I agree with your first and second sentence 100%. Especially the 2nd sentence.
But in my experience (not what I believe) very very few MBAs have value. The few I have seen have been the ones who have done executive MBAs (mainly people with a lot of experience going to get some theory knowledge) and they apply very little and very specific knowledge from their MBA.
My favorite experience with 'fresh' MBA students (still in university, no real work experience) was when I sat on a panel of local expat business people (in the Czech republic) doing a Q and A for MBA students from the US somewhere. They came off a day of exploring Prague, and had sat through some chamber of commerce and Ministry of Trade and Industry presentations so our panel was up to talk about our real world experiences building businesses out here. We all gave a short speech about what we've done and lessons learned out here-specifically what is great about business out here but also what pitfalls to look out for- then opened up for questions from the students.
The first question came from a student who I think was trying to emulate a hard-nosed, no nonsense businessman, who quite aggressively asked "Hold on, hold on hold on! So, can you just tell me whether I should bring my business here or not? The first presentations are telling me that everything is wonderful out here, now you lot tell me it's not so easy. So which is it then?!?"
I (admittedly a little bit annoyed, as I was doing the panel for free, I just wanted to help some future business people out) said to her: "Your job as a business owner is to gather data, evaluate it and make what you think is a sound decision based on it. You saw basically 2 sets of presentations today, one from people who are selling the Czech Republic, and one from foreigners who have actually built businesses here. So, you need to evaluate both sides of the coin, and come up with your own decision. If you can't do that you may well end up buying a lot of bridges and investing blindly in things that can't fail."
That gathered a few laughs, and even the woman who asked came up to me afterwards and asked me a few more questions (but still in a bullish type of way). But the local Chamber of commerce and the ministry never invited me again to be a panel member.
That was a round about way of trying to say that newly minted MBAs, their heads full of case studies, tends to see the business world in shades of black and white. That theories always work, that the business would be successful if you only did this. But the real world tends to be a little more murky, and until those MBAs gain a little more experience and are granted a little wisdom, they offer very little more value than an interesting tweet.
I generally agree with what you have said, except on the number of MBA programs which offer value. I don't think they are so rare, but people shouldn't expect that a random state college can offer the world, either. Just be careful when you chose, be proactive, research the programs, the professors, the associates, the alumni and make that (very important) decision in your life. Often times you need to be guided, so seek guidance if your family is unable to offer help in such decisions.
Education is hard and needs to be worked hard to get your money's worth out of it.
But in my experience (not what I believe) very very few MBAs have value. The few I have seen have been the ones who have done executive MBAs (mainly people with a lot of experience going to get some theory knowledge) and they apply very little and very specific knowledge from their MBA.
My favorite experience with 'fresh' MBA students (still in university, no real work experience) was when I sat on a panel of local expat business people (in the Czech republic) doing a Q and A for MBA students from the US somewhere. They came off a day of exploring Prague, and had sat through some chamber of commerce and Ministry of Trade and Industry presentations so our panel was up to talk about our real world experiences building businesses out here. We all gave a short speech about what we've done and lessons learned out here-specifically what is great about business out here but also what pitfalls to look out for- then opened up for questions from the students.
The first question came from a student who I think was trying to emulate a hard-nosed, no nonsense businessman, who quite aggressively asked "Hold on, hold on hold on! So, can you just tell me whether I should bring my business here or not? The first presentations are telling me that everything is wonderful out here, now you lot tell me it's not so easy. So which is it then?!?"
I (admittedly a little bit annoyed, as I was doing the panel for free, I just wanted to help some future business people out) said to her: "Your job as a business owner is to gather data, evaluate it and make what you think is a sound decision based on it. You saw basically 2 sets of presentations today, one from people who are selling the Czech Republic, and one from foreigners who have actually built businesses here. So, you need to evaluate both sides of the coin, and come up with your own decision. If you can't do that you may well end up buying a lot of bridges and investing blindly in things that can't fail."
That gathered a few laughs, and even the woman who asked came up to me afterwards and asked me a few more questions (but still in a bullish type of way). But the local Chamber of commerce and the ministry never invited me again to be a panel member.
That was a round about way of trying to say that newly minted MBAs, their heads full of case studies, tends to see the business world in shades of black and white. That theories always work, that the business would be successful if you only did this. But the real world tends to be a little more murky, and until those MBAs gain a little more experience and are granted a little wisdom, they offer very little more value than an interesting tweet.