MBA after designation

IMO, only do MBA if your company is paying for it. If your company is willing to shell out $20k for you, you must be a bright guy anyways and will be promoted. But I'd never attribute success to MBA.

BananaHunter wrote: ↑IMO, only do MBA if your company is paying for it. If your company is willing to shell out $20k for you, you must be a bright guy anyways and will be promoted. But I'd never attribute success to MBA.

Agreed.

There's a couple of "new" MBAs in my office. Both are tools. Not sure what they learned by getting an MBA but it sure isn't obvious in either case.

As been stated many times before, the MBA has poor ROI and the market for them is very saturated. Dont do it.

Conquistador wrote: ↑Agreed.

There's a couple of "new" MBAs in my office. Both are tools. Not sure what they learned by getting an MBA but it sure isn't obvious in either case.

agreed x3

exactly the type of info I was looking for!

Thanks guys!

I wouldn't do it. I dropped out of MBA program. As others have said, unless your employer is paying for it, or you are going to an Ivey league school the ROI is extremely weak.

i think it really depends where you are in your career.

others may disagree, but i think MBA provides 3+1 things -
- networking opportunities with others
- career change/progression into management role from various background
- move up into sr. management role (if you have experience to back it up with)
- theoretical understanding of the business world

MBA's objective was to supplement an individual's career who had work experience of several years under his belt already. if i recall correctly, when it first started it was mainly people with ~10 years of experience who would do it. now it's become a buzz-word and the 'in' thing to do, and you have students believing that a nice 6-figure job will be waiting for them on a platter once they complete.

i don't think MBA is useless and if you can afford it (and want to pursue one of the objectives mentioned above or have genuine interest in the subject), then definitely do it... but it would be way more useful when you've got the relevant experience to supplement the education with.

does an accounting designation + mba help more? sure, but i think it's like with any other background...engineering + mba, marketing + mba, etc etc...

Clueless Fox wrote: ↑i think it really depends where you are in your career.

others may disagree, but i think MBA provides 3 things -
- networking opportunities with others
- career change/progression into management role from various background
- move up into sr. management role (if you have experience to back it up with)
- theoretical understanding of the business world

MBA's objective was to supplement an individual's career who had work experience of several years under his belt already. if i recall correctly, when it first started it was mainly people with ~10 years of experience who would do it. now it's become a buzz-word and the 'in' thing to do, and you have students believing that a nice 6-figure job will be waiting for them on a platter once they complete.

i don't think MBA is useless and if you can afford it (and want to pursue one of the objectives mentioned above or have genuine interest in the subject), then definitely do it... but it would be way more useful when you've got the relevant experience to supplement the education with.

does an accounting designation + mba help more? sure, but i think it's like with any other background...engineering + mba, marketing + mba, etc etc...

+1. I have been looking into doing one once I get my letters as well. Its a huge supplement to your resume, and will broaden your understanding of business (essential at an upper-management level). I also agree with other posters that an MBA is also a branding tool. So depending on where you attend could make a huge difference in your career advancement.

Clueless Fox wrote: ↑i think it really depends where you are in your career.

others may disagree, but i think MBA provides 3 things -
- networking opportunities with others
- career change/progression into management role from various background
- move up into sr. management role (if you have experience to back it up with)
- theoretical understanding of the business world

MBA's objective was to supplement an individual's career who had work experience of several years under his belt already. if i recall correctly, when it first started it was mainly people with ~10 years of experience who would do it. now it's become a buzz-word and the 'in' thing to do, and you have students believing that a nice 6-figure job will be waiting for them on a platter once they complete.

i don't think MBA is useless and if you can afford it (and want to pursue one of the objectives mentioned above or have genuine interest in the subject), then definitely do it... but it would be way more useful when you've got the relevant experience to supplement the education with.

does an accounting designation + mba help more? sure, but i think it's like with any other background...engineering + mba, marketing + mba, etc etc...

bbraganz wrote: ↑+1. I have been looking into doing one once I get my letters as well. Its a huge supplement to your resume, and will broaden your understanding of business (essential at an upper-management level). I also agree with other posters that an MBA is also a branding tool. So depending on where you attend could make a huge difference in your career advancement.

the above is pretty spot on...

One of the main benefits to doing your MBA is networking.....you build networks with your peers in the program (who are also looking to further develop their career and come from various backgrounds) and you get access to networking with senior individuals in different industries as well through forums, workshops and events held by your program/school/industry programs etc..

