The upside of Uri not being here is that I can focus my non-study time on writing and not on Uri. At the risk of being kicked out of the MBA program, I want to share with you another observation I recently had.
To put it in context, and let you in on a bit of or semi-social life, last Saturday Uri and I participated in a school tradition called Johnson Night Out. This is a school organized event in which School Faculty and 2nd year students host 1st and 2nd year students for pot-luck dinners. Pot-luck is the American expression that means, everybody brings a dish for everyone to share. We were assigned to go to Prof. Charlotte Rosen’s house and invited with us was one 2nd year student and 2 other 1st years.
We got into a conversation about “the job market”. I won’t go how we got to it, but I at one point said that I think it’s sad that the world has come to a point where an MBA is so (over)appreciated, and a PhD is so under appreciated. How do I put this delicately? I guess I could call it a faux-pas.
Everybody was shocked at my statement and proceeded to state that there are a lot of vital skills taught in an MBA program that a PhD does not necessarily have. Now, let me say what should have been obvious to everyone there – I am in an MBA program. Therefore I am very grateful at the business world’s faith in such program to determine success in management position. And I do believe that this will help me reach my short and long term career goals. However, I am also able to step aside and look at this system with a bit of criticism in order to say that more than anything else the MBA program is a long screening process. It’s about getting into a club and being “one of the gang”. Most jobs, at least the high-profile ones, have some sort of training in order to purchase the main skills needed for the job. And these are jobs that a person who is smart and has good deductive skills can do, at a starting level, without much experience. I do not doubt that an MBA does a good job in training for this. I just wonder when did it become so that a PhD (and it doesn’t matter in what) isn’t an indicator for these things?
So back to the main point, I was really surprised at the fact that this was such a faux pas. Is it an American thing? Is it an MBA thing? I don’t know the answer. Hence the title of the post.
2 comments:
I am grad student. Hear me Lament!!!!
It really all depends on what the training prepares you for. For example, many grad students will royally flunk their communications skills survey - something which will likely be picked up very early on in an MBA program and worked on.
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