6 Citigroup 9.20%
7 Apple Computer 9.02%
8 General Electric 8.12%
9 Johnson & Johnson 8.06%
10 Morgan Stanley 7.26%
11 Procter & Gamble 6.90%
12 Nike 6.79%
13 Lehman Brothers 6.75%
14 Walt Disney 6.43%
15 Booz Allen Hamilton 6.35%
16 Microsoft 6.05%
17 Deloitte 5.89%
18 Bank of America 5.83%
19 BMW 5.14%
20 Merrill Lynch 5.00%

The top 5 preferences for men:

1 McKinsey & Company 24.16
2 Goldman Sachs 16.66
3 Bain & Company 15.86
4 Google 14.87
5 The Boston Consulting Group 13.65

The top 5 preferences for women:

1 McKinsey & Company 13.43
2 Google 12.14
3 Johnson & Johnson 10.52
4 Bain & Company 10.33
5 The Boston Consulting Group 10.07

Here are the industries MBA students (men and women) prefer to work in:

Management consulting 25%
Financial services 23%
Consumer goods 18% 20%
Investment banking 12%
Venture capital 10% 9%

Where do MBA students want to work. Here are the top cities:

New York 14%
San Francisco 12%
Chicago 8%
Atlanta 6%
San Diego 6%
Washington D.C. 5%
Boston 5%
Nashville 4%
Los Angeles 4%
Seattle 3%
Las Vegas 3%
I don't want to work in the U.S. 3%

For those who want an international experience, here are their top choices:

London 25%
Sydney 6%
Hong Kong 5%
Paris 5%
Madrid 3%
Shanghai 3%
Singapore 3%
Tokyo 3%
Amsterdam 3%
Rome 2%
Vancouver 2%
Beijing 2%
Bueños Aires 2%
Zürich 2%
I don't want to work abroad 17

Are MBA's More Beneficial for Men than Women

The Princeton Review tells us that about 30% of business school students are women.

The number of women in top MBA programs significantly lags behind men, with women typically accounting for about 30 percent of enrollment1. While this represents a marked increase over the last 25 to 30 years, it is a proportion that significantly trails the percentage of women in top medical and law schools. This situation highlights dramatic untapped opportunity for women, businesses, and the global economy.

Both men and women report extremely high levels of satisfaction with their careers as a whole: 86 percent of women and 89 percent of men are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their careers overall. They also report high levels of satisfaction with the value their current employers put on their MBA (85 percent of women and 83 percent of men), as well as with job opportunities in their industry (77 percent of women and 78 percent of men), and with their current positions overall (82 percent of women and 84 percent of men).

Women do still struggle to make their place:

Although having an MBA sets you apart, there are still barriers to advancement that women often face in corporations and firms. What continues to hold women back from reaching the top spots in corporate America? According to Catalyst's study, Women in U.S. Corporate Leadership: 2003, the top five barriers are2:
• Lack of significant general management/ line experience
• Exclusion from informal networks
• Stereotyping and preconceptions of women's roles and abilities
• Failure of senior leadership to assume accountability for women's
advancement
• Commitment to personal/family responsibilities

Over the years, Catalyst has documented the slow but steady rise of women to the top of corporate America. And while there may still not be a lot of women there, they tell us they certainly want to be. So what have successful women done to get ahead thus far?

Hints for Women When Trying to Get Ahead

In her book, Be Your Own Mentor, Catalyst President Sheila Wellington shares advice on how to overcome barriers and strategies for getting ahead once you have your MBA3. Below are the highlights from Sheila's "Eight Axioms for Advancement," described in detail in the book. They provide useful reminders for women navigating their careers.

Catalyst's Eight Axioms for Advancement

1) The best isn't good enough.
Successful women consistently tell Catalyst that performing beyond expectations is critical for advancement. By repeatedly impressing people with outstanding results, you will gain the recognition, respect, and credibility needed to succeed.

2) Time is of the essence.
In order to integrate your work and personal lives in ways that allow you to succeed in both, plan effectively. If the timing isn't right for you to accept an assignment, make sure you communicate your interest and specify when you will be available for it later. Try to anticipate the times in your career when you will be able to be most focused, and use those periods to make major career efforts.

3) If you don't blow your own horn, nobody else will.
Don't wait for people to notice your accomplishments. Successful work deserves public recognition-inside as well as outside your organization. Make sure your colleagues, team members, and-most importantly-your boss, know what you've accomplished.

4) Expertise impresses.
Develop an expertise in a unique specialty. As a result, people will look to you for that knowledge and you will build credibility and standing. Figure out what information or expertise might be lacking at your organization and learn as much as you can about it.

5) Nothing comes to she who waits.
Catalyst research repeatedly shows that taking initiative is critical to getting ahead. Actively pursue high-visibility assignments and advancement opportunities. When you learn about a project that interests you, approach your boss with your plans for completing it, and then do it.

6) It's not just corporations that need to diversify.
You need to gain a broad range of experience to succeed. Build experience in positions with bottom-line responsibilities such as operations or sales. Also, consider making both lateral and downward moves that will give you cross-functional experience. Seek out a structured succession-planning process at your organization.

7) Fortune favors the brave.
In order to advance, you must take risks. Demonstrate your willingness to take on new, different, and difficult assignments that will allow you to show off your talents and prove your executive potential.

8) Money matters.
Make sure you get paid what you're worth. Because women often accept or reject job offers without asking for more money, they tend to start at lower salaries than those who negotiate. Do your research to find out what salary you should ask for-check with recruiting firms, the Internet, other companies advertising similar positions, and current or former employees for information. Also, when your workload gets heavier, ask for more pay.

As a GM of a logistics company, I agree with most of Shelia's hints, however, I think that the key is to be an exceptionally strong performer. If you perform, there is no need to "blow your own horn" because people will be aware of your accomplishments. Knowledge of the business that you are in is the key. You also have to be aware of what motivates your employees. Many managers tend to treat everyone the same, however, different people have different motivators and a good manager will acknowledge and act on that.

How do I pay for an MBA

Once you decide to make the commitment to obtain an MBA, it is necessary to decide how to pay for your decision.

Career Journal provides some valuable information regarding the subject of how to pay for an MBA..

How to Pay For
Graduate School


Terri Cullen gives some sound advice in the Wall Street Journal Online

Calculate Your Need
The first steps in mapping out a college-affordability plan is to figure out how much money you'll need to attend school, how much debt you can reasonably afford to carry and, most importantly, how much time you anticipate being without a regular paycheck while you're pursuing that degree.

To determine how much debt you should be capable of shouldering, college-planning Web site FinAid.org offers calculators for master's students as well as doctoral students.

To get a feel for how long you'll be out of work, contact a financial-aid counselor at the school of your choice and discuss your career goals. Determine whether night school is a feasible option, one that would allow you to continue to work at your full-time job while matriculating. Also, many fields of study require extended internships in order to obtain a degree. Ask for guidance on how well these jobs pay, if they pay at all, and include that sum in your calculation.

Now add in all the collateral costs to your pursuing a degree: Will you need more child care? Will your commuting costs increase? Will you have to pay for your own health care? What, if any, additional communications technology will you need to ensure you can keep current your full-time job?

Now brace yourself: When you add it all up, sticker shock may ensue. But there are sources of funding available -- traditional and nontraditional -- to help ease the burden. Let's take a look at a few.

Search for Financial Aid
One big mistake most adult students make is assuming they make too much money, or are too rich to get financial assistance.

"I have a client who really wanted to go to law school, but she was making a good deal of money in her current job as a career counselor and she didn't think she'd be eligible for any aid at all," says Patricia A. Konetzny, a certified financial planner in Maynard, Mass. "After speaking with the financial-aid counselor at her university, it turns out she was eligible for a full scholarship."

The best place to start looking for "free money" such as scholarships and grants is the College Board's scholarship search site, which lets you search for aid opportunities based on your professional, military, religious and social affiliations, among other things. Among the most popular free scholarship and grant search engines online is Fastweb.com, a site operated by career Web site Monster.com (which itself is owned by TMP Worldwide Inc.). But the process takes some time, primarily because you're inundated with annoying pitches from the site's advertisers at practically every stage of your search. The Financial Aid Resource Center's scholarship search page also includes a laundry list of more targeted search engines, some of which are tailored for ethnic students and for various areas of study.

As you begin your search for scholarship and grant money, you'll probably notice a number of scholarship-finding services that charge a fee, and "guarantee" results. Be warned: some of these services may be scams. In its most recent scholarship-scam sweep, the Federal Trade Commission targeted eight organizations that engaged in fraudulent, deceptive or unfair business practices aimed at fleecing students and their parents. The FTC estimates that combined 175,000 victims lost more than $22 million from these eight organizations alone. Financial aid research Web site Finaid.org provides a rundown of red flags that a service may be a scam.

Ask Your Current Employer

Your employer should be your next stop. More companies are adding tuition assistance and other education-benefit programs to their employee-benefits packages in an effort to attract -- and retain -- top talent. Some 80% of the 945 companies surveyed offered some type of tuition-assistance plan in 2001, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.

But company aid often comes with strings attached. Many employers will want to evaluate your request before reimbursing you for college costs to be sure you're enhancing your current skills, not training for a new career. Other companies require you meet a certain grade-point average in order to receive the funds. And a growing number of companies are adapting the military's take on higher education: You sign a contract that says if your employer agrees to pay you two to four years of higher-education costs, you'll agree to continue to working at the company for an equal or greater number of years. If your employer doesn't offer this option, and you hold a position of some influence in the company, you may want to float the idea yourself.

The Internal Revenue Service allows workers to exclude from taxable income up to $5,250 a year in tuition assistance provided by their employers. (For more information on tax breaks for educational programs, see IRS Publication 508.)

Also, if you, a spouse or a parent is part of one of more than 40,000 worker unions in the U.S., you may be eligible for additional tuition-assistance programs, grants, or scholarships. Check out the AFL-CIO's Web site, under "Help With College Costs," where you can search for union-sponsored scholarships and other tuition-assistance programs.

Various state higher education authorities also offer their own work-related financial assistance plans to nontraditional students. The U.S. Department of Education's Web site includes contact information on all state higher education agencies.

Student Loans

Once you've determined what kind of financial aid you're likely to receive from all sources -- and you're still left with a substantial nut to shoulder on your own -- federal student loans are as close to free money as you're going to get right now.

"Rates are at historically low levels," says Karen F. Folk, PhD., a certified financial planner in Urbana, Ill. She's right, effective July 1, 2002, federal student-loan interest rates for students attending college have dropped to 3.46% for students attending school (or 4.06% for students who've left school), the lowest rate in decades.

Figure out what your student-loan costs will be down the road using FinAid.org's loan-payment calculator, which estimates the size of your monthly loan payments and the annual salary required to manage them. Then you can evaluate the rates and payment schedules of several loans, including total payments, interest paid for different interest rates, loan terms and monthly payments, using the site's loan comparison calculator.

Many adult students who are in the same boat as would-be job changer Ms. Braly, who is still paying off $11,000 in undergraduate student loans, may be leery of taking on more debt. "We really don't want to take out another loan to fund the additional education," she says.

But in this low interest-rate environment that might be a mistake. After taking out new student loans to cover the costs, you may be able to consolidate those loans under federal loan consolidation program at a much lower rate than you're currently paying. Under certain programs, including one offered by Sallie Mae, you can lower that rate even more.

There's also an interesting alternative to loans for students who are loathe to take on new debt. Myrichuncle.com, a Web site founded two years ago by a pair of entrepreneurial investors, doesn't loan prospective students money -- it invests in their future. If you qualify, the New York investment company will give you the money you need to pay your college costs, and in return you agree to repay at a set percentage of your future income over a certain number of years. Rates for graduate students start at 0.1% per $1,000, for up to 10 years, with a maximum rate of 0.4% per $1,000, depending on such things as your major, your GPA, and the school you're planning on attending. Once you're employed, you're required to show Myrichuncle.com your monthly income statements and annual tax returns.

But note that while more than 1,000 prospective students have applied to the company, only 65 students have received funds -- a sure sign Myrichuncle.com is working hard to ensure that it chooses its "investments" wisely.

Dip Into Retirement Savings

Education is a long-term investment in yourself, so it might seem like a no-brainer to tap your 401(k) to pay for it -- whether you stay with your current employer or not. But borrowing from your retirement savings should be tapped only when all other financial options have been exhausted.

"I don't advise borrowing against a 401(k) to pay tuition costs because you're paying an opportunity cost -- you're not only cashing out in the midst of a bear market, but you risk missing out on any recovery," says Dean Knepper, certified financial planner and CPA with Lifetime Financial Planning in Leesburg, Va. "It's better to keep that money earning tax-deferred interest."

A case, however, can be made for borrowing from your retirement savings if you're absolutely certain you'll be able to pay back the loan within five years while continuing to make new contributions toward your savings. After five years, that "loan" becomes a distribution in the eyes of the IRS, so not only will you not have that cash to count on for your golden years, but you'll have to pay personal income taxes and a 10% early-withdrawal penalty on the money.

MBA Earning Potential Still Rising

The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC)informs us that the average earning potential is rising....

For Immediate Release
May 19, 2006

SALARIES FOR NEW MBAs TOP $92,000

Two-Thirds of Job Offers Include Signing Bonuses,
GMAC Survey Also Finds
McLean, Va.—Newly minted MBAs are commanding significantly heftier salaries in 2006 than their counterparts did last year, with the average business school graduate’s starting base salary topping $92,000, according to new research from the Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC®).

Amid a healthy recruiting environment built on strong employer confidence in the economy, the average new MBA with a job offer in hand will earn $92,360 during their first year of employment, up 4.2 percent from the $88,626 graduates in 2005 received. Moreover, two-thirds of job offers to MBAs in 2006 come with signing bonuses that average $17,603, up slightly from last year.

“The MBA continues to demonstrate its strong value proposition,” said David A. Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC. “In a knowledge economy, leadership and management demand a complex portfolio of skills and talents. A selective MBA program gives its graduate those skills.”

In addition to earning bigger paychecks, more MBAs are finding jobs while still in school, continuing a multiyear upward trend. Fifty-two percent of respondents to the 2006 GMAC Global MBA® Graduate Survey said they had received or accepted a job offer before graduation, compared with 50 percent in 2005, 42 percent in 2004 and 36 percent in 2003.

That's good news for those who considering making the investment. The higher the ROI, the more willing you'll be to take the risk.

More MBA Earning Potential Statistics

MBA by the Numbers
Beta Gamma Sigma takes a look at MBA statistics

MBA and Salary Expectations
Of the many questions potential MBA students will likely ask themselves, one of the most important focuses on the financial rewards of earning the degree. Because of the significant
costs – financial, family, time, etc. – individuals often wonder, “Is the MBA really worth it?”

To address that concern, one need look no further than the difference between pre- and post-MBA salaries. A 2004 study conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) found that, on average, MBA recipients realized a 35 percent increase in their annual base salary.

Furthermore, half of all survey respondents reported that they expected to receive a signing bonus with their first post-MBA job offer. The mean bonus expected from these respondents was $12,421. Of those respondents who had already received and accepted a job offer, the average signing bonus was even higher at $14,801.








________________________________________

Previous Work Experience
Individuals with significant previous full-time employment typically see higher salaries after receiving their MBAs. Across the board, previous time in the workplace combined with an advanced degree in business equals greater base salaries and larger signing bonuses.

While graduates with less than three years of work experience can anticipate the greatest change in salary – a 58 percent increase on average – graduates with three to six years in the workforce can expect the largest pay boost with an average increase of $22,676.

MBA Statistics

If one of the motivations behind obtaining the MBA degree is money, it's beneficial to know just how successful the MBA program is at helping you earn that extra money. I seached the web for statistics and found this at MSN encarta:

Master's Degrees Worth Millions?

Higher education has always paid off in the workplace, but in a technology-driven economy, the value of 'knowledge workers' has never been higher.
An advanced degree really can be worth millions of dollars in earnings over the course of a career. In fact, almost any step forward in education results in a significant upward bump in income--the further you go in school, the more you are likely to earn. The evidence is in the numbers:

Expected total earnings over a 40-year working life

High school graduate: $1.2 million
Associate's degree: $1.6 million
Bachelor's degree: $2.1 million
Master's degree: $2.5 million
Professional degree: $4.4 million
Doctoral degree $3.4 million
Source: United States Census Bureau

The gap is widening

Education has always paid off, but the income gap between education levels is expanding. According to the Census Bureau, in 1975 workers with an advanced degree--that is, a master's, professional, or doctoral degree--earned about 1.8 times what high school graduates did. By 1999, those with advanced degrees pulled in 2.6 times the salary a high school grad could expect to earn.

What about MBAs?

The Census Bureau study does not break out the lifelong expected earnings for specific master's degrees, such as MBAs. However, a report by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC)--the organization that administers the GMAT test--reports that MBA students can expect a 64 percent increase in salary from their last full-time job held before beginning the program. In the United States, average salary rose from $50,000 before entering an MBA program to $77,000 after completion. There is no consensus on the lifetime value of an MBA, but the same report by GMAC indicates a very high level of satisfaction with the MBA degree in terms of salary and professional advancement. If the overall career-track trends hold true, the future is bright for MBA students who make the most of their skills.

This is good news for those who plan to make the investment, but this is just one source, I'll continue seaching for more information to see if there are any opposing views.

Education- Personal View

I haven't blogged in some time. The picture you see here is a picture of my mother. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last November and has been battling it ever since. Like many, I'm experiencing the challenge of trying to complete my education and deal with "life" at the same time. This summer I've been caring for a sick parent, working full-time, and tackling two summer class... all while being a single mother with two very active children. To boot, my job has required quite a bit of travel over the last three months, so that has added to my dilemma of needing more than 24 hours in a day.

