Should You Go to Business School?

The Pros and Cons of an MBA

Welcome to Hu Knows! I’m Kristina Hu, an MBA Candidate at Harvard Business School. I share practical and actionable career advice from my experiences working in Wall Street and Silicon Valley.

For advice on MBA Application Strategy, check out my article here.

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Whether you’re a college student or working professional, the thought of getting your MBA has probably crossed your mind. The prospect of riding out the pandemic in business school sounds especially appealing in today’s challenging job market; next year is expected to be the most competitive MBA application season ever.

Jokes aside, attending business school is an enormous life decision that requires careful consideration and planning. Unlike med school or law school, an MBA is not required to pursue a career in business and comes with high financial and opportunity costs. In addition, the value of an MBA varies considerably based on your pre-MBA experience and post-MBA goals.

Now that I’m wrapping up my first semester at Harvard Business School, I’m happy to share my views on the pros and cons of the MBA. In my next newsletter, I’ll be sharing tips for navigating the application process from start to finish, so hit Subscribe (if you haven’t already) so you don’t miss it!

Why go to Business School?

Although people go to business school for a variety of reasons, the most common ones include (in no particular order):

🤝 Build a Broad, Diverse Network

In my last four newsletters, I talked about the importance of networking and how to build and maintain it over time (1, 2, 3, 4). Although cold emails and warm intros can help open doors, nothing beats the power of personal connections and associations.

Business school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and learn from their diverse viewpoints and experiences in a short span of time. You’ll find every type of industry, nationality, undergraduate major and background represented across the student body, and will gain insights from other professions and industry sectors that you might never be exposed to otherwise. Not only will this help you gain insider knowledge into alternate career paths, it will also help you become a more well-rounded person and business leader.

Even though I won’t have the chance to develop strong rapport with every student and alum, the shared community enables me to extend my network beyond my immediate circle of “strong ties”. This is because “weak ties” (acquaintances or people with whom you are loosely associated) are bridges to other networks:

Although these relationships are certainly valuable during business school, the power of your network will only increase over time. It is humbling to know that your fellow classmates may end up becoming successful C-suite executives, founders, investors, or elected public officials!

🔄 Switch Careers

Many people attend business school to accelerate a career transition that would be difficult to execute otherwise. Business school provides a natural “reset” point in people’s careers and structured recruiting processes to get MBA students and graduates into top companies and startups.

In addition, many students take on a pre-MBA or MBA summer internship to test out a new industry, company or role before commiting to a permanent jump. At HBS, the most popular post-MBA destinations are finance, consulting and tech, although this is similar to the distribution of students’ pre-MBA industries.

Caveats:

1. Although many students pursue finance, consulting, and tech, there is no one-size-fits-all “Path” that works for everyone. Instead of following the crowd, do the “existential crisis” work up front by reflecting on your past experiences, connecting with mentors and industry insiders, and clarifying your long-term career goals. Because recruiting starts almost immediately after you arrive on campus, you’ll want to test out as many “career hypotheses” as possible beforehand so you can make the most of your limited time. Otherwise, you’ll get pulled in a million directions!

2. Business school career switches are by no means easy. In fact, they are extremely hard, as you’ll be competing against thousands of other MBA students for limited positions, including many who already have experience in the industry you’re trying to break into (see #1). If you’re set on switching careers, I strongly advise getting a pre-MBA internship the summer before you matriculate to gain some work experience before recruiting begins in the fall. Since the vast majority of companies do not offer official pre-MBA internship programs, you’ll need to hustle to land one on your own via networking.

🚀 Test Out Entrepreneurship

Although you certainly don’t need an MBA to start a company, business school is a low-risk, resource-rich environment to scratch your entrepreneurial itch. For example, HBS offers formal programs (Innovation Lab, Startup Bootcamp and Rock Center for Entrepreneurship) that provide workshops, advisors and networking opportunities for aspiring founders. In addition, there are numerous informal opportunities to find fellow co-founders and get feedback and funding (from pitch competitions, alumni and even professors).

Caveat: entrepreneurship requires serious hustle and sacrifice. No classroom will prepare you for the realities of starting a company with your own blood, sweat and tears. Be prepared to devote a significant amount of time to your venture if you want it to succeed, and know that this time may come at the expense of your other priorities (recruiting, networking, academics, etc.)

🎓 Gain a Formal Business Education

If you went to a liberal arts college like me, you may find the prospect of getting a formal business education appealing. Although I can only speak for HBS, I have found that the quality of the education has far exceeded my expectations (even on Zoom).

HBS’s renowned Case Method requires students to read and analyze a 10-20 page case from the viewpoint of a real person in a real organization before each class. Your job is to synthesize the information and decide what the protagonist should do. Each 90-minute class is a dynamic debate, facilitated by the professor, where students share their viewpoints, actively listen to and respond / build on the comments of others, and learn to see the case from a multitude of perspectives.

