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Getting MBA worth?

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  #81 (permalink)  
Old 22-03-2012, 09:41 AM
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Why not you do non engineering base job when you grad from your degree? Fresh grad can go anywhere quite easily due to zero experience and typically 'cheap' labour. That way you can add value to yourself when you do your MBA.
I'll definitely try all means to do a non engineering based job (Considering the fact that i'll probably grad with a 2nd lower/3rd class only)
Thanks for the advice though!

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  #82 (permalink)  
Old 09-07-2012, 08:37 PM
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I've been looking up different viewpoints of getting an MBA degree and the perceived benefits of undertaking the program, there are several articles that I'd like to share with fellow forumers, here are several snippets that I feel are quite relevant for this thread -

"We see a lot of people who have done well in their careers. They've got good technical skills. They've got some leadership experience. They're doing a lot by instinct, and they want a place where they can learn a more comprehensive and structured set of skills. Concepts such as weighted average cost of capital, how to apply game theory—those are concrete things that can help if you're just feeling your way through."

Is an M.B.A. Worth It? - WSJ.com

One last note, for you wannabe entrepreneurs. If you think you need business school to teach you how to run a company, you’re wrong. Business school is for people with a plan and who are averse to risk. That’s usually the exact opposite of an entrepreneur.

What are the benefits of getting an MBA? People consider getting an MBA for the following reasons:

1) Better job prospects and opportunities Students feel that bolstering their resume with an MBA will land them fast-track promotions, higher salaries, better networks, etc. They also feel that an MBA will put them in a more advantageous spot when pursuing a job of managerial and executive level.

2) Comprehensive and structured set of managerial and technical skills The courses help you understand and concretize and the bits and pieces of knowledge and skills that you picked up while working and develop them fully, starting from the fundamentals.

3) Networking opportunities The classmates that you work and interact with are also working professionals and they provide for good networking opportunities. Your classmates might be able to bring you into their company or connect you with their own business contacts.

4) Prestige Holding an MBA from a top-tier school will put you in a favourable position in companies that emphasizes on advanced schooling - many government and public sector jobs in Singapore recognize and reward employees with an advanced degree - this includes higher salary and top executive positions. In large MNCs, having an MBA is almost a must-have for moving up the corporate ladder.

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  #83 (permalink)  
Old 30-07-2012, 02:52 PM
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My experience.

MBA while mid-30s.
Changed industry 2 years after. Income was double.
Went from a MNC sales role (asset mgmt) to MNC management role (MD - financial services).
2.5 years after changed jobs again.(MNC, MD - regional role)

Noteworthy, all employers after my MBA were firms and contacts that I had before my MBA.

So my lesson was, "it's still not what you know, but who you know (when you learnt what you need to know)".

Did my MBA help me change industry/roles - yes.
Does it help me in my current role now - a little.

Alot of people wothout MBAs place it on a bit of a pedestal.
After completing one (uni ranked top 100, so not the Wharton's of the world) i wouldnt rate one that highly.

It was also the easiest post grad that i earnt. But least utilised.
I think my CFA was way, way harder, and more practical.
That said, the MBA increased by worth in the eyes of future employers, which was its objective.

So was it worth it? - I have to say, yes!

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  #84 (permalink)  
Old 26-12-2013, 09:58 AM
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Originally Posted by chottohen View Post
This is a rather long post but bear with me. I would like to caveat this was purely my personal experience with SMU’s MBA program unless otherwise stated. Another student may have an entirely different experience for better or worse. Nonetheless, I would like to share my experience with the program over the last 1 year.

I was part of the full time class of 2013 and recently graduated. SMU was never on my radar for my list of B-schools; in fact, no Singapore school was on my list. My intention was always to head to the US for my MBA. However, due to significant cost outlay of at least 150k by going overseas, I had to settle for a local MBA instead. On hindsight after completing the SMU MBA, I should have gone overseas instead of settling for a local MBA.