Doing an MBA definitely opens doors to you if you are looking at different fields, industries etc.

But as others have said...the MBA degree is much more common now then it was 5-10years ago..

Gone are the days of newly minted MBAs coming straight out of grad school earning 6 figures...

And the prices of the programs have gone up as well (MBA programs are cash cows for schools), hence the ROI being poor as others have mentioned.

If you can get your employer to pay for it or even do an EMBA if they are able to pay for it...then it might be worth it...

Or if you can somehow fasttrack somehow and crunch the numbers to make the ROI reasonable, then I say go for it.

An MBA isn't useless but it isn't for everyone..you need to look at your situation and determine if the benefits outweigh the costs..

If you complete an MBA and it opens doors to you in a different field you were looking to further your career in or it helps you make that step up in management...then it is a no brainer...

alpharius wrote: ↑As been stated many times before, the MBA has poor ROI and the market for them is very saturated. Dont do it.

+1. If you're in the CGA program and you're still really keen on getting one you can always look at the CGA + MBA program through Laurentian University. http://www.cga-ontario.org/assets/file/ ... July21.pdf

Just throwin it out there. Good luck

ji2o0k wrote: ↑the above is pretty spot on...

One of the main benefits to doing your MBA is networking.....you build networks with your peers in the program (who are also looking to further develop their career and come from various backgrounds) and you get access to networking with senior individuals in different industries as well through forums, workshops and events held by your program/school/industry programs etc..

I graduated from Rotman, and I can tell you that the networking is often oversold. 300 graduates - split along ethnic lines in a hyper-competitive environment does not engender closeness or familiarity. The class size is just too big. I remember during the party after final exams where there were some people I hadn't seen since frosh camp 2 years ago. Most people dont keep in touch, and I can't even tell you when there was a alumni get together because they are so rare. With the exception of the smaller schools, I would imagine this situation is the norm.


The days when the MBA was like the old boys network from Upper Canada is LONG gone.

I completed my CMA last year and am 3 months into an MBA. The networking alone is worth the price of admission.

Don't kid yourself though, it's a ton of work.

Full disclosure - I'm doing an accelerated 2 year part time MBA so the reduced program time was a huge factor in my decision as well.

nasa25 wrote: ↑I completed my CMA last year and am 3 months into an MBA. The networking alone is worth the price of admission.

Don't kid yourself though, it's a ton of work.

Full disclosure - I'm doing an accelerated 2 year part time MBA so the reduced program time was a huge factor in my decision as well.

If you don't mind me asking, where are you doing your MBA? I completed my CMA this year and was looking at a part-time MBA option.

92dreamteam wrote: ↑If you don't mind me asking, where are you doing your MBA? I completed my CMA this year and was looking at a part-time MBA option.

Laurier. They have a newly created 'MBA for CMAs' which is basically just an accelerated MBA. It's a part time 12 course program. I was granted exemption from the 8 course core curriculum which cut what would have been a 3.3 year program to 2 years.

alpharius wrote: ↑I graduated from Rotman, and I can tell you that the networking is often oversold. 300 graduates - split along ethnic lines in a hyper-competitive environment does not engender closeness or familiarity. The class size is just too big. I remember during the party after final exams where there were some people I hadn't seen since frosh camp 2 years ago. Most people dont keep in touch, and I can't even tell you when there was a alumni get together because they are so rare. With the exception of the smaller schools, I would imagine this situation is the norm.

really?

Hmmm..not sure, maybe it is the culture of Rotman....I completed my BCom at Rotman St.George campus and completed my MBA at Schulich and I definitely found the cultures to be quite different (albeit different levels of programs).

Just speaking from my personal experience at Schulich, they split up our cohort into smaller groups and the group I belonged to has remained very close....it has been great to see our careers develop in different fields (pretty diverse) and we are pretty close given all the "wars" we went through together.

But it really does take effort to maintain this...we go out of our way to meet quarterly...either over food/drinks or other activities (i.e. poker games, bday parties etc).

We also get regular alumni gathering invites as well....I have only attended a few of those however, given that I meet up with my closer classmates on a regular basis...

At the end of the day, it is what you make of it.....I was fortunate enough to meet a great group of folks and to see each person's success has been very rewarding....not to mention beneficial in terms of contacts in other fields or senior folks that they know as well.

I've also maintained a few contacts through the workshops/forums that the school held as well...these are more casual contacts and definitely not as close as my classmates...