Admitted to HBS, not sure if I should go. What would I do with it?
Hi there, o primate council!
So as the title suggests, I've been admitted to the holiest of holy. But now as I'm thinking and reading more about it, I'm more and more disillusioned with the idea of getting an MBA at all.
I work for an MBB consulting firm in a developing country (not India/China). At matriculation I'd have 2 years of this experience + a couple other big name internships during college. I majored in CS and can code, but I was never good at it and this is not something I'm interested in doing. I don't want to work in consulting anymore either, cause to be frank my experience was disappointing, even though I was/am top ranked the whole time. The disappointment is due to the fact that I didn't feel any of my cases really created value for the client. Mostly it was all fluff, fancy decks and bullshitting with elaborate models. I did develop advanced soft skills and learned a lot about how NOT to do business in many different industries though. I do kinda enjoy the lifestyle too, flying business and eating steak dinners and all. But being a professional bullshitter, eventually progressing to the bullshitter overlord/snake oil salesman role, is a deal breaker.
Ideally I'd want to get some real expertise (business development, product roles, general management) in an interesting industry, and I'm flexible here - it can be any kind of tech, pharma, healthcare, manufacturing, whatever - as long as it's not finance/professional services. And I don't like CPG for some reason, probably cause what drives CPG is yet another type of bullshit - the "our yogurt is soooo the best yogurt ever made and will cure AIDS, cancer and erectile dysfunction" type. Food is food and shower gel is shower gel, convincing the masses to buy mine is not valuable or impactful.
Now, HBS (or business school in general for that matter) has a lot of those familiar consulting-ish "management science" (lol) overtones to it. It kinda feels like an apple from the same tree. Not sure if I can really learn much valuable stuff there, but whatever, as long as it gets me on track to what I want. And there are two problems with that.
First, MBA in general is nowhere near as appealing now as it used to be in the past. It has just lost a lot of its cachet. In this regard it feels like I'm late by like 20 years, when MBB->HBS would be a golden ticket. Doesn't sound like it anymore.
2nd, the business school really seems to funnel guys like me right back into professional services. All the MBA jobs that I like (which at this point are mostly rotational GM LDPs at F500s) list 5+ years of relevant experience as a requirement. