I had dinner last week with the Dartmouth's former Admissions Dean and Director for Career Management. Of course, my graduate work was a topic of discussion. My post-MBA plans followed.
The conversation had some salient points for MBA candidates:
- If you are going after your MBA to switch careers and/or industries, your education pedigree can play a major role depending on your target;
- Despite an MBA award, you may have to start at or near the bottom of the ladder if you do switch to a competitive industry.
Take investment banking for example. The big firms (i.e.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Bros., etc.) have a storied history of hiring from the premier B-schools like Harvard, Wharton, Dartmouth and Chicago, among others. The traditional path for an ambitious investment banker is to undergrad in Finance followed by three or four years as an analyst/trader/salesman at an institution and then tack on the prestigious school MBA. The big firms harvest their talent from this feeder path.
An MBA candidate who does not have this pedigree has a number of questions to answer:
- How did an SMU MBA in Finance prepare you like Dartmouth's?
- What gave you the chops to make it in the competitive banking world?
- Why should I take a chance on you?
And on and on. The message I had from my dinner conversation was honest and crucial to future plans: The MBA is not enough. A more comprehensive plan is needed. As I begin my concentration work this Fall, I will touch on the career management strategies I discussed.
