Weatherhead’s 2010 Undergraduate Ranking

So I recently walked across a stage to collect my MBA diploma. It has taken me two very long years to get to that point. Two major questions arise as I graduate from business school:

Was it worth it?
What did I learn?

The notion of worth is dependent on each person, and I would not be totally surprised if I were to learn that some of my b-school colleagues felt they got less than they bargained for. For the most part, though, I imagine the vast majority of my peers found the experience totally worthwhile. And even though the job search has been – and still is – quite difficult for me, I definitely think earning my MBA has been a completely worthwhile experience.

Why do I think it was worth it? Because, simply put, I know way more things now in April 2011 then I did back in August 2009. For me, that knowledge has value.

Some of the things I learned were technical and academic book knowledge such as accounting, finance, marketing terminology, operations, a plethora of strategy frameworks, and so forth. More importantly, though, I learned to think things at both a strategic 30,000 foot level as well as down in the weeds. I suspect most people are either detailed oriented or ‘big picture’ sort of folks. When looking at issues I think it takes a bit of conscious effort to learn how to be able to flip between these extremes. I give credit to my MBA studies in helping me flip between them.

Something unique to the Weatherhead program is the Manage by Designing program. This has been a fantastic experience. It has allowed me the opportunity to go to Denmark to the Kolding School of Design where I had an opportunity to work with designers from all over the world. We looked at designing new approaches and thinking regarding transportation, which is a problem not limited to Denmark, but rather the entire globe. In addition to the Denmark trip, I had an amazing opportunity to work with the Office of Patient Experience at Cleveland Clinic to design new approaches in physician-patient interactions. In general, the Manage by Designing program was a fantastic approach to build a holistic management tool-belt.

I would not go so far as to say I learned some useless material; however, I did notice a few business things that had marginal value (that wording itself reeks of business school education).

For example, I do think that business jargon is needlessly complex. Many entities share a piece of the blame. Business textbooks, journals, cases, websites, and so forth. I am not entirely certain why business school students and professors tend to use complex wording; I have my guesses, though. With that being said, my aforementioned Design curriculum had a considerable focus on communication and structuring a compelling argument. Again, though, it does seem as if business folks tend to write more complicated than they need to.

Since I did not have a formal background in business, I structured my courses so I learned a little bit of everything. For example I made certain to take an additional finance class, a Six Sigma/lean operations class, as well as a couple of entrepreneurship courses. However, I did take more marketing and strategy courses than any other type. It is what I enjoy. Along similar lines, the Weatherhead program is moving away from being heavy in concentrations to cultivating more of a general management education. I think this is a good move. It is how I structured my education and I think good managers need to know a bit of everything.

Finally, I met some absolutely fantastic people. We had a very international class and I would like to think I can now travel all over the globe and have friends wherever I may be. I have had a blast hanging out with my classmates in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, Darden Softball, New York, and many other places including a certain paintball field.