By exposing students to a variety of protagonists and industries, the Case Method helps students develop the “pattern-recognition” that will enable them to effectively diagnose and respond to common business challenges. Furthermore, each case is an opportunity to practice making, justifying and communicating decisions with incomplete information, a skill that will come in handy in students’ future careers as business leaders.

🎉 Personal Growth

After several years of working, it is extremely refreshing to come to business school to take a break, reflect on life so far, and decide where you want to go next. The 2-year MBA program is jam-packed with opportunities for personal growth — whether through the people you meet, social events, travel, academics or opportunities to further develop your hobbies and personal interests.

One of the best things about being at HBS is that I no longer identify myself primarily by my job title: “Kristina, the Uber PM” or “Kristina, the MS investment banking analyst.” At HBS, I’m simply “Kristina.” Although every student has a unique background and an impressive list of pre-business school accomplishments, it’s rarely the first thing someone asks about when they’re getting to know you. Here, people judge you based on the content of your character, your contributions to the community and classroom, and all the other beautiful things that make you, well, you :)

On one hand, it is terrifying to realize that the things that once made you stand out now make you simply average (which many people experience as impostor syndrome). I see this differently: it is a privilege to realize that you will never be the smartest person in any room, and that you can learn something new from every single person you meet.

Considerations

There are several factors to consider before you hit “Start” on your application:

✨ Brand

Your business school’s ability to open doors for you is largely a function of its brand. Although there are numerous ranked lists of business schools online, you’ll want to create your own shortlist based on the factors that matter most to you.

When I was evaluating business schools to apply to, I looked closely at each school’s alumni destinations (given my interests in finance and tech), propensity to send graduates to cities I hoped to live in (NYC, SF, etc.) and international brand name recognition (given my desire to work abroad). In the end, I applied only to Harvard and Stanford through the HBS 2+2 Program and Stanford Deferred Admission Program (open only to undergraduate seniors and graduate students with no work experience).

💸 Financial + Opportunity Costs

This comes as a surprise to no one, but business school is not cheap. For example, the annual cost of attendance at HBS is estimated to be more than $100k per year. In addition, you will be forgoing at least two years in salary income from not working a full-time job, which results in nearly ~$500k in financial + opportunity costs.

The vast majority of students are on some combination of financial aid and private / public student loans. Although HBS’s financial aid program is relatively generous, students still need to ensure they have sufficient funds to cover the full two years. Even if you’re not sure business school is in your future, I strongly advise earmarking a portion of your current income to be saved or invested for the future.

⏳ Years of Work Experience

The average student in the HBS Class of 2022 has 4.7 years of work experience (translating to an approximate age of 27). Although there is a full spectrum of ages in the student body, in my opinion the sweet spot for matriculating is between 4-6 years of work experience.

On the older end, students with 7+ years of work experience sometimes find it harder to leave the workforce, feel like they are being “reset” to the level of their less experienced peers when it comes to recruiting, or find it more difficult to balance business school with family and life commitments.

On the younger end, students with 3 or fewer years of work experience sometimes find it challenging to contribute to classroom discussions, compete against their more experienced peers in recruiting, or fit in socially. This is why I strongly encourage admits of the HBS 2+2 Program and Stanford Deferred Admission Program to defer matriculating for as long as possible (maximum of 4 years) instead of matriculating after the minimum 2 years of work experience.

Reflecting on my own experience in the HBS 2+2 Program (admitted in 2016), I am deeply grateful that I decided to defer the full 4 years before enrolling. Not only did I get the amazing opportunity to work 4 jobs in 3 cities across 2 continents and 2 industries, but I also gained invaluable wisdom that only comes with time. These varied work and life experiences have helped me thrive and feel confident in myself at HBS.

👪 Family / Life Stage

As I alluded to above, the stage you are at in your personal life can significantly affect your business school experience. Some people find it challenging to be both a student and a parent, and others work hard to maintain long distance relationships.

If you have a significant other, make sure you have an honest discussion with them about how you will support each other through the program. Because business school can be an intense and transformative experience for both parties involved, know that change and challenges are inevitable.

💼 Your Career Goals

We’ve talked about how business school can help you switch careers. But if you love your current job, should you still apply?

Unfortunately, there’s no right answer to this question. I encourage you to speak with people in your chosen industry (both those who graduated from business school and those who haven’t) to get their advice on your unique situation. Some people say that the financial and opportunity costs far outweigh the benefits, and others say that the once-in-a-lifetime experience and long-term investment in your career / network is absolutely worth it.

Remember to take all the advice you receive with a grain of salt (including mine), as everyone is biased by the choices they have made in their own lives.

Ultimately, the decision is yours — you won’t go wrong either way.

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