Is an MBA worth it? In this article, “The Multipolar MBA,” Harvard Business School professor
Rakesh Khurana offers some harsh criticism of the MBA degree, but he ultimately, implicitly, pulls
a number of his punches and gives reasons to think that the degree is in good shape and headed in the
right direction. Let’s look at a couple of his points and add commentary.
First, “There has been an incredible race to the bottom among business schools…. Historically, business
schools used to require courses such as marketing, organizational behavior, accounting, finance, and
similar subjects. Today, it’s not even clear what an MBA consists of anymore.” There is some truth
here, but the point is exaggerated. The MBA, fundamentally, always has been a general management
degree—the only graduate degree that comes anywhere near the breadth of the average liberal arts
undergraduate degree. Realistically, employers still have an understanding that a person who obtains
an MBA has basic knowledge of a number of core areas to business. The more they know and trust the
MBA program, the more certain they can be of the fact.
Second, “Increasingly, students see an elite MBA as more desirable for its selection effect than its
educational impact. If you get in, you’ll get a highly valued credential, but you’re not going to learn
much along the way.” Mr. Khurana makes two assertions here. The first sentence is a claim about
student perception; the second is a claim about the truth. Sure enough, students see an elite MBA as
more desirable for its selection effect. But this is hardly news. Ask a group of candidates what the
MBA is really good for, and you’ll get a variety of answers. “Network” will be the most common
refrain, with a number of answers that including or hinting at skill development, but few will cite
“learning” or “education.”
It’s easy to say that an MBA degree is light on educational impact. But can we really believe that when
you put a motivated person in a group with other motivated people for two years, and they go to class
and do a series of homework assignments, conduct an internship, and go through the whole variety of
experiences that make up the degree—that they aren’t learning? Easy to claim, casually; difficult to
believe. I can attest that, when I was on my way to the program at Chicago Booth, I found it easy to say
that I didn’t think I was going to learn a lot. I was surprised—maybe even shocked—by how legitimate
the learning was. The best way to sort out these questions in advance for a candidate is to visit classes
and do as much research about the program as possible. From there, it’s time simply to take the plunge.
Speaking of researching programs: another point of interest in the article concerns what HBS is doing
with its program. “Last year, we introduced a major reorganization of the first year of our program. We
now essentially get all 900 of our students out of the classroom. We moved away from an individual
orientation toward a team orientation. We created team projects and sent them around the world to
work on problems.” It’s an interesting development. MBA programs are already heavier in experiential
learning than many degrees. A further shift in this direction could be a benefit to candidates, by helping
them build specific skills, as well as the bedrock of employability—experience.