Many, if they are smart, will get their undergraduate degree out of the way before taking on a family, however, quite a few will have family responsiblities and jobs to deal with when making the decision to obtain a graduate degree. It is at this point that you have to ask yourself just how important the degree is to you? The time it takes is a sacrifice. While pursing my undergraduate degree over the last four years, I've missed my children's sporting events, time that I should have spent with my mother, and have given up any opportunity of having a social life. I've experienced guilt, exhaustion, and some lonliness as a result of taking classes.

In my situation, my undergraduate degree was worth the sacrifice because I am the sole provider for my children and needed the degree to increase my chances of earning a living that would allow me to provide for them. In my case, the sacrifice paid off. I was promoted to General Manager of my facility last week.

The MBA is a little different because it takes you to the next level. Most people purue MBAs so that they have greater earning potential. How much is enough? That is what each individual needs to decide. Is earning a higher salary worth the two years that you devote to earning your degree? In some cases, the answer to that is yes and in some cases it is no, but either way it is a question that each individual pursuing a degree needs to ask.

MBA- On the Run Cont.

Josh reminds us that taking the road of the PMBA is not easy...

The Personal MBA is Not:A stand-alone venture. You can’t learn about business solely from books – you have to be willing to go out and learn by doing. Whether you’re working full-time for a company or building your own business, a full 2/3 of your learning will be a direct result of your day-to-day work experiences, which provide the necessary context for understanding what you read.

A mindless replica of a traditional MBA program. The PMBA was created to expose you to a core set of advanced business concepts quickly and effectively. By design, it does not include anything and everything you might come across in business school. If you’re looking for a detailed analysis of the Black-Scholes option pricing model and its relationship to the volatility surfaces of certain financial derivatives, you’re going to be very disappointed.
An impersonal curriculum. You’ll find more material about learning who you are, what you’re good at, and how you can work more effectively with other people in the PMBA than you will in a standard business school curriculum. There’s a reason why these topics are included here: they are skills that will really help you in your life and work.

An infallible educational revelation. It’s perfectly okay if you disagree with one of the selections or think that a critical book has been overlooked. Feel free to make substitutions as you deem necessary. If you’re skeptical about the value of a title you haven’t read yet, I encourage you borrow the book from your local library and give it a try. If you’re of the same opinion after reading a few chapters, put it down and read something else! (Life is short.)
Easy. Working your way through this list will take time, energy, and persistence. There is no substitute for hard work and dedication.

If you are willing to put the work in, the next set of books are aimed at helping you:

Learn the Fundamentals

Ram Charan is the patient coach of the business world, constantly reminding readers to learn the fundamentals of the profession.



What the CEO Wants You to Know
by Ram Charan

In What the CEO Wants You to Know, Charan explains how to understand companies through the simple, fundamental concepts that are at the core of every business: cash, margin, profit, return on assets, velocity, growth, valuation, customers, employees, and shareholders. Along the way, he explains how these concepts interact in both large and small companies, and how you can improve your business by understanding the basics and focusing on improving your execution of the fundamentals.


Profitable Growth Is Everyone’s Business
by Ram Charan

Profitable Growth Is Everyone’s Business is a deeper look at how businesses grow and how they can stumble if they attempt to grow in the wrong way. Healthy businesses grow organically by reinvesting profits, focusing on day-to-day execution, and improving the core of the business over time. All employees (at every level of the organization) need to understand how the business operates and what the company is working to achieve. By focusing on the things that make the business successful, Charan argues that companies can quickly adapt to changes in the market and pursue continual and sustainable growth for long periods of time.

The next set of books focuses on Strategic Thinking



On Competition
by Michael Porter

Michael Porter has been a world-renowned expert on corporate strategy for decades, and his articles are assigned in to students in business schools around the world. His “five forces” model of corporate competition provides an intuitive way to analyze the attractiveness of any industry. By paying particular attention to the power of suppliers and customers, the threats of new entry and substitutes, and the level of internal rivalry in the industry, it is possible to develop strategies that create a defensible competitive position for your firm. On Competition is a compilation of eleven of Porter’s Harvard Business Review articles, two previously unpublished papers on health care and capital investment, and a comprehensive introduction to his work.



Blue Ocean Strategy
by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne

The thesis of Blue Ocean Strategy is simple: why compete with other firms if you don’t have to?

In contrast to Porter’s work, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne advocate a different approach to strategy: try to create new industries that change the competitive landscape completely. By focusing your resources on creating uncontested market space (a “Blue Ocean”), you’re working to make your firm the industry leader while simultaneously making your current competition irrelevant. There’s no sense in operating in competitive war-zones (“Red Oceans”) if you have a choice.

The next set deals with change.

The Only Thing Constant is Change



Seeing What’s Next
by Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, Scott D. Anthony

Clayton Christensen is famous for developing theories of why firms rise and fall in The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution. Seeing What’s Next is a comprehensive introduction to the ideas presented in both books, with a smattering of business history thrown in for good measure.

This book attempts to answer the question: “How will innovation change an industry, and what impact will this have on the firms I care about?” By building on a framework of three core theories of innovation, the authors develop a three-part process of predicting industry change: (1) identifying signals of change; (2) analyzing competitive battles; and (3) understanding strategic choices. Predicting the future is notoriously difficult, but the authors provide an approachable model for making the best decisions you can with the information you have at your disposal.



Re-imagine
by Tom Peters

Tom Peters is the rock star of business commentary for a reason: he’s loud, opinionated, and more vocally passionate about business than anyone on Earth. The main idea of this book is written in big, bold, red letters across the back cover: “It is the foremost task – and responsibility – of our generation to re-imagine our enterprises and institutions, public and private.” You’ll find thoughts and ideas on almost anything you can think of: leadership, management, human talent, design, corporate systems, innovation, technology, R&D, diversity, risk-taking, decision-making, and societal trends. Reading this book is an informative, inspirational invitation to go out and make great things happen.

Then next set is a series of management books.
Masters of Management



The Essential Drucker
by Peter Drucker

No advanced study of business would be complete without Peter Drucker, the undisputed father of modern management theory. The Essential Drucker is a compilation of twenty-six of Drucker’s best articles, spanning six decades of observation and research. In this volume, Drucker discusses managing knowledge workers, making good decisions, hiring the right people, starting new ventures, building self-discipline, encouraging innovation, and predicting the future of work and society.



First, Break All the Rules
by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

Based on in-depth interviews of 80,000 managers in 400 companies by the Gallup Organization, Buckingham and Coffman argue that the world’s best managers break virtually every conventional “rule” of management practice. They select employees for talent, not experience, intelligence, or determination. They define the right outcomes for people, not the right steps. They focus on developing employee strengths, not eradicating weaknesses. And they find the right fit for employees in the organization instead of relentlessly promoting people up to their level of incompetence. This book will help you examine what you believe about effective management and encourage you to think of ways to set people up for success in your organization from the beginning.

Even if you decide not to pursue the PMBA, in my opinion these books would be helpful for anyone entering the business arena. Josh is also coming out with a new list of books for 2007 and in addition, he offers PMBA coaching. You can find out more by visiting his website at personalmba.com.

MBA-Not for You?

If you decide for one reason or another that going the MBA route is not for you, however, you really want to gain the knowledge that an MBA provides, Josh Kaufman has a suggestion for you. His recommends what he refers to as a PMBA Personal MBA)which involves reading a series of 42 books that he feels will provide the basic knowledge that an MBA provides.

What is the Personal MBA?
In Josh's words, the Personal MBA (PMBA) is an experiment in educational entrepreneurism. Josh wrote a manifesto that will show you how to substantially increase your knowledge of business on your own time and with little cost, all without setting foot inside a classroom.

The PMBA is more flexible than a traditional MBA program, doesn’t involve going into massive debt, and won’t interrupt your income stream for two years. Just set aside some dedicated reading time, pick up a good book, learn as much as you can, and go out and make great things happen.

It’s All About the Books
“If I read a book that cost me $20 and I get one good idea, I’ve gotten one of the greatest bargains of all time.” – Tom Peters

“The difference between where you are today and where you’ll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you’ve read.” – Jim Rohn

At the core of the PMBA is a list of 42 books and periodicals. By investing time and effort in using these resources, you will progressively develop a greater understanding of business and increase your effectiveness at work. Even if you only read a few, you’ll get a substantial return on your investment.


Here are the first four books he recommends.

The first set of books is targeted to help you Master Yourself



Mastery
by George Leonard

Mastery is not a business book – it’s a book about the learning process and what you can expect from a project like the Personal MBA. Leonard explains that mastery of any skill is a life-long process involving a series of plateaus, punctuated by short spurts of visible growth. True mastery is about embracing the plateau and learning to love practice for its own sake. It’s a short, inspiring read, and it’s the perfect book for starting down the path of becoming a self-taught “master of business.”



Now, Discover Your Strengths
by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton

According to Buckingham and Clifton, you are at your most effective when you’re capitalizing on your strengths instead of spending time and effort trying to improve your weaknesses. Now, Discover Your Strengths is the summation of a wide body of research conducted by the Gallup Organization on the subject of human talent. Gallup has identified 34 statistically-significant areas where people naturally tend to exhibit consistent, near flawless performance. Each copy comes with an access code for Gallup’s StrengthsFinder assessment, an online tool that helps you identify and understand your own unique combination of strengths. (Be sure to get a new copy in order to get access to the assessment: used or library copies probably won’t work.)

