On today’s ever-changing business battlefield, executives and entrepreneurs alike must be fully armed. There’s one weapon that has always been effective for corporate warriors: the M.B.A.
For more than 25 years, minorities especially have acquired master’s in business administration degrees to gain a competitive edge in sectors ranging from finance and marketing to media and technology. While M.B.A. holders are still on track to upper management, the degree no longer guarantees a move up the ranks.
“Indeed, the ’80s and ’90s provided for a financial windfall for people of color with M.B.A.s indicative of the alumni who made BE’s list of ‘The 75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street’ [October 2006],†says Kenneth Roldan, CEO of New York-based Wesley, Brown & Bartle, a diversity management recruitment firm, and author of Minority Rules: Turn your Ethnicity Into a Competitive Edge (Collins; $22.95). “However, in today’s tough economic climate, simply having an M.B.A. or being a person of color with an M.B.A. does not have the cachet it [once] did. While the M.B.A. still remains a useful tool, corporate experience has more value.â€
The M.B.A. has become more of a first step of a longer journey. Simply being credentialed by an institution is not enough to set you apart, although receiving the degree from a leading business school such as Harvard or the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will almost always open doors. The value of the M.B.A. is in the instruction gained, especially in the arena of global business management.
B-schools also provide indispensable contacts. “You want to get a global top brand M.B.A. if you want the same transformative effect of the ’80s,†says Chioma Isiadinso, former member of Harvard Business School’s admissions board and author of The Best Business Schools’ Admissions Secrets (Sourcebooks; $17.95). “[It] will give you access to a global network, and that’s really powerful.†About 1,800 universities and institutions in the U.S. and abroad receive GMAT scores from more than 100,000 applicants each year, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council. On the following pages, three B-school recruits discuss the application process and coursework at three top business programs. For those considering applying to an M.B.A. program, their comments may be enlightening.
Name: Frederick L. McPherson
School and term: First-year student, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
Undergraduate major: Mechanical Engineering, Florida State University Graduate degree: Master of Science,
Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Stanford University
Work experience: Four years, design engineer at Ford Motor Co. in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico
Career change: Yes
Focus: Venture capital and private equity. Says McPherson: “There will always be excitement in bringing new technologies to market, whether I’m designing it or investing in a company that’s working on it.â€
Which schools did you apply to and why did you decide on Tuck?
I considered Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth (Tuck), and University of Virginia (Darden). I did not get accepted to Harvard or Stanford, but was admitted to Tuck and Darden. I felt that the alumni base at Tuck was stronger with more access to professionals in private equity and venture capital.
Describe your first year at business school.
Intense. Undergraduate and graduate level engineering were technically challenging, but the business school curriculum will challenge any person. It is a huge workload that seems unreasonable until you learn to thin-slice the content and extract the real information you need. It’s also about learning to operate in a team environment, and once you create a protocol for the team to get deliverables completed, you’ll be able to relax a bit.
What are some challenges you faced during school?
There are so many things competing for your time such as course work, sleep, career prep, social outings, and family responsibilities that can get you really stressed.
If you could do the preparation and application process differently, what would you change?
I knew in 2003, when I graduated with a master’s in engineering, that I would most likely go to business school within five years. I should have prepared for and taken the Graduate Management Admission Test then. The test scores are good for five years after taking the exam, so why not score your highest when you are still in active study mode?
The second thing, if you can help it, plan to take at least two months off between leaving your job and starting business school. I took only three weeks off. If I had known that the program would be this intense, I would have stopped working sooner. Create a plan for the
GMAT, the essays, the school visits–the process of planning two years before beginning your M.B.A. program is critical so that you are mentally, academically, and financially prepared to get the most out of the program.How has business school changed you?
I learned to make better decisions with less information. The reality is that you don’t need to know all the information, just the right piece of information. Many of the things you learn in business school can be learned on the job, but I felt that it was easier spending two years accelerating that knowledge growth.
How did you manage your business school preparation?
It was a struggle. I dedicated at least one hour every day to doing something for business school prep; even if it was doing flash cards or practicing some math I hadn’t seen since grade school. There were times when I just wasn’t motivated. Sometimes, I was so tired. After a long day at the office you just don’t want to study. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Study the next day.
Also, communicate to the stakeholders in your life that you will have less time; you don’t want to drop out of doing things with the mall of a sudden. You will need the people who are important to you to be on board.
