0: Hello. Welcome back to MBA Monday.

3: It's been, oh, so many Mondays since I was

5: here with you on the YouTubes talking about getting into business school.

9: But MBA Monday is back for season three.

12: What is MBA Monday?

13: You ask the best place to come to get no nonsense advice about how to apply and get

20: into business school while having a good time and not being a douche.

25: I'm Angela Guido,

26: the founder of Career Protocol, the web's most refreshing destination

31: for career guidance and MBA application insights and coaching.

36: Today I'm talking about Is an MBA Worth It in 2022?

51: It's a perennially controversial question whether an MBA is worth it or not,

56: especially because the cost of the MBA continues to rise at death defying speeds

64: year after year, while the post MBA salaries that one can

68: expect to make are not increasing with as much velocity.

78: So if you check out this awesome article in Poets and Quants,

83: our favorite source for MBA related data titled What it Now Costs to get an MBA

89: at a Top Program, we'll put the link down below.

91: You can see that programs in the top 10/ top 20,

95: if you include what the school states as

98: the two year tuition and room and board and extra fees cost,

102: you're looking at a total price tag of prices in the realm of $230,000.

110: Some of them are a bit cheaper.

111: Washington Foster, for example, is only $177,000.

116: Northwestern is $223,000.

120: University of Texas is $160,000.

124: You want to take these numbers with a grain of salt because historically

128: schools have understated the room and board cost.

131: The tuition cost, of course, is published.

133: But what it costs to live in LA or to live in Austin is a bit subjective.

137: And if you go by the school's numbers,

140: basically you have to eat tuna fish and not travel the whole time

144: if you're actually going to live

146: in the cost that they recommend for room and board.

149: So whatever the schools say is the total all in cost, you can assume that you

153: probably need to tack on another 10/20k.

155: So if you read between the lines, if you do that little math,

158: we're talking about about $250,000, a quarter of a million dollars to complete

164: your MBA at a full time residential MBA program in the United States.

168: If you are looking at post MBA salaries, you can see that while they have increased

174: in the last few years, in the last decade, steadily the jobs that pay 250 grand

181: immediately post MBA are few and far between.

184: More likely you're going to be in the mid

186: 100, not quite up to 200,000 if you include all your bonuses, et cetera.

192: So you'll have to do your own calculation about how to amortize the cost of your MBA

198: and how to pay off those loans as quickly as possible.

201: If you live incredibly frugally in the years after your MBA,

205: you should be able to pay down that debt pretty quickly if you're getting

208: a standard 120, 150, 160k post MBA job.

214: Here's a quote from the Director

215: of Financial Services at the Booth School of Business when I was a student.

218: She said, if you live like a CEO when

220: you're a student, you're going to live like a student when you're a CEO.

225: And that for sure is true.

227: The more profit you are during your MBA, the more you're going to have to tighten

230: your belt post MBA to pay off that MBA debt.

234: But this is just simple math,

235: simple budgeting, simple personal finance management.

238: I really encourage you to think very carefully about how you're going to fund

242: the MBA, where you're going to get the money from,

244: and then make a plan to pay it off if you decide to go to business school.

249: That's just part of the process.

251: Another important input

252: into the calculation of how much the MBA cost are student loan interest rates.

258: This is a really important thing

260: to consider as you're factoring in the cost of the MBA is how much

264: interest are banks going to charge you to finance your MBA and student loan

268: interest rates within the US fluctuate pretty regularly.

271: You can find charts online.

273: In 2022, it looks like those interest rates are going to be on the lower side.

279: So that might be a tick in favor of yes, the MBA is worth it in 2022.

284: But do your own research, do your own math, and figure out exactly

288: how much the MBA is actually going to cost you in real dollars,

291: and then how long it's going to take you to pay that off at the expected salary you

296: are going to make or that you expect to make post MBA.

304: So we've talked about the costs.

305: The costs are high.

307: Your post MBA salary will be lower than the price you paid for the full MBA.

312: But that's only part of the equation of whether or not the MBA is worth it.

315: For you to understand the value you're

318: going to get out of the MBA is a very personal question.

323: People have different needs and expectations for their career.

326: You should really only be applying to business school if it's going to give

329: you something in your career that you can't get any other way.

333: Or if you could get it another way, it would just take too much time.

337: It would be too difficult.

338: The MBA is a fast track to achieving your career dreams.

342: And for those of you for whom the MBA is

345: a fast track to achieving your career dreams, it's going to be worth it.

349: Year after year.

350: People apply to business school,

351: they make that investment, and they're incredibly glad that they did.

355: In fact, if you notice the arguments about

358: should you or should you not get an MBA, you'll find that most of the people

362: arguing that you shouldn't get an MBA don't have an MBA.

365: And many of them are selling MBA substitute programs.

368: That's really an important thing to note.

370: And the people who are telling you that you should get an MBA mostly have an MBA.

375: Maybe this is just telling us about human psychology and the confirmation bias,

379: but maybe it's also telling you that the people who go in knowing what

383: they want and go for it are actually happy with their choice,

386: and the people who avoid it and find their own way are happy with that choice.

390: The choice ultimately is up to you in my very next video.

394: Come back next week.

395: Be sure to subscribe so you get the notifications.

397: Turn that Bell on.

399: I'm going to talk about who should and who shouldn't get an MBA.

404: We talked to hundreds of people

406: at Career Protocol about their career dreams and their MBA ambitions.

409: And it turns out that in some percentage of those calls, we actually spend the time

414: not talking about our services, but trying to talk the candidate out

418: of applying to business school because they're going for the wrong reasons.

422: And it's plain to see that an MBA is not

425: going to help them achieve what they really want in their career.

429: So come back next week for a really

431: detailed description of who should and shouldn't apply to business school.

433: But for now, let's just leave it at this.

436: If the MBA gives you access to something

439: that either you can't get any other way or you could get another way,

443: but it would take you a lot more time and energy,

447: then it's probably worth considering going to business school despite the high cost.

453: But Elon Musk says that MBA suck.

460: Well, not in so many words.

462: I believe one of the exact quotes was

466: MBA graduates may be good at PowerPoint, but they don't know how things work.

471: Let's address that.

473: Let's tackle directly what the naysayers are saying about the MBA and see if it

478: affects your decision to apply to business school.

480: So this quote honestly I don't really

483: understand because during my MBA, PowerPoint was never taught.

486: It was never used.

487: We never once brought PowerPoint into the conversation.

491: I was trained on the ground the hard way to learn PowerPoint at BCG.

495: Maybe things have changed since my day.

497: Admittedly, it's been a while,

499: so it could well be that PowerPoint is taught directly in MBA programs.

502: But to my knowledge, that comment actually doesn't resonate because the MBA is not.

510: Powerpoint is a hard skill that MBA programs typically expect that you either

514: are bringing in or that you're going to learn yourself on the side.

517: Let's talk about the second part of this quote.

519: They don't know how things work.

523: Scathing comments, but let's look at that.

527: I'm going to pair that with another quote from this very same interview.

530: He says that MBAs want to parachute into leadership.

535: They want to parachute into being the boss

539: instead of working their way up and learning it.

542: He says that MBAs do not have the experience it takes to run

546: a successful company or create a good product.

550: So a lot of people throw these quotes around as arguments against the MBA.

555: But if you really think about what an MBA

557: is and what it's for, these comments are not damning at all.

561: These comments are just speaking to what

564: the MBA actually teaches you versus what it doesn't.

568: Just think logically.

569: Business school is for people at least.

572: We're talking about full time, top 20 top 50 programs.

576: They're mostly designed for people who are

578: in the first four to six years of their career, people who have virtually no

584: experience running anything, never mind running a business or creating

589: a whole product, people who've made progress,

593: who've worked hard, who've had an impact, but who are still in the very nascent

598: stages of developing their own leadership style, their own business thinking skills,

602: and their own ability to make things happen in the world.

