Look before you leap

It's wise to understand the product and the criteria before you apply for an MBA programme, writes Dr Ronald K Chung

Now that you know why you need a formal academic qualification, versus a just-in-time non-qualification-type training, and understand how to choose a programme based on your career needs, let's turn our attention to the products - in other words, the degrees - and how to pick one.

However, as our focus is on building your skills for your career, before jumping to the different programmes offered by universities we will examine the products and get an understanding of them.

Here we go. Of the many graduate-level degrees, the most "recognised" is, of course, the MBA. This stands not for Married But Available, but for Master of Business Administration. It is the best-recognised qualification because (choose one):

(A) Almost any university that provides graduate-level programmes also offers an MBA
(B) Employers are more likely to hire MBAs than people with any other Master's-level qualification
(C) At least one of your friends has business cards with MBA after his or her name
(D) All of the above.

If you chose (D), you definitely understand the degree of recognition possessed by the qualification. You may even have one yourself. But do you know what an MBA is and how it could help your career? Most people don't, including a statistically-significant number with MBAs. How can you make an intelligent choice of product if you don't even know what the product is or what it is for?

Here's the scoop. Did you know that the MBA is probably the world's oldest professional graduate degree? Previously, graduate degrees were heavily research-based. The MBA was an experiment, started in 1900 by William Jewett Tucker, president of Dartmouth College in the United States, and Edward Tuck, a diplomat, financier and Dartmouth speaker and alumnus. They founded the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance, the first of its kind in the world, and the MBA was born. In fact, the Tuck MBA is still considered to be "the best" by many employers.

The idea was simple. To quote Paul Danos, current dean of the Tuck School, "giving broadly educated students the education needed for a career in business leadership ... formed the origin of the MBA degree*."

This means that the MBA is mainly designed for students with a non-business (academic) background. Hence, an MBA is most appropriate for people with undergraduate degrees in engineering, liberal arts or science subject(s). So, if you have a business-related undergraduate degree and are considering getting an MBA, proceed with caution.

That said, many MBA schools and employers think that, if you've been out of school and at work for a number of years, it may not be a bad idea to get an MBA and arm yourself with the latest in management thinking. As a result, for most MBA schools the ideal candidate has five plus years of management experience. The need for such candidates is based on the belief that students in an MBA programme should learn not just from the professor, but also from student bodies. This is most apparent when it comes to the infamous teaching methods used by MBA schools: case analysis and team-based work assignments.

To sum up, the ideal MBA candidate is someone with a non-business undergraduate degree and five or more years of management experience. However, most schools will consider work experience a sufficient substitute for management experience. If your background fits this profile, please proceed.

Be prepared for tomorrow. Until next time, work hard, play hard.

*Source: Tuck & Tucker, 1999, William G. Broehl, Jr., University Press of New England.

Acknowledgement Dr Ronald K Chung is academic development director of the ET Business College, a member of the Hong Kong Economic Times Group. He has worked for a number of private companies and universities in the United States, as well as Hong Kong's Consumer Council. To contact Dr Chung, please write to DrChung@etbc.com.hk.

Taken from Career Times 2003/09/19