Lets get an idea of which MBA you all did. And your age when you completed. I'll start. I'm 29, and I'll be completing mine in 2006. Open University Business School MBA programme.

LBS, completed 2004, 34 yrs old.

Would be nice to also know where people are working now and in what type of role. Just a thought....

Are people really still doing MBAs ? I thought that these had gone out of fashion 10 years ago.

Well, apparently there is a belief that it will open doors into the industry. Having been in the industry for 10 years, I could count on one hand the number of colleagues at Director or Partner level who have an MBA. Actually, it's none I think. Why waste the money? Instead you should be humble, be prepared to get in at the ground floor, gain experience and hence promotion by being useful, not being a conceptualiser. But I guess many folk want to take it easy for a year in academia. Seems to be a misguided approach to me.

So you're saying that an MBA is a waste of time????!! Somehow I think I should take that tongue in cheek. If not, do you honestly believe that an MBA won't help you get to Director or Partner? I think you may be a bit misguided.

sorry. "an easy year of accademia"??? makes me want to laugh. its obvious you have no idea what youre talking about. speak to any lbs / insead / harvad graduate - easy accademia? ha!

As I saod, none of my colleagues has an MBA. Therefore, is it not unreasonable to conclude that they are not a career 'essential'. Therefore, are they worth it? And do they necessarily deliver you a dream job in Consulting? I would argue that the answer to both those questions is no. Agree with Thomas - MBAs were a fad about 10 years ago. We don't hire any now - partly because the quality of candidate from MBA schools (yes - even the highly rated ones) has declined. And they expect renumeration not consistent with their levels of experience. The MBA is not a short cut to riches - it's no substitute for humility, hard work and practical (and i mean market) experience. So think twice before mortgaging the farm to do one.... That's all. Get upset if you like.

I agree with Matt. Having worked for ACN and a start-up during the dotcom boom, I thought my 11 months at Les Fontaines would be a breeze. How very wrong I was. The breadth and depth of the topics were astounding and I learned a lot more than I bargained for during my time there. The annalogy that I always give to people with regards to my year out and 'taking it easy' is that of standing under a waterfall with information and experiences crashing down on you at a tremendous rate and one can only absorb so much. The only question is what do you take on board, since there is only so much time in a day. The MBA opened so many doors to me, what with alumni contacts, organisations that would not normally even acknowledge my existence, and new theroies, methodologies, real life experiences etc. The £50K that it cost me (fees and living expenses and not taking into account loss of earnings) seem a lot and I must admit almost made me not take th plunge, was indeed money well spent and I recouped it all within a short period of time. As a result of my mba I joined McK and spent 2 years there before joining a Private Equity firm. All in all people, if you can afford it, it's money well spent, but make sure that the school, the course etc are right for what you want to do, otherwise it's a waste of moeny, time and effort. Most importantly make sure that the MBA is right for you and not merely an option because your job is a bit stale and going no where.

Let's get this topic back on track. Lancaster, 34 years old, done last year.

Would agree with Partner material. I am an active recruiter for one of the top 10 consultancies, and we no longer give any special weighting to an MBA. To me, it’s really just another academic qualification. Real life experience and commercial nous are far preferable.

OUBS, 31 - at the risk of appearing to 'sit on the fence' wrt the sub-topic about MBA's being worth anything or not - I tend to agree 'real' experience is indeed invaluable, however education is never a bad thing either. In my humble opinion the key thing I most benefited from was the contacts and alumni I made, including subsequently joining the AMBA. Absolutely fantastic if you don't mind the odd bit of 'networking' - worked wonders for my career.....

Ever thought of using a humble spell checker before sending out your assumptions? Or is that too much like hard work?

I've got six years experience in IT, my experience ranging from project management to operations (purely technical). I also have one year experience in general management, which is my latest role. Do you think I can move into a Director role in consulting?

I'm thinking of doing the OUBS mba. What salary are you on at the moment? What positions did the OUBS mba open up for you? How many years experience do you have in consulting? Thanks.

Dey don't teeech spelling 2 gud at business schools dese days

To 'twocence, got a question': After graduation I moved industries and gained approx 30% pay rise (circa 60k to 80k) - now I'm not saying the MBA accounted for all of that rise either, but it did help. As many other posts have said, the MBA is afterall just another educational qualification, and things depend a lot on other factors such as your experience, soft skills etc etc...

I moved from one of the SI’s recently to a Big4 accounting firm and took a similar pay rise, with no MBA in between. I’d say an MBA is a useful string to your bow, but of limited use or benefit in its own right.

Sammy - EXACTLY - you've hit the nail on the head my friend - the MBA is another string on your bow! Great to have, but by no means essential. The problem is, I cant find my arrow...... (droll.....).

Then why do soooo many job adverts for consultants say that a minimum requirement is an MBA? Please do tell.

Job adverts rarely stipulate an MBA as the sole pre-requisite any longer. Employers will happily accept proxies such as ACA or relevant experience as equivalent or superior. 10 years ago, it certainly was the case that an MBA was viewed as giving you a competitive advantage, but recruiters are more sophisticated and discerning nowadays than to just assume a decent academic track record equates to ability as a management consultant or investment banker or whatever…

Talking about advertising and whether it is worth doing an MBA, who said recently ?"If I have two people in the room who are exactly equal except one had an MBA, I would hire the MBA."

Ronald MacDonald

Henley Management College, Distance Learning MBA graduated this year. I'm 32 and my experience includes programme and project mgmt, internal consultancy and business change management. Currently contracting at about £450/day.I view my MBA as another plus on my CV, something that might help me to avoid automatic rejection rather than something that will give me a particular job. I hope it demonstrates motivation, commitment to self-development and an ability to take a broader cross-functional view of business. I did it primarily for intellectual stimulation, to satisfy my desire to learn, to improve my performance in any mgmt job (e.g. talking same language as senior mgrs) and to relate better to other functional professions e.g. marketing.

No, you clown!

It is all about leadership. MBA helps you develop leadership, especially when you are interacting with peers that joined that top tier school like you. All those people are special in a way because they have succeeded in their career and wanted to go for a top tier MBA, hence they already have leadership; all you do is share it and enchance yours with them. Besides, the amount of learning is huge, especially in those top tier on year programs like INSEAD, HEC Montreal, HEC Paris, Queen's where you get complete immersion in the program; it is even physically exhausting but way rewarding. As far money well spent, that I am not sure of, some schools charge less than others, HEC Montreal cost me $4k and I am working with people who studied at $50k schools. After all it is you that count and how the program fits you, not how much you pay, look first and why you need an MBA, then look at the school that suits your quest best then look at the tuition, if you can afford it go for it, otherwise look for the second choice...

I like your thinking, it is unfortunate that you chose distance learning, you missed a lot on on class discussion and group work...This is where I enjoyed it and learned most.

I agree much learning comes from interaction but don't think that this doesn't happen on a good distance learning course. Each course was supported by a residential workshop, web chats,active discussion boards plus some of us created our own informal study groups esp to prep for the exams.