082816 — First day

As you may know, I’m doing an MBA. It used to be that classes were every other Saturday for 16 weeks. However, this term and because of scheduling issues, I ended taking an online class, to my surprise, is going well so far.

In all my previous classes, I had at least 4 or 5 international students like me, however, in the accounting class that I’m currently taking, there is only one other international student. In the last term, that number was on the rise.

Last Saturday was my first class for this term, and as usual, I get early. I cannot deny that I like going to school, I like the interaction with other students and professors. However, as time goes by, students in the MBA programs are getting younger and younger each term, and the amount of experience in the class is getting lower and lower which each passing term, this trend is definitely affecting the level of the in-class discussions.

Although this Forbes article is from 2014, they got it right

Getting an MBA isn’t just about the degree — it’s about combining the degree with work experience. That’s what makes it extremely valuable.

While, in the online classes the interaction with other students is minimum, in on-campus classes are the most affected when 95% of the class has little to no work experience. I think this is where the institution is failing to their core values because by accepting everybody in their classes, they are not offering the best education.

When I enrolled in the MBA programs, one of the prerequisites that I like was that they needed a certain GPA grade to get in, although this is not a guarantee of anything, at least offer some type of filter. A couple of terms ago, and seeing how many new students were in the class I asked one of the new students about the current prerequisites to enroll in the MBA program, to my surprise — not really — the university dropped the GPA as well as the certain amount of work experience.

As more, and more schools offer MBA program the competition for our dollars has become relentless, however, in order to remain competitive the school is sacrificing quality for quantity, and in the end taking that approach will be their own demise. Not only the quality will be lower, but when you accept everybody, with or without work experience, with our without certain GPA level, you will have to graduate most of them, risking the reputation of the MBA title.

So what is the solution, get back to previous prerequisites, if students understand that there is a purpose behind those and that the class discussions actually make sense and are useful, students will support the school and will be their primary advertising channel.

In the meantime and because is just the first day, let’s get ready for another successful term.