American business schools are reinventing the MBA

Well, isn't that just like evaluating the difference between whether or not you're a self-taught programmer?

If you already have business skills, either from an undergraduate business degree, experience, or self-teaching, you don't need a non-specialized MBA.

If you look at the actual MBA curriculum it has courses that seem to be quite obviously useful if you ask me.

The only problem here is that there are some places that won't let you take a management role without a masters degree or MBA, instead of evaluating your actual level of skill, creating a surplus of MBA demand.

(And there are bad engineering schools just like there are bad MBA schools).

This is something I wrote for a previous post on Hackernews re MBAs:

I went to one of the top-tier (top 3) MBA programs in the US. The way I've described that value of the top MBA programs is in 3 (roughly equally-weighted) categories:

1) The Education: Getting to discuss business concepts with a group of smart, successful folks for 6-9 hours a day is very helpful. Most of the content, I could get from books/ online articles at a fraction of the price, but spending the time in a focused way is actually helpful.

2) The Network: In terms of network, this isn't some vague amorphous thing at Stanford GSB, HBS, or Penn- it's knowing several hundred other folks who are going to be very successful in their careers. This can be useful in sales, fundraising, finding a next job, etc. and DOES have a tangible dollar value.

3) The Rubber Stamp: Having your resume say "Stanford GSB" or "Harvard Business School" does have value to future employers or customers- it de-risks you as you've been validated by a famous institution, and helps THEM to associate with these famous brands.

For the top 3 programs, even though they're VERY expensive (approx $250k in tuition + living expenses, plus at least another $250k in foregone income for most incoming students, for $500k in actual cost+opportunity cost), they're almost certainly worth it.

For middle-/ lower-tier MBA programs, 2) and 3) above aren't NEARLY as valuable, or perhaps don't even exist- is your "network" from Local State School MBA actually valuable? For these, the only real value is the actual education, and most students would be better served with an online program or just actually picking up some books/ case studies/ reading online articles. There are a few exceptions to the this- for instance, often schools that aren't in the top 3 nationwide can punch above their weight in regional networks. For instance, if you want to live and work in LA (or work in the entertainment industry) I've heard that it can be really useful to go to UCLA or USC for an MBA.

There is value in the education, but it’s the exact same education you can get anywhere. Go to a community college and take statistics, economics, accounting, finance, and maybe a couple interest classes and you’ll have roughly the same academic exposure for a tenth of the cost. You don’t need an MBA program to learn business fundamentals.

Fellow top MBA grad here. Strongly agree with the points above, and I'd add:

4) The Recruiting Pipeline: There is a tranche of very desirable jobs out there that are, de facto, restricted to graduates of the top-N (3 or 7 or whatever) MBA programs. Specifically, associate-level roles at consulting firms, i-banks, and management rotational programs at F500 CPG/industrials/FANG. Especially if you're a career changer (I was a military officer pre-MBA), the 2 years of opportunity-cost are often worth the opportunity set provided by the recruiting platform.

With that said, it's important to note that there's no secret MBA knowledge you'll get at any of these programs, nor will you be coated with magical MBA dust that makes life a cakewalk once you graduate.

Mcmoose, do you think the University of Michigan has regional appeal that justifies the tuition?