So the title of this post is in response to a conversation I was having with a coworker today. She was talking about how her brother just graduated from Law School last week and he can't find a job. While we were in the elevator going back up to the office somehow the topic of debt that people accrue from business school and how one pays it back.
She said - "yeah when you go to Law school.. you're on your way to become a Lawyer.... when you go to Medical school you're on your way to becoming a Doctor... what do become when you graduate from business school?"
I said - "you become broke from the $100k+ debt you've just accrued?"
Of course this is something that I've thought about quite frequently. I mean for us on this business school journey, of course we need to know WHY we would like to obtain an MBA so any of us could answer that question.
Then I simplified it even further for her. I said "We are essentially paying $100k+ to add three letters to our resume!" I mean think about it... once we graduate from B-school, we can't call ourselves doctors or take another exam and then call ourselves lawyers... All we can do is put our recent Alma Mater on a piece of paper (at the bottom no less), with a date and MBA.
I guess one benefit to having an MBA degree is being able to come into a new company and decide ones fate. So this is happening to me right now at work. So let me take you back just a little bit... long story short... I've been having discussions with the VP of my division about a promotion/title change. In all honestly this isn't because I'm looking to go to business school and think I need it for my resume. My resume is strong already. This promotion/title change is long overdue.
So the VP (who knows about my MBA plans) basically told me to create my ideal position and write a job description for it and then we'll take it from there. So I did just that... I created a Sr. position for myself, unfortunately it's not a managerial role/title because at my company they're very stingy with those. In any event, I gave her the document two Friday's ago. Just yesterday I went into her office at the end of the day and asked her if she had a chance to review it. She said that she did and that she was getting thoughts on it from my new director.
Now this is where the MBA degree comes in I guess. So my new director started in the end of April. She has her MBA from Kellogg. Very smart woman. But in essence she has only known me for a short period of time so how can she really know if I'm fit for this position? I'm not sure how this is all going to pan out, but I am hopeful.
Also, the VP doesn't know... or maybe she does know now... but before speaking to her about creating this new position, I spoke with my director and asked her if she thought it was a good idea and she did. Keep your fingers crossed for me guys!
Friend from HBS: On another note... do you guys remember when I visited HBS in April for the LGBT open house? Well an interesting story about that... at the reception at the end of the Day I spoke briefly with this current 2nd year who was also in Retail as I am. Granted he was on the buying/merchandising side, whereas I'm in digital marketing. In any event, shortly after I got home from the event, I found him on LinkedIn and we became contacts.
So last week, a girl who left my job and went to a competitor to be e-commerce manager, updated her LinkedIn profile with her company, and I guess this HBS student saw it in his feed. He emailed me and told me that he was now in NYC and was looking to make a contact at that company. I was glad to make an introduction to her for him. So I wrote the introductory email... sent it over to her and cc'ed him on it.
Then we made plans to meet for coffee since he's in Union Square. So this past Tuesday after work I hopped on the 6 train downtown and met him at Starbucks. It was phenomenal to get the chance to talk to him. He was telling me how the HBS degree opens pretty much any door that you want it to but once you're in you have to be able to back it up. So that's where he is right now...
We also talked about the schools that I want to apply too.. he said he got into HBS, Wharton, and Columbia. The main thing that he said to me that resonates is that I should not underestimate the LGBT community at each school. I guess I was minimizing this in my head, but the more I think about it, the more he has a point. I mean why shouldn't he? He just went through the whole process. So for instance the total LGBT community (1st and 2nd years) at HBS is about 40 strong, whereas at Tuck it's about 12. So the network one could build from HBS is incredibly stronger than that at Tuck. In any event, I won't go more into this now, because this blog post has been all over the place.
Later Peeps... GO LAKERS!
Sidenote - I LOVE STUDYING... finally got back into the swing of things!
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