In addition to explaining how we develop our individual talents, this book has a lot to say about diversity and why it is so important in business. Because everyone has a different combination of strengths, we all approach the world from a slightly different perspective. By working with people who possess a wide variety of skills and backgrounds, our chances of success increase.

The second set teaches you how to Manage Your Life and Work



Getting Things Done
by David Allen

Simply put, Getting Things Done is the best book on day-to-day, functional time management that has ever been written. (That is not an exaggeration.) Allen takes a “bottom up” approach to managing your life, focusing on helping you create a system of organization your mind learns to trust over time. By capturing everything floating around in your head, honing in on the physical actions you need to do, and creating a system where your next actions are easily stored and referenced, you’ll be free to focus on completing the tasks at hand and will experience less stress.



The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
by Stephen Covey

In contrast to Getting Things Done, Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People takes a “top down” approach to managing your life. What do you really want for yourself? What is important to you? When you have considered questions like these, you’ll have a better understanding of how to identify non-productive uses of time and create opportunities to accomplish the things that are really important to you.

Covey also discusses working with others productively. By learning simple principles like looking for win-win situations, seeking to fully understand the perspectives of the people you’re working with, and identifying new ways to cooperate, you’ll be better equipped to deal with the complexities of working with others.

Getting In

Once you've decided which schools to apply for, there are several things you need to do to increase your chances of being accepted. You need to:

Make certain you meet the enrollment guidelines
-Know the prerequisites
-Address any acedemic weaknesses

Know how the school evaluates your application
-GMAT scores
-Work experience and extracurricular activities
-Interviews and essays

Check out your competition
-Look at historical data
-Remeber that no one is average

Craft you application
-Essays
-Letters of recommendation
-Interviews
-Articulating you career focus

Market Yourself
-Showcase you positive qualities
-Emphasize leadership skills

For detailed information and help preparing for the application process visit:

mba.com/mba/ApplyEffectively

Choosing an MBA Program

If you've decided that the salary statistics and publicized benefits are enough to convince you that the ROI of an MBA is worthwhile, then it is time to select a school.


Studies show that 62% of graduates in the class of 2006 would recommend their schools to someone else who is interested in the degree. What factors did they take into consideration when they selected their school?

-the quality and reputation of the school
-the financial cost of the school
-personal fit (whether the school was right for them as individuals)and location.

It is important that the school you chose is know for its' quality and has a good reputation. A low-quality programs is not likely to be a good ROI or give you the opportunities that a higher quality school would.

Another important factor is cost. MBA.com tells us that although you might assume that those who paid a lot for their degree would have a harder time saying it was all worth it, but the exact opposite is true—those who felt they paid a lot valued the degree most. Some of this may have to do with consumer psychology, which tells us that things that are expensive are more valuable than things that are inexpensive. But another explanation for this phenomenon could be that those who did not let high prices discourage them from attending the school they really wanted to attend were glad they made the financial sacrifices to go to the school of their dreams. We're not saying you should go broke to get your MBA, but we are suggesting that there may be some trade-offs in exchange for choosing the less expensive school.

Be careful of the value you place on published rankings. Use several outlets to research schools and the quality of programs they offer. When people focus on school rankings, they don't necessarily investigate the attributes and quality of a business school for themselves. It's important that you define quality for yourself, and that you make sure that the school you choose offers the curriculum, faculty, and services you will need to further your career goals.

Every step you take in the beginning to find the school that matches your needs will increase the likelihood of your being one of the majority of graduating MBAs who say the degree delivers on its promise.

Here are some links that you may find helpful when researching schools:

Accreditation
mbaworld.com/page/newaccredit1/index

What is a ranking?
mbaworld.com/page/rankings/index

Princeton Review School Search
princetonreview.com/grad/research/articles/gradschomatch.asp

Are Online MBA's an Option

While researching the topics of MBAs, I've seen many advertisements for online MBAs. There certainly would be some advantages to an online degree, such as convenience and the ability to continue to work while obtaining the degree. It would also seem that with convenience comes flexibility, which would mean that you should still have time for a personal life if you managing your schedule efficiently. So, the big question then is whether or not employers consider online degrees credible?

Fortune Magazine reported in their April 7, 2007 issue that 81% of hiring managers look more favorably on job candidates who obtained their MBAs online than five years ago and 41% now think an online degree is as good as a real degree.

So, it would seem in some situations the answer would be yes, however, it depends on the situation and the online university in which the degree is obtained.

