After close to 5 years of MBA courses during nights and weekends, I finished up in April and topped it off with a trip to Disney World with the family. I've had a lot of time both during the program and now, since its completion to look back and take inventory of my experience.

The Decision:

The biggest step in attaining an MBA is to make the decision to go for it to begin with. What prompted me to go that route? I've always had an affinity for all things finance and investing and thought that an MBA would provide me with a formal finance experience, exposure to new ideas and investing tools, and diversify my work and prior educational experiences. With a background in Chemical Engineering, rather that get a Master's in Engineering, I felt an MBA would move me more in the direction I was looking for - Business over Technical.

Update 2009: Take a Look at the Top 10 Degrees by Highest Starting Salary

I had started performing some preliminary research on programs, but hadn't taken the prospect of nights and weekends seriously given the demands of working demanding hours and with a newborn at home. I'm not proud to admit it, but truthfully, a strong catalyst that forced me to start up immediately was that the Biotech facility I was supporting was entering a prolonged shutdown and I was to work on some dull project work rather than move to a new area. Given the prospect of actually being able to leave work at a decent hour and sensing a temporary lack of fulfillment at work, that was the spark I needed to start taking classes.

There was an added bonus with the Penn State program in that you could start taking classes prior to completing a GMAT and attaining formal acceptance into the program. Primarily, I could start classes immediately and additionally, I figured that if it wasn't working out for me, I could easily drop out or just take the first five classes and it wouldn't be quite as disappointing as dropping out of an MBA program once I started.

Who's Paying?

My company routinely pays for tuition for relevant schooling. I figured if it's payed for by my employer and I could hack it, why not take advantage of it now while my kids are young? Frankly, I probably wouldn't advise paying for an MBA on your own given the dilution of the degree with hundreds of colleges and online programs these days and the ROI. It's not like paying for medical school yourself where there's a guaranteed ROI; I didn't get a raise when I graduated. It was really about bettering myself and better preparing for the new realities of a truly global economy. After my experiences in industry and as reinforced by the likes of "The World is Flat", it's evident that you need to be flexible and diverse in your background and experiences in order to react to change at a much greater pace than existed for our parents' generation.

My Experience

I have to say, if I had it to do over again, I might have tried to go to a top tier school earlier in my career, even if it meant taking a leave of absence and going full time. A Wharton or Harvard program is likely more challenging, robust and carries more prestige with it. While Penn State's generally recognized as a decent school and the MBA program usually shows up on a top 30 list, the program could have been much better in my opinion. While I enjoyed the Finance, Accounting and Portfolio Management classes, most of the "soft classes" like Organizational Management and the like were disappointing. Conversely, my Negotiations class was great. I still use tools and experiences from that class in everyday life and I feel like I can truly get into the head of the person I'm negotiating with, be it a simple conversation in the office or if I'm buying a car. Understanding what other people want vs. need and knowing how far you can go in advancing your interests goes a long way in life both financially and professionally.

Curriculum/Difficulty

I honestly think the more prominent challenge of an MBA program is the time commitment, project management, working on teams, etc., as opposed to say, learning momentum transport phenomena as a chemical engineer. Balancing work, family and a fixed class schedule with due dates can be daunting. If you're wondering if you'll be able to handle the math, the economics, etc., I think there's a high likelihood you will. Don't feel that you had to have completed your undergrad in business or something. It's really a diverse set of students and in many cases, people in your classes have been out of school longer than you have. Really, focus on your ability to commit a lot of time for a long time.

Realistic Expectations

You'll want to temper the reality of obtaining an MBA with your expectations. For instance, even though there's a course and even a major in entrepreneurial studies and startups, that doesn't mean you'll graduate and be running your own company. Many people with high school degrees are billionairers from companies they founded and were in the right place at the right time. Conversely, many people went to B School thinking they'd graduate and conquer the world and they're no further along than when they started. You need to assess how much your company/industry values the degree and whether there are personal goals you can attain.

Questions you need to ask yourself:

1) Is there a benefit to obtaining an MBA? Will I benefit personally or professionally? Personally, I benefited from many of the finance and economics classes in that I truly understand things that I only had mild exposure to before I started. For instance, prior to my economics class, I didn't really understand what was going on in sub-prime. During the infancy of the crisis, I had a venerable professor who was a regular on Market Watch and was on the advisory team to Mitt Romney, so he was the real deal. He broke down what Collateralized Debt Obligations were, the trouble that was emerging in valuing/moving them, what this meant for liquidity, etc., and I really got it. I got out of financials early, cutting what would have been a very big loss in the likes of New Century Financial and others substantially.

2) How much am I going to pay? My company paid for tuition, but I still had to cover books. Given the rapacious nature of the college textbook industry, I still fronted close to $1,000 per year on books. Add gas for the commute and it was probably closer to $1,500 in after tax dollars.

3) Can I afford at say, 15-20 hours per week? For me, I had been working 80 hour weeks in manufacturing and made a decision to start working closer to 50 and trade an MBA in now that I had my first child and things were slow in my area. Some weeks, it was less, but if you consider 5 hours a day for the class and commute (2 days per week) and a couple hours of work following each class or for writing papers, it could easily approach 20 hours.

4) Is there something of higher value I could be expending my time and efforts on? If you're about to do a startup or you have an incredible tech/web idea, you'd probably be best off pursuing your dream with your current tools, rather than thinking that by taking B-school classes you're going to advance the idea quicker/further/with more legitimacy. Chances are you will have forfeited valuable time and energy that could have been geared toward your startup.

5) What's the right program for me? For some, an internet program or satellite program offered from some workplaces might work best from a convenience/time standpoint. Unfortunately, there's a lot of debate over the merits of some of these programs and even some of the good ones get a bad rap since there's been "dilution" of the degree due to pop-up programs that are much easier to complete. Personally, I'm an interactive learner and felt I'd get the best experience with a face to face classroom experience, working with teams in person, interfacing with the professors, etc. Everyone's different, just make sure you decide up front what type of program is going to meet your expectations.

6) Will an MBA help advance my degree or even worse, will I lose out on job opportunities by not having one? This may help you quickly arrive at your decision and you will have realized in not starting a program yet, you're just procrastinating. If you're in a field when virtually everyone at the level above you has an MBA or job postings say "MBA highly desired/required", then, get started if that's what you want!

So, back to my question - What Now?

Personally, I intend on furthering my pursuit of blogging and starting a static website, which I can't say I need an MBA for. Professionally, I've already been moving much toward the business side out my old technical and manufacturing roles. Now, I jump at opportunities to perform financial assessments, negotiate commercial contracts, do things that I wasn't quite as prepared for prior to starting my MBA. I can't say I'm going to go found a startup, but if some once in a lifetime opportunity came around, at least I feel like I can assess the landscape and make a more informed decision.

What are your thoughts and experiences on an MBA?

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