Business School is a Joke

I agree that it is somewhat useful to have these ancillary classes such as marketing, finance which would complement well with a degree in engineering i.e. computer science, materials science, biomedical etc.

Pedigree and pathway would get her hired, but not make her successful. She got 5/5 ratings in her recent reviews.

Background : I started a business and managed to build it out with no formal education at all.

I often wonder whether formal education in business would have helped me, or hindered me.

I'm certain the structured information contained in a structured business course would have been useful.

At the same time, when I was starting out, I did a lot of things that no reasonable educational institution would advocate just to get through the month and make payday. During all of this, I was reading and learning as fast as I could about all of the numerous knowledge gaps I began to realise I had, as I came up against various walls.

After years of experience in running a business, when I read books about business/sales/marketing/economics, it's far easier to process and understand the theory.

I think any kind of education about business is valuable, but I also think it's 10 times more valuable if you have some kind of real-life experience to which you can map the theory.

Currently a MBA student at Stanford Graduate School of Business, I'm also bootstrapping a startup with two CS graduate students and a seasoned designer. As an entrepreneur, I can definitely speak for the benefits that Stanford GSB provides: (1) The Stanford and Stanford GSB networks are both phenomenal. Alumni are very accessible and connected with the school. Classmates are highly collaborative and bring contacts from almost every industry you can think of and want to learn about. To start a business, access to relevant networks is critical and GSB provides that. (2) Entrepreneurship classes taught by experienced industry veterans. Some of my favorite classes are taught by serial entrepreneurs, famous venture capitalists, or legendary executives including Eric Schmidt, Andy Grove, Mark Leslie, Andy Rachleff, Audrey MacLean, Mike Lyons, Joe Peterson, and Harold Irving Grousbeck, among many others. (3) The roster of speakers that come to speak both at GSB and other parts of Stanford is extremely useful for entrepreneurs. Classes and clubs invite speakers including Ron Conway, Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey (founder of Twitter), Shawn Fanning (founder of Napster), Chad Hurley (founder of Youtube), Aaron Patzer (founder of Mint.com), Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga), and many others. STVP (stvp.stanford.edu) and ETL (etl.stanford.edu) are two other great resources. As a student, you can even take the initiative as a club leader to approach some of the most successful people in the valley to come speak. (4) Stanford GSB has a Center for Entrepreneurial Studies which organizes seasoned entrepreneurs, angels and venture investors to hold 1:1 free advisory sessions with entrepreneurial students to discuss their startup ideas and help students build the network. I've personally found them very valuable. (5) Many successful alumni who are entrepreneurs, active angels, or venture investors often hold intimate networking events, such as as small group dinners, to meet with entrepreneurial students. It's another way to network and receive feedback on your startup idea! (6) The school also offers classes in which students across business school, engineering school and other schools can work in a team on a startup idea together. Some of these class projects continued as startups after the class.

Overall, the best value is the access to investor, entrepreneur and industry networks, the ability to meet other entrepreneurial students, and to receive advice from some of the best entrepreneurs in the industry.

This is a silly back and forth until you can point at the "something" she got from b-school aside from pathway and pedigree. Again, that's what's being discussed. It's certainly possible that the degree got her the job, yet her own natural intelligence, undergrad experience, or professional experience led to her success. And /not/ the b-school curriculum.