The following website gives some valuable insight to online degrees:gradview.com/articles/graduatestudies/online_degrees

As the website above indicates, there are many advantages to an online degree, however, there is one big disadvantage which is that you lose that face to face interaction that is so important to networking. Although you may meet some other students online, it is likely that you won't create as strong of bonds with your classmates as you would have had you spend numerous hours in class, studying, and interacting with them at social functions. This is yet another decision that you will need to analyze when deciding if an MBA is right for you.

Is there a downside to MBAs?

Most of the information I've read about the value of an MBA has been favorable, however, an interesting article in the April 30, 2007 issue of Fortune Magazine which suggests that the skills obtained through an MBA program may not be exactly what employers are looking for.

The article describes a lecture given by Jack Welch at MIT in which he was asked the question of what the students should be learning in business school. He responded with "Just concentrate on networking. Everything else you need to know, you can learn on the job." Was he indicating that a graduate business degree was a waste of time? It would seem so.

The article explains that employers are finding MBA graduates tend to lack important interpersonal skills. B-schools tend to focus on on quantitative skills and fail to focus on teamwork and communication. The Graduate Management Admissions Council surveys recruiters and the survey has indicated each year since 2002 that new MBAs lack the ability to write and speak clearly and persuasively. The survey also indicates that these are skills employers value most.

The good news is that B-schools such as MIT, University of Chicago, Wharton and Yale are responding to this MBA downfall by including more interpersonal coursework in their curriculums.

This means that in order to gain the most benefit from your MBA, not only do you have make certain that pursuing an MBA is of value to your future, but when selecting your school you must make certain that you select a school with the appropriate concentration and a curriculum that focuses not only on quantitative skills, but interpersonal skills as well.

MBA Benefits

There are advantages to pursuing an MBA. The obvious advantage is that an MBA typically opens one up to better career opportunities over the course of his or her career, which leads to higher salary earnings. The Graduate Management Admission Council reports that the typical MBA graduate in the class of 2004 earned a 35 percent increase in their salary from when they began their program.

The average salary in 2003 for a high school graduate was $27,915, for a bachelor's degree $51,206, and for an advanced degree $74,602 (US Census Bureau, 2005).

Students of MBA programs gain enhanced strategic thinking and managerial effectiveness. MBA graduates spend a great deal of time analyzing case studies and developing their analytical skills and are better prepared to handle decision making and leadership responsibilities.

Another key benefit of an MBA program is the opportunity to develop a business and personal network. Participants of MBA programs usually form lifelong relationships with their MBA cohorts. It is not uncommon for for an MBA student to be hired or get a lead from one of their former classmates.

Several former MBA students reported that the most important thing they got out of their MBA program was confidence. They believed that if they could get through an MBA program, they could do anything. The program gave them the confidence to state their opinions and points of views and be taken seriously by CEOs and executive vice presidents.

MBA- Is it right for me?

During my research, I discovered it is important, when deciding whether or not to pursue an MBA, to first know what career path you want to follow and where you want to end up. If you decide to pursue an MBA without this knowledge, figuring that you will decide what you want to do after you get your MBA, you may end up paying great deal of money for a degree that provides you with very little benefit. If you know your career plan, it will make it easier to select the school, program, courses, and MBA concentration that is right for you. MBA programs range in cost from $12,000 to more than $100,000 and in order to get the most benefit from your time and money, you need to ask yourself many important questions beyond those of your career path. The following list includes some examples of those questions.

How much am I willing to pay for tuition and other costs?

Do I want to attend a full-time or part-time program?

Will I continue to work or attend school full-time?

If I am already employed by the company that I intend to build a career with, will having an MBA benefit me? If I know what company I'd like to work for, will a MBA give me a better chance of gaining employment with that company?

Which MBA concentration is best for my career path?

**Most Importantly** Will the benefit of the MBA outweigh the cost in my personal situation?

The website mba.com includes information that can assist you in researching career paths and job functions. This site also links to CareerLeader, which provides industry and career profiles I think you will find helpful.

Advanced Education Required

How much education is enough? Once upon a time, an individual who had earned a 4 year degree could climb relatively high up a corporate ladder and previous job experience used to be considered valuable.

If you've recently been searching for a new career with a company, you've probably realized that in order to reach a rung somewhere in the middle of most corporate ladders today, you'd better be equipped with no less than an MBA or some type of advanced certification. What are the benefits of earning an MBA? Does an MBA guarantee an individual a brighter future? What questions should you ask yourself when deciding whether or not the MBA route is right for you? These are questions that I've been pondering myself and intend to answer through research and personal reflection.