MBA vs.Masters

I had just gone through Midterm week, and I couldn't have been any more relieved. I am glad that all of my classes this semester are more qualitative and reading-heavy. Also, my professors are cooler than ever (except for one prick) and they do their best to make you learn things.

It is David's midterm week as well, and poor him to have to go through Finance, Accounting, Statistics, Microeconomics and Strategy this semester. I would have had regular panic attacks if I took these courses all at the same time. I am not a numbers person at all. You can throw me out to speak in front of a thousand people or read and explain a dozen crazy chapters of Kotler's masterpieces, but never let me compute for p values or NPV's.

Dave and I were being studious on a Friday night once and I showed him some Harvard business cases we are discussing in class. I explained a little bit too about the methods our professors use in teaching and how different it is from my former Masters program. I'm not sure if he's just being biased or if he just believes in me too much, but he mentioned that I should have gone for an MBA. It sent me shivering down my spine.

Urk. Finance? No thanks. I had a measly B+ last semester. Microeconomics? Back in college, Economics was my most dreaded class. Statistics? Hmm, I could learn to appreciate it someday. Accounting? I don't think I ever got my parents' CPA genes. If not for the excess of quantitative subjects, I would have gone for an MBA. But I know in the industry I want to be in, I do not need more than enough mathematical equations to put to heart. Okay, I'm giving lame reasons now ;)

Personally, I don't think MBAs are for everybody. I recall talking to an MBA student in one of the welcome weekends Dave and I attended, and he said that MBA's are for people who have no damn idea what they want to do in their career. It may or may not be true, though. I did hear students say they want to get into VC, Start-ups, Private Equity, Investment Banking or whatever sounds like Wall Street. However, there is a 50% chance they might change their minds halfway through the program. Taking an MBA is a journey to self-discovery - and in discovering yourself, you need to get through plenty of dreadful numbers and strategic thinking. And in between, there are bountiful school-sponsored beer kegs and spinach quiches. (They have this enormous budgets for social and networking activities. I'm so jealous!)

Meanwhile, I believe Masters Degree programs are for people who already know what they want to do in the future. Most of the students in my program want to be in a career that sounds like or is located at Madison Avenue. The plans are not set in stone of course, but their general direction in life is pretty much mapped out. Yes, there are numbers involved and plenty of strategic thinking, but there are lesser panic attacks. With lesser panics, comes lesser alcohol. [Gosh, is there really a correlation? Anybody please disagree on this?]

I know David will be successful in turning things around for start-up technology companies, and I will definitely want to pour my passions into successful communications campaigns. So I guess that's the reason why we are here now.

A Masters is an apple. An MBA is an orange. You cannot compare it side by side. The only way you can gauge which is one is the best fit for you is when you take a look at where the alumnis are now, and envision yourself in their shoes someday.