I ended up selected SMU over NTU and NUS (I was accepted to all 3 programs) because of the following: 1) They had the earliest start date as compared to the other 2 schools. 2) It was a 1 year program compared to NUS which was 1.5 years. NTU had switched their program to a 1 year program for 2013 onwards as well, but the start date was in April. 3) As the SMU MBA was a new program, I thought the school would put in more effort to ensure students get the best out of it to be future ambassadors about the program.

From here on out, I will split the review into 4 parts: 1) Faculty, 2) Modules, 3) Students, 4) Career prospects.

Faculty


This is a hit and miss with the MBA program. There are some really excellent faculty members who know what they talk about and truly value add to the program and learning. They design the course to maximize the learning experience of each student and as a whole. That said, of my 19 different modules that I took in the program, I would only classify 10 of them in this category. The core modules (mandatory modules part of the MBA) tend to be taught by full time faculty, while the electives are taught by a mix of adjunct and full time faculty. Adjunct faculty are usually the ones who fail to hit the mark. Given that some of these faculty members have been teaching the past cohorts as well, it amazes me that SMU would still hire them again for future batches when I think their evaluations would have been rather poor. Then again, this would be how I would rate these professors. These adjunct faculty may be great practitioners, but they fail to translate that into teaching.

A piece of advice to future and current MBA SMU students, talk to the alumni and find out which elective profs to take and which to avoid (unfortunately there is no choice with the core classes). It makes a huge difference to the learning experience.

Modules

As the MBA program is still in its infancy (started only in 2008), the number of offered electives can be rather limited depending on your preferred area of concentration. For year 2013, the heaviest concentrations available were in finance and marketing. If you preferred something in HR, you could be out of luck since there were only 2 classes dedicated to this area. Unlike an established school like INSEAD which may seem to have an abundance of electives, choices tend to limited at SMU. I do believe this will improve over the near future as the class sizes continue to grow. There are only so many electives you can offer with a class of 90 students.

Electives are only offered once during the entire course, so if you miss an elective you want to take, you won’t get a second chance. Some times, 2 electives will overlap in timing and you will need to choose between the two.

Another point to note is that electives are only conducted on weekday evenings and during the entire day on Saturday and Sunday. This allows full time students to take on a job or internship during the elective period providing more flexibility. Depending on your job/internship, this can be extremely tiring as you still need to attend classes at night and on the weekends, leaving little time for rest.

Students

During your core modules, you will be assigned groups randomly, so you won’t get to cherry pick your group members. This gives everyone an opportunity to work with one another and get to know each other better. Because of this arrangement it allowed me to know most of my class rather well and the type of people I can work with in the future. While working with my class, some of them left me pondering if they were truly postgrad students, even their behaviors in class could be baffling at times.

As the MBA program is new it seems the admission criteria is rather lax at times given the quality of some of these students.

That said, there were some really bright folks, who truly contributed and made the experience better.

Career prospects

If you are depending on the career center to find you a job, don’t bother going to SMU. The career services is probably the worst aspect of the entire program. During my 1 year, I was assigned 3 different career counselors, all of whom were administratively incapable and despite their supposedly glowing resumes about their previous experiences and so-called connections, I never once saw it being used or help someone. I only found one counselor (not part of the assigned 3) to be effective and helping me land my role today.

For full time class of 2012, 45% had full time offers by graduation, and ~77% had offers 3 months after graduation. My class is still under the process of collecting data but it doesn’t look good at this point in time.

A handful of class 2013 gotten full time offers before graduation, so despite being an unranked and new MBA, it is still possible to obtain high paying jobs in large MNCs.

Summary

To conclude, I must admit if it wasn’t for the SMU MBA, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Through a networking event held by the career services, I had a nice full time offer in the industry I wanted to move into.

