rex-craft7

im still trying to decide between:

BFA + MBA
BFA + MFA
(BFA & b.business) + MBA

im at a school that is specialized in neither business or art (although ive heard our business school is actually decent). and im currently considering transferring to an all art school for most likely a graphic design/vis. com. bachelors. im still not sure. but how useful would it be if i went on to get a masters in art?

bears and dogs

While I was worrying about my art school bound son’s future, my boss told me about the newspaper article either Wall Street or NYT, that MFA is new MBA. In near future, creative and flexible brain is much useful than money or business smart.
I have to worry about BFA first, though.

mackinaw

By and large, for those who already have a BFA, to get an MFA amounts to getting a teaching credential. Of course, it may also be a way to update or upgrade your skills, or to expand your skills into a different art or design field.

To really have an impact "on Wall Street" or in big business or industry, however, while it seems to be true that employers in business and finance are looking for more right brained people these days it's nonetheless also true that MBA's rule the roost. You can be "the art guy" or "art gal" in a business but you risk being stereotyped and pigeonholed.

So if you really want to study art/design but then bring your artistic sensibilities into the business world (especially "Wall Street" or large industry), here would be my suggestion how to go.

(1) Earn a BFA, or a BA-Art/design. But do your best to take some coursework outside the traditional "art school" focus, namely keep up with math and statistics, economics, and maybe even biology. (I assume you will have some coursework in general humanities as well, including English and history.)

(2) Go into the world and work for 3-4 years in your art/design field, build credentials in leadership, initiative, teamwork, etc., i.e., the types of "work experience" that business schools look for in admissions. You will also need letters of support from your employers or former employers (not from your college teachers).

(3) Study for the GMAT. Take a prep course if necessary (and generally it is).

(4) Apply to MBA programs.

With your BFA+ (you may even take math during the 3-4 year work period), good work experience, and clear commitment and "story" to tell in your essays about why you want to earn an MBA, you will get into a decent MBA program.

This is exactly the path that my daughter is following. After earning a BFA in industrial design (ID) at RISD, she's worked for 4 years in ID and graphic design. She has a strong interest in green design or "sustainable design," but wants to be able to affect things at all stages of the design process or design strategy or enterprisse, not just the "product design" aspect narrowly conceived. She accumulated a lot of work experience, partly based on volunteer work for NGO's promoting the green design industry. She studied for and took the GMAT and got a good score. She is taking calculus and statistics at night to revive her math skills. And she's entering a major MBA program in September.

So what I described can be done. I can't vouch for the outcome 5 to 10 years in the future, but it seems at this time to be a viable path. It's not a very common career path but I think it's going to be an increasingly common option.

Atana

From a pragmatic perspective the MFA is only a teaching credential in a very, very limited manner. It is a terminal degree (although many do not know this) and as such is generally required for college/university teaching postings. However there are fairly few of these jobs available, as a general statistic only about 3-10% of those with MFA's end up with full time teaching postings. More work as adjuncts, which usually pays poorly and has no form of career security. As far as the MFA, in many regards these degrees have been massively oversold by academia. Many who do obtain an MFA do not succede in the terms expected from a terminal degree and usually are burdened with excessive debt from the attendant costs. As an academic I and others are advising people to be very careful in considering this route and not to fall for self referential marketing/disinformation by the recruiters.
MBA, although there are many out there, the issue of low employability vis a vis cost of education is not a real issue. With an MBA the non arts employability is obviously much better. And within the arts an MBA could be very useful for administrative positions in museums and etc.