The MBA vs. the MSCS…

One of my former Teaching Fellows at Harvard Extension recently earned his Ph.D in Computer Science.  His advice is particularly valuable to me, not just because he has progressed further in his studies than I have, but because he also spent some time in the Internet industry before returning to complete a graduate program.

To be sure, he is certainly a full measure more talented and accomplished than me.  Nevertheless, he has always been generous with his support and good advice and for that I’m thankful.

That’s why when I started to think that an MBA would be a better fit for me than the MSCS, I fired off an email to him asking if he had a similar moment where he needed to choose between an MBA and a research-oriented graduate program.  He replied:

I did, but it was a PhD versus an MBA.

I think the PhD was a better decision for me.  As an entrepreneur, it says far more than an MBA — it proves that I can complete large projects, do independent, meaningful research, and my research was especially marketable.

But I’m not sure about an MS versus an MBA.  It depends on your career goals.  If you want to be a technologist, get the MS.  If you want to be in management, get the MBA, and you’ll be attractive because your technical background will help you manage technology more effectively.

I happen to thing that this last piece of advice is particularly good.  While I’m interested in the pure research aspects of computer science, my real passion has been applying those results to real-world problems.  Industry has a lot of those problems and a person can do a lot of good (and create some great companies) if they can figure out what parts the body of research available to them apply to any particular problem and come up with a match.

So for now, it looks like an MBA is in my future.

Choosing an MBA Program

Now starts the hard part: choosing a program.  I’m almost 40, and the idea of leaving my job (and the salary) to return to school for a couple of years doesn’t seem attractive.  Business school is expensive and forgoing a salary during that time would be far too painful.  My reading indicates that a lot of people feel the same way.  An explosion of limited-residency/part-time/online MBA programs clearly indicates this.  People do not want to leave work to attend school if they don’t have to, especially if they are well situated in their careers like I am.

The upshot of selecting a part-time or limited/no-residency program is that the opportunities to engage in networking with fellow students is pretty limited.  The conventional wisdom (such as I understand it) is that a fringe benefit of a cohort type B-school program is that you meet and interact with your classmates closely to do do the coursework.  Consequently, the part-timers don’t get the same esprit de corps that the full-timers do.  If you’re looking to change careers (or justy your job) that might be harder to do if you’ve never met or worked closely with any of your classmates.

Another thing about the part-time programs is that they aren’t the gold standard for B-School education.  That title is still held by the full-time, resident programs operated by the top schools.  This has been less the case in recent years but remains a factor for things like recruiting and advancement in top companies.  Executive MBA programs have supplanted the part-time MBA programs and have tightened the admissions requirements lately but don’t seem to have achieved the prestige level of the top full-time programs.

What this means for me is that I have to decide if the gains from trying for a top program are worth the resulting lifestyle changes (in employment status and location) that would accompany an admit letter.  Right now, I’m not sure that’s the case.

Online MBAs

A close cousin to executive and part-time MBA programs is the completely online MBA.  These programs replace the classroom with internet-based instruction and meet only to administer exams or do group projects.  In some cases, there are no residency requirements.

I’m very partial to online education.  When it’s done well, it can provide all of the instruction value along with a quantum leap in flexibility and cost savings.  Of course, all of the problems with part-time MBA programs are likely to be present in spades in the completely online programs.

Student Community

My experience at Harvard Extension has shown me that the hardest part of online education is the complete lack of community among students.  There have been attempts at community building at HESA but even those programs seem to forget the online community.  My efforts to arrange for a voice teleconference option for the Pre-MBA group at HESA were never acted upon by the leaders of that group.  I got the same result with the Pre-Law group.  The email lists are always silent and announcements about on-campus events seem to be sent out only days before the actual event.

If part of my grade were dependent on being able to reliably contact and interact with my fellow students, as is likely to be a requirement for any online MBA program, I’d be pretty peeved if the school hadn’t taken serious steps to develop and foster an online community.

A couple of classes at HES (The History and Ethics of Biotechnology stands out among them) went to great lengths to mandate a certain level of participation in online communities dedicated to the class.  I can only hope that my research into the range of online MBA options available to me will show a similar focus.

So for right now, it looks like an executive or part-time MBA would be my best bet, with a strong preference for a limited-residency/no-residency program.  If it looks like the online community at a particular school is strong enough to support a robust group interaction, I’ll probably go with that option.

Next week I’ll talk about costs.  B-School is expensive and I still need to figure out my budget for classes.