That said, there are many pain points one has to endure throughout the program and they should be aware of what they are getting themselves into if they choose to enroll in the program. It’s not all bright and rosy as you see in the brochures or talks. I do hope this review will help any prospective or current student in the SMU MBA program.
copied from
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/82217616-post883.html
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  #85 (permalink)  
Old 08-02-2014, 08:14 PM
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Default Need advice

Hi guys,

Need some advice here. I'm 32 yrs old, worked for 7 yrs in the finance sector. Right now i'm just about to get into the phase of moving into my new house and family planning.

Is it too late for someone my profile/age to do an MBA/Masters? i foresee next 2 years i probably will be busy if i have a kid. I'm not sure if i can say that most people who complete their CFA/Masters/MBA usually do so before they have children?

Appreciate any thoughts/advice!
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  #86 (permalink)  
Old 08-03-2015, 12:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
Hi guys,

Need some advice here. I'm 32 yrs old, worked for 7 yrs in the finance sector. Right now i'm just about to get into the phase of moving into my new house and family planning.

Is it too late for someone my profile/age to do an MBA/Masters? i foresee next 2 years i probably will be busy if i have a kid. I'm not sure if i can say that most people who complete their CFA/Masters/MBA usually do so before they have children?

Appreciate any thoughts/advice!
I'm doing my my MBA now and there are plenty of people who are married or have kids. You won't be out of place.
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  #87 (permalink)  
Old 01-10-2015, 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
Hi guys,

Need some advice here. I'm 32 yrs old, worked for 7 yrs in the finance sector. Right now i'm just about to get into the phase of moving into my new house and family planning.

Is it too late for someone my profile/age to do an MBA/Masters? i foresee next 2 years i probably will be busy if i have a kid. I'm not sure if i can say that most people who complete their CFA/Masters/MBA usually do so before they have children?

Appreciate any thoughts/advice!
i think think that it depends on a lot of factors.

1. how well are you doing currently financially. typical salary range for most top tier mba post grad, is about 100+k. less for local ntu/nus mba. if you're already at that range. then there's not much upside. simply put the ROI is not there.

2. why you're doing your mba. you need to be clear on this. to change industry? to change job function? or what? alot of engineers take up a mba hoping that it will be a magic bullet for their career. but ended up disappointed.

3. given that for most people. career peak will be at 40-45 ? given your age, you will have about 10yrs to go. this period should be the most productive in your career. is wasting 1-2 yrs on an mba at this period worth it? bear in mind, that for most top tier mbas, the candidates are about late 20s.

anyway just my thoughts because i'm struggling with the same decision.

hope it helps.
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  #88 (permalink)  
Old 06-10-2015, 06:53 PM
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i am having only diploma, with 9 yrs of working experience, am i able to do a MBA directly?
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  #89 (permalink)  
Old 17-10-2015, 02:02 PM
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Default Executive Msc/MBA

Dear all,

I'm considering doing an Executive Masters in Finance part time in City University of New York (CUNY) in a local campus.

Some info about myself:

-early thirties
-being in banking sector since graduation
-have a young kid

I'm thinking of doing the Msc because of a few reasons:
- my first degree is not in finance nor hard science
- thus would like to deepen my knowledge in some finance areas (intrinsic)
- to gain an edge in competing for senior roles?
- I feel im more of a specialist person rather than a leader, thus am opting for an Executive Msc rather than an MBA
- i've ruled out those which cost SGD50k & above in view of risk/rewards

I would like to ask, is an executive Msc in Finance considered to be at a "lower hierarchy/less on par" compared to an MBA?

For instance, consider an investment specialist in a bank or a senior financial controller/treasury manager in an MNC. Does it matter whether they hold a Exec Msc or MBA, in determining their career potential?

Feel free to raise any other relevant pointers/suggestions

Thanks
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  #90 (permalink)  
Old 18-10-2015, 07:36 PM
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i am having only diploma, with 9 yrs of working experience, am i able to do a MBA directly?
sure got chance for the 2nd tiers mbas like ntu/nus type if your gmat if high emough

almost totally no chances for the top tier mba though
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