Business Schools

[3ntrepreneur]

Hey next year i will start looking at business schools. I got a 3.8/4 last year and now i am struggling to get a 3/4 this year (I am taking college classes AP). I am worried that i will not be able to get into a top of bread business college. Have any of you guys gone to a business college (undergraduate or graduate). Do they place any emphasis on business experience when applying?

[bbalfour]

Alot of the top schools such as Kellog (northwestern) or Ross (Michigan) don't allow you to apply to their b-school program until your sophmore year. They base the majority of what your acceptance on what you have done in the first two years of college.

[Muddy]

Just to let you know. You are probably in the wrong forums asking this question. Entrepreneurs are people who start businesses. People who go to get their MBA are geared towards being a CEO

[3ntrepreneur]

That is not true at all...there are plenty of individuals who have gotten their MBA's and are now entrepreneurs. You can be an entrepreneur and be highly educated with an advanced degree. Maybe I am wrong? What do you guys think?

[akula]

That is not true at all...there are plenty of individuals who have gotten their MBA's and are now entrepreneurs. You can be an entrepreneur and be highly educated with an advanced degree. Maybe I am wrong? What do you guys think?

No, you're right, Muddy's wrong. As an entrepreneur, the whole point of the MBA is so that the board will consider hiring you as the CEO to manage the company you co founded.

In today's global economy, complete with sophisticated competition, employees, technology and customers - long gone are the days of redneck dummies who go around starting businesses with no formal education.

No one, including the IPO market, likes companies operated by self taught wiz kids. Too much unnecessary risk.

[mxer210]

I am going to college next year and the school I will be attending doesn't even have an undergrad business program. I wouldn't worry too much about rankings because its not where you go, but what you do with your experience. A top 50 MBA program can also override your undergrad universities rep on your resume anyways if that is a concern for you. Usually, if you are booksmart, it's easier to get into a top undergrad school, and if you are a street smart, you will have an easier time getting into top a MBA program.

[F360]

My favorite quote by a multi-millionaire business owner:

Fuck the MBA!

Thats what he says whenever anyone asks for his opinion. He believes an MBA teaches you to become a corporate whore working high in the ranks of someone elses business. He says if you have an idea for a business - dont waste your time and $$$ with one.

[akula]

My favorite quote by a multi-millionaire business owner:


Thats what he says whenever anyone asks for his opinion. He believes an MBA teaches you to become a corporate whore working high in the ranks of someone elses business. He says if you have an idea for a business - dont waste your time and $$$ with one.

hindsight bias

there are plenty of multimillionaires who do have MBAs and would tell you the opposite, and if you consult the census - there is roughly 10 of these guys for each one of your guys.

be intelligent - see the whole picture, don't let people pool wool over your eyes.

[F360]

Yeh I see the whole picture. But the way I see it is if you have a good idea and have the talent to execute it - dont worry about the MBA.
Im all for education, thats why Im at university myself.

Also I will point out that virtually zero people in the Ferrari Club of New Zealand has a university degree. It just makes me think...

[matt_16288]

Yeh I see the whole picture. But the way I see it is if you have a good idea and have the talent to execute it - dont worry about the MBA.
Im all for education, thats why Im at university myself.

Also I will point out that virtually zero people in the Ferrari Club of New Zealand has a university degree. It just makes me think...

Great post

[Zarkast]

Figure in the cost of getting your MBA and the upside to having it. If its cheaper to HIRE someone with an MBA to do the work that requires it, then spend your money on select education. Having the degree is nice, but if someone else on your business team has it then it will be kind of redundant. Collage, unfortunatly, involves going to classes that have no real bearing on the type of information you'd be looking for in the entrepenuerial world. Instead of wasting time, effort, and money on the useless portions of the degree process it might be wiser to go to the specific classes to need to gain the specific information you need and then hire someone else to fill the hole that requires a business degree.

As I say this one of my business partners is currently pursuing HIS business degree so I don't have to. Pretty much any team that I put together will include someone with credentials that I lack. My job as an entrepeneur is to provide the vision and broadstroke goals and direction of a business venture.

If you want to be the one with the credentials, then it may turn out that you'll have an easier time finding a place on a team than me.

Basically it boils down to your own preferences and willingness to go through the BS to get your MBA. It most likely will not make you a "better" entrepenuer though. That comes mostly from experience and a good mentor.

[New billionaire]

That is not true at all...there are plenty of individuals who have gotten their MBA's and are now entrepreneurs. You can be an entrepreneur and be highly educated with an advanced degree. Maybe I am wrong? What do you guys think?

Just a 2 cents worth of advice, Bro 3ntrepreneur. I think a bachelor degree is sufficient. I am very regreted of taking my Master of Strategic Marketing last 4 years as it is costly and a lot of time taken.
The Master now don't really add any value to me even as an employee.

[akula]

Hey next year i will start looking at business schools. I got a 3.8/4 last year and now i am struggling to get a 3/4 this year (I am taking college classes AP). I am worried that i will not be able to get into a top of bread business college. Have any of you guys gone to a business college (undergraduate or graduate). Do they place any emphasis on business experience when applying?

Hit Babson College, they're south of Boston. Leaders in entrepreneurship education.

That's where I would have liked to do my biz degree....instead of this hell hole.

[nado]

That's where I would have liked to do my biz degree....instead of this hell hole.

LOL, it's a bit like that anywhere in Aus I think.

At least our hell hole has nice grass and water around the place

[CardCat]

Akula is right - Babson is tops in the US for entrepreneurship. Also check out Entrepreneur Magazine's rankings.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges/0,6441,,00.html

I worked a couple years before going back to get my MBA. It was beneficial because of the learning you do from other people's experiences. The classes were ok, but the true value came from meeting others and learning from things that they had or hadn't done in the past. That is why many MBA programs require work experience before you enter.

When looking at B-schools, ask them how much hands on, experiential learning they put into the courses. My MBA had several consulting projects with outside companies that really helped me see things differently. Many schools also sponsor Biz Plan competitions and may fund good ideas.

If you set out to get an MBA, where you got your undergrad means less and less. They want a good GPA, good GMAT scores, and that you show them you have the drive and street smarts to make it.