Is MBA for me??

Zackdudde
Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:47:05 +0000

Brahmin,

I have a lot of experience with this very type of question. In fact, I was in your same exact situation at one point (minus thinking about getting a PhD). I assume that you are just starting off your undergrad degree or looking at joint BS/MS programs? Based on what you said in your post, it actually seems like a better degree for you is a joint/integrated business and engineering.

I’m not exactly sure where you are located, but I go to Drexel University and in their joint BS Business and Engineering Program. Lehigh also has a joint program, as well as UPENN, and Penn State. The joint programs have been getting extremely popular and I can provide you a lot more details about these programs if you want more information.

Basically, if you do end up getting a joint (or integrated) degree, you probably won’t end up doing an actual engineering job. You’ll jump right into a management position supervising engineers. There are a number of extremely competitive leadership programs that recruit directly out of these majors, see Johnson and Johnson’s GOLD program or GE’s similar program for instance: [Johnson & Johnson :: Careers :: Global Operations Leadership Development Program](http://careers.jnj.com/careers/global/undergraduate_target/leadership_development_programs/gold/undergrad_gold.htm) and [Undergraduate Leadership Programs : University Students : Careers : GE](Working at GE | GE Careers)

All these programs will put a college graduate on the fast track to upper management positions, not to mention the very high salary you start off with fresh out of college. you’ll also be rotated across operations all over north america. while this is just an example of the program you can go into, it’s extremely competitive.

The #1 reason you’d want to get an MS is to go more in depth into engineering. It won’t necessarily make you more competitive for a management position, as a joint business and engineering major will. While some argue that the traditional approach is an engineering undergrad and an MBA to jump into management positions, you’ll be much more marketable with a joint business and engineering degree, can jump right into management, and you very might find out that you might pursue a different career that gets paid a lot more of money during college… say management consulting, investment banking, or law.

A PhD is a waste of money and worthless if you want to stay in industry in a management role. If you were going into academia, research, etc - that’s when you’d want to pursue a PhD. Nevertheless, this would be a long time away and there are many different tracks you can take to get there, so you don’t need to stress about this now.

Let me know if you have any further questions