Value of MBA

It has long been debatable whether or not an MBA degree is worth the investment it requires. I don't have a definitive answer to this because there are so many examples of where it pays off and plenty of others where it doesn't. I have always believed that the school of real world business experience is worth a lot more than theoretical book knowledge. It's really hard to counter the example of Bill Gates, who dropped out of college and became the richest person in the world by building a real world company.

I must admit that I went back to school five years after earning my BS to get an MBA in order to distinguish myself more in the financial world. Since I was in the corporate world at the time I started, just having a CPA wasn't as attractive as having a CPA and an MBA. Ironically, I left the corporate world and went into full time self employment half-way through my MBA courses. I finished it up; but have to honestly say that having an MBA in the CPA profession hasn't really impressed anyone.

I think it is good to have the debate over the value of an MBA, as in this article. As can be expected, the colleges that offer MBA programs don't take kindly to this skepticism and consider it sheer blasphemy to question the conventional wisdom that an outrageously expensive MBA is always a quick path to riches.

KMK
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 8/29/2002 11:31:00 AM Send this post: