A Blog by Scott Isaacs

Is an MBA Worth It?

A friend of mine is going to school in an "MBA for professionals" program.  I’m not sure if it’s public knowledge or not, so no identifying links here.  Anyway, in an e-mail today, he mentioned that he has class tomorrow, and that got me thinking.  Every few months for most of the past decade the thought crosses my mind that I should look into doing the same thing. 

So far I haven’t done anything about it for a number of reasons, mostly falling into either the money category or the time category, some into both.  But I’m still interested in doing it someday — at least I haven’t ruled it out.

So, here’s the question.  Is it worth it?

If you’ve done it, are doing it, are thinking about it, or decided against it, I’d be interested to hear why.  Also, if you are a person that does hiring, I’d like to hear what you think.  Would you take an MBA over experience?  Or is experience king?  Realistically, it will be a year or two before I’m ready to go for it.  So that gives me plenty of time to get tips from all sorts of people.

If you have any thoughts, you can leave a comment or contact me.

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1 Comment

  1. http://

    Ok Scott – longtime friend here (no, not identifying myself). However, I can tell you that your magic answer is almost…(drumroll)…

    42

    Yep. It makes that much sense. I’m not siding one way or another and neither should anyone. It all depends and it is all an individual thing (an MBA that is – 42 pretty much applies to all of us).

    I didn’t even get my first degree and I’m doing pretty darn good. I know some who have their PHD and not loving their job or making as much as I am. That doesn’t mean there aren’t many others doing more – just haven’t seen it. Too many times people get caught up in trying to identify a way to measure themselves – or worse yet – be measured by others. I strive (and encourage you to strive) to live a life that doesn’t require measure. If an MBA makes you more confident and capable – do it! If not – don’t!

    It’s simple really. The answer is 42.

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