Name: Michael Alston
School and term: Fall 2008, Rady School of Management, University of California, San Diego
Undergraduate major: Electrical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
Graduate degree: Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering, U.C. Berkley; Masters of Science in Applied Physics, Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, U.C. San Diego
Work experience: 16 years, microchip design for several companies, including Silicon Connections Corp., Metaflow Technologies, and V.I.P. Design, California
Career change: Possibly
Focus: Finance. Alston says: “In addition to semiconductor chip design, I am interested in perhaps one day influencing issues related to K-16 education, globalization, alternative energy, healthcare, and the current decline of the U.S. dollar.â€
You’ve been a circuit design engineer for almost 20 years and hold a doctorate in electrical engineering. Why business school?
Recent trends in the field of microchip design indicate that, increasingly, white-collar, computer-based design and development work is following the route of blue-collar manufacturing work and going overseas. As design teams are downsized or disbanded in the U.S., design centers are being expanded or established in countries such as China, India, and Malaysia.
This globalization trend has compelled me to sit up and take notice. I’ve decided to create a back door for myself to transition from doing chip design work to managing chip design work. I believe that earning an M.B.A.–more than any other graduate degree–will best complement my electrical engineering degrees and provide new career options for me.
In addition to microchip design, I’m interested in perhaps one day influencing key issues related to education, corporate governance, and public policy.
What schools did you apply to, and why did you eventually choose U.C. San Diego?
State, the University of San Diego, and U.C. Irvine, I applied only to the Rady School at U.C. San Diego. After attending a couple of Rady’s on-campus information sessions in 2005 and 2007 and reading the archived transcripts of recent online chat sessions, I found the school particularly appealing for three reasons: its emphasis on technology-based entrepreneurship; the opportunity for collaboration with other schools on the U.C. San Diego campus; and its proximity to San Diego’s Sorrento Valley, also known as Telecom Valley.
If you could do it over, would you handle your preparation and application process differently?
If I had to do it over again, I would have begun to study and practice for the GMAT weeks earlier, using more online resources and a test prep center such as Kaplan or Princeton Review.
Name: Tuesday Tibbs
School and term: First-year student, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon
University
Undergraduate major: Business Administration, Hampton University
Work experience: Two summer internships at accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers, human resources and auditing; Summer internship at Genworth Financial, internal auditing
Focus: Corporate finance, accounting, and organizational behavior. Tibbs set her sights on an M.B.A. as early as her freshman year of college. “I knew that I eventually wanted to be a leader,†she says, “so when I started my undergrad degree at Hampton University, I started with my eye on the prize.â€
Did you worry that you would not be accepted without any work experience?
Yes, I did. A lot of schools wanted at least three years’ work experience. I felt it was because they wanted someone who had business knowledge and leadership potential, so my strategy was to show that I had those things through my involvement in extracurricular activities and internship experiences.
How did you prepare yourself?
Mentors and organizations. I had great mentors who encouraged me to apply, looked over my essays, and helped me prepare for the GMAT. There are also organizations that connect you to the right resources. I joined INROADS, an organization that connects underrepresented minorities with opportunities in corporate America, and it helped me get the internship at Pricewaterhouse Coopers. In applying to business school, I went through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. I also got connected to the National Black MBA Association and received a $10,000 scholarship. It offers scholarships to undergraduate as well as graduate business students.
Why do you think you were accepted?
I think that my internships and leadership experiences in student organizations played a large part, and I even think that my part-time job as a waitress at Red Lobster played a role. They showed that I have a strong work ethic and that I know how to successfully balance and prioritize things.
Where else did you apply, and how successful were you?
I applied through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, which is an organization that gives full-tuition scholarships to mostly underrepresented minorities and anyone who can uphold the mission of the organization, and to my knowledge, if you get in and receive a fellowship to your first choice, you don’t hear from the other schools you apply to. Tepper was my first choice. I also applied to New York University and University of Virginia.
How is it being one of the less experienced members of the class?
It’s been great. My classmates are so willing to share what they have learned in the workforce with me and, since many of them were not business majors, I can share what I learned in undergrad with them. In fact, many of them are impressed that I was admitted without work experience, and they respect my work. They even elected me to be an officer in student government. I felt so honored.
This story originally appeared in the July 2008 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.