The Student Room Group

MBA Vs. MSc/MPhil

Hi,

I noticed a lot of people didn't think that an MBA was good option for a graduate to go straight into, but a lot of people have talked about doing an MSc or MPhil in Finance.

My question is: wouldn't it be better just to do the MBA since it is the better qualification? I guess the cost would be higher but UK/INSEAD MBAs only last the 1year (same as MSc) and surely it would lead straight to an Associateship? (which means not having to go through so much of the hard stuff to start earning a decent salary).

Thanks in advance for replies.
Reply 1
an MBA is simply not designed for students coming out of an undergrad degree, its meant for people with a good few years work experience. This means that you'd find it difficult to get onto an MBA in the first place and even if you did, the course clearly can't be very good and you'd probably find it fairly difficult and generally unsuited to your needs. Simply having an MBA without any work experience will definetly not allow you to join an organisation as an associate... work experience is so important and you will still have to work your way up. Listen to the advice given to other people asking the same question...
The only decent university in the UK that offers admission to the MBA programme without any workex is Oxford. All the other ones are middle/low -tier. And as is amply clear, IBs do not recruit people from these universities.

plus, for the associate roles, you need to have 2-3 years of work experience. In somewhat similar situation are students coming from the *mind fu**ingly* competitive Indian Institutes of Management who are offered senior analyst role when they begin.
Reply 4
jovialtom
an MBA is simply not designed for students coming out of an undergrad degree, its meant for people with a good few years work experience. This means that you'd find it difficult to get onto an MBA in the first place and even if you did, the course clearly can't be very good and you'd probably find it fairly difficult and generally unsuited to your needs. Simply having an MBA without any work experience will definetly not allow you to join an organisation as an associate... work experience is so important and you will still have to work your way up. Listen to the advice given to other people asking the same question...


WOW, this thread resurfaces after a year and half! Btw, jovialtom, you're assessment is kind of wrong. There are people who could come away with an MBA straight after undergrad, e.g. people who have run businesses during degrees, and Harvard does let people with no work experience into their MBAs. :smile: Fair point about Associateship, but I do know people do have gone straight into senior analyst role, which is like a small nudge away from associateship. What difference a year and a half makes! :wink:
MonteCristo
There are people who could come away with an MBA straight after undergrad, e.g. people who have run businesses during degrees, and Harvard does let people with no work experience into their MBAs.

My cousin did an MBA from Harvard and the only person who he knew without any workex was some guy who had a PhD in Economics from Chicago.
Reply 6
malhotra
My cousin did an MBA from Harvard and the only person who he knew without any workex was some guy who had a PhD in Economics from Chicago.


Well they do have a class size of around 900, so pardon me if I say that your cousin might not have the complete picture regarding this. I hear that an average class has 10 or so students with no work experience, well anyway, that's what I heard from a Baker Scholar.
Reply 7
CityMonkey
Well they do have a class size of around 900, so pardon me if I say that your cousin might not have the complete picture regarding this. I hear that an average class has 10 or so students with no work experience, well anyway, that's what I heard from a Baker Scholar.


Harvard def take people with no / next to no work exp. Its geeting more popular with the other Uni's aswell. I wasn't aware of Oxford allowing people to do an MBA with no exp thou can anyone shed an light on this???
Reply 8
Ask Black Swan (still here?). He graduated from the HBS with 24 and now earns 120 grand.

Chris