The world's first MBA president has not done much to improve the perceived value of an MBA.
“You don't need an MBA!... Bill Gates – no degree. Steve Jobs – no degree. Larry Ellison – no degree. Richard Branson – no degree”. This was how I was received by an alum at an MIT alumni event on Friday, an event I had been invited to. This alum had completed his undergraduate education at MIT and earned his MBA at Chicago, which he insisted is the number one business school. “An MBA is only useful if you are in commercial banking and want to get into investment banking, or want to get into consulting”, he said. He himself was some kind of management consultant at a large software firm. I found it very hard to argue with him about the value of an MBA for entrepreneurship, but then suggested, “have you heard of Akamai?”. He grinned, said “no”, and walked off. Off course he has heard of Akamai.
The alumni event was a pub-evening type thing in a cocktail bar. The alumni numbered perhaps 20. A few of them were doing postgraduate degrees at my undergraduate university. Others included investment bankers and scientists. They seemed like a likeable bunch, but the shortage of girls was blatant. I mentioned to a friend afterwards, “they did not seem like the geeky anti-social types that are stereotypical of the place”. She responded, “yes, but the geeky anti-social types probably would not go to an event like this”.
In the meanwhile, still no news from on the MIT Sloan interview front.
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