Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M
There has been a trend of requiring students to have a couple of years real world work experience to enter an MBA program. Now Harvard and others are saying never mind, come on in. A Dean in Ireland says this is a bad idea as it negates the whole idea of the degree. Click to read why.
What say you? Sooner or later? I went right from undergrad and was working while I earned my MBA.But that was back before UT thought the ruled the MBA world.
Later…no doubt. This is not law school where you can’t practice your profession until you are certified by the state.
I think that it would be ok if you were an acct major, but otherwise not a good idea. You need to understand what it takes to be successful. And I hate to tell those in the class that seem to ask me why I understand what you are talking about..and they don’t……that it is because I have been exposed to much of what is in the book; on some tangible level…not quite so illustrated, though. And yes I still am having a hard time understanding the material on some level….but then again there are many in our class that are WAY WAY more intelligent than I could dream to be.
Those who are having a hard time understanding the course material; it is because they may need to roll up their sleeves and get in the thick of the corporate world a little longer. I have also had positions that were not 40 hours a week, but sometimes 60-70 hrs a week.
I am not the best or most intelligent student, by far, but I do now understand the work experience requirement. I THINK THAT IT IS ESSENTIAL…..
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Ok,
so I am going to go ahead and play Devil’s Advocate cause that what Dr. Elam loves. So that being said, does work experience really give you all that you need to be successful in a MBA program? I don’t think so.
So far, I have not been exposed to any of the things taught in class i my job experience. Of course, someof us are lucky enough to have been exposed, but what about those of us who haven’t. Should we have to wait even longer? Besides, you and I both know that the real world is not based on theory, like alot but not allof our classes ar. I too went straight to grad school from graduating. I don’t feel any dumber than anybody else in the class. Although, I guess could be. But tell me other than seeing things first hand, what role does it play in you completing an MBA? Can someone not walk straight into the MBA program from graduating and be successful? You tell me… as Dr. E likes to say… what say you?
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Apparently Jason is right, my problem is that no one is posting any questions about what it is that they do not understand. I agree with Jason, that until you have to face a problem that requires a cheaper solution, and then you have to analyze each component step to eliminate the non value added activities, it is hard to grasp some of this. But tha is the reason for so many articles that make the example.
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Good question, I went to the MBA program and had just started working as an internal auditor and then a budget analyst. I think the program would have meant more if I had started about where I left off, ie, at the end of that second year after working on the budget. Back then too much of what I did at work was strictly mechanical, like adding up numbers on a machine, now the spreadsheet does that for you. This is why I asked you to make presentations in class, the job now is explaining why and how rather than just adding up numbers, as the saying goes, machines should work, people should think. Still I did well in the mba program because it was pretty much writing papers and reading books. The world has changed since then, globalization, alternatives for production, etc. Now one ahs to evaluate many courses of action that did not exist then. And so that lack of context I think is a detriment.
For example, I was asked to figure a construction draw for a building. NOt having built a building or been around that, I was a bit baffled at what the job actually required. I notice that students who have bought a house readily understand more about time value of money than those that have not, context is the difference.
Clearly everyone has different kinds of jobs and will not be exposed to as many different scenarios. But more exposure means more context.
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Professor Elam 
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