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MBA worth it?

I'm 22 about to graduate from an I.T. BSc. I had applied to do IT Management MSc for 2015/16 at my Uni couple months ago but I have just received an offer from them for a scholarship for the MBA, which would save me around £12k. It is a course that doesn't require any experience but they provide you with work opportunities whilst doing the MBA. The offer is tempting as I have always had an interest in the business aspect of my IT course, but after doing some research it seems an MBA has now become worthless and is not what it used to be 10 years ago. Any input?
Original post by EDUC4TION
I'm 22 about to graduate from an I.T. BSc. I had applied to do IT Management MSc for 2015/16 at my Uni couple months ago but I have just received an offer from them for a scholarship for the MBA, which would save me around £12k. It is a course that doesn't require any experience but they provide you with work opportunities whilst doing the MBA. The offer is tempting as I have always had an interest in the business aspect of my IT course, but after doing some research it seems an MBA has now become worthless and is not what it used to be 10 years ago. Any input?


What has undervalued MBAs is letting people without a decent level of managerial experience take them. The value of an MBA comes from the fact that it is traditionally taken by professional managers with at least 5 years experience, often more like 10 or 15 years. With course like that, not only do you get the taught element, but every single person on the course has industry examples, so the courses are actually rich with real world experience of the practical application and context of what you are being taught. People sometimes cite the networking opportunities of an MBA and it can be networking, giving you a set of peer professionals with careers that are likely to see you meeting up at Director level. However, it is more than that, it is about creating a community of learning where you learn about frameworks and theories that everyone in the group immediately has examples to fit on to them.

An MBA if you haven't got that amount of professional experience is simply a business degree with the wrong name, which is why the value of many of them has dropped in recent years.
An MBA is obviously not worthless, it's the unaccredited MBAs that accept students with no relevant experience which devalue the MBA accolade. The MBA described in the OP will not be accredited, so adds very little (if anything) to your CV.
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Thanks for the info threeportdrift.

Original post by Duncan2012
An MBA is obviously not worthless, it's the unaccredited MBAs that accept students with no relevant experience which devalue the MBA accolade. The MBA described in the OP will not be accredited, so adds very little (if anything) to your CV.


But how do I know which MBA courses are accredited and not accredited?
(edited 8 years ago)
There are 3 organisations worldwide which provide MBA accreditation - in the UK it's usually AMBA. Their website lists courses which they've accredited. Uni websites will tell you if the MBA has been accredited as it's a big selling point if they have it.
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Original post by Duncan2012
There are 3 organisations worldwide which provide MBA accreditation - in the UK it's usually AMBA. Their website lists courses which they've accredited. Uni websites will tell you if the MBA has been accredited as it's a big selling point if they have it.

Ok thanks. Yeah looks like the course at my Uni isn't accredited. But seeing as I wouldn't be paying for the course it is a hard decision.

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