606: The MBA never promises to be a magic wand.

609: It's not about magically transforming you into an entrepreneur or a CEO.

614: In fact, if you're going into business

616: school with that expectation, stop right now.

619: You're one of the people who should not be

620: applying to business school, because that's not really what the MBA is about.

624: What the MBA is actually about is training you not to be a CEO or an entrepreneur

630: in most cases, but rather to be a middle manager.

634: The MBA came about in the early 1900s.

638: Corporations had ballooned into many

641: tiered organizations with factory assembly lines, managers, and people at the top.

647: And what they realized is that they needed

650: skilled people in the middle to manage both downward and upward.

654: And there are a set of skills that are required to be an effective manager.

659: Those skills include understanding all

661: the different parts of the business, understanding how marketing works,

664: how the supply chain works, how operations, finance strategy,

669: how it all fits together to inform the success of a business.

674: It also includes the ability to manage organizations of people,

680: to create culture, and to get people collaborating towards a shared vision.

689: These are skills that the MBA will teach

693: you if you've been a consultant or a teacher.

697: Regardless of the background you're coming from.

699: The MBA is kind of a two year baptism into the entire language of business.

706: It teaches you how businesses work,

708: how all the different functions fit together, and it begins to give you

712: the tools to define your own leadership style.

717: I personally believe that leadership,

720: in the sense that we mean it in 2022 can't really be taught in a classroom.

726: And on this point, I agree with Elon Musk.

729: Being a great leader is about creating useful things.

732: It's about solving problems,

734: it's about caring about others, and it's about bringing others along with you.

739: It's about empowering the leadership of others.

742: This skill can't really be taught in a classroom.

745: You can only learn it on the court, on the job, actually working with people

750: in a real environment, trying to solve real problems.

754: So let's take a step back and re examine

757: the validity of Elon Musk's quote, I've been pontificating for a while now.

761: Essentially, he's right.

764: The MBA doesn't qualify you to be a CEO, to run a company, or to create products.

769: It qualifies you to begin to lead within a company and to make things happen.

775: Post MBA, you're still going to have to work your way up.

778: You're still going to have to work hard

779: and lead effectively and manage people well.

782: And on every day of the job that you get

785: post MBA, hopefully you're going to be developing those skills and learning

789: that this is part of why people love to go into management consulting because it's

794: the most accelerated learning path for on the job training of all of these skills.

799: Check out our other videos about

801: management consulting because it'll make sense now why I'm saying it.

807: So let me come back to my original point, which is the decision about whether

812: the MBA is worth it is going to be personal to you.

815: Now you have a sense that it's not going

818: to magically transform you into a CEO or an entrepreneur.

821: It's going to give you a leg up so that you can then continue to build your

825: way up in your career to the roles that will make your dreams come true.

830: The decision to pursue an MBA or not is a very personal one.

835: So one of the most important things that you can do for yourself

838: in the journey to apply before you submit your applications or even begin tackling

842: the essays is dig really deeply into your career game plan.

848: We have many videos on this channel about building your career game plan,

853: and the reason we are constantly yammering on about the career game plan is because

858: it not only will help you answer the question of whether an MBA is worth it

863: for you, it will also build the foundation for an inspiring MBA application package.

870: You want to think of the MBA like a train ticket.

873: There's no point in buying a train ticket

876: if you're not headed to a specific destination.

880: Schools are not going to sell you a ticket

883: to their program if they don't believe that you're going somewhere that you can

887: get to, that you want to go, and that they can help you arrive at.

892: So focus on your career game plan in the next several months.

896: Really ask yourselves the hard questions about what you want in your career and how

901: much the MBA is going to help you get there.

904: And then answer the question for yourself, is an MBA is worth it for you in 2022?

910: If it is, and even if it isn't, you can find me right here every Monday.

916: Fun MBA Monday. Bye.

919: Hello.

921: Welcome back to MBA Monday.

925: I blew it way out. Okay, we're ready.

927: To start. Now.

928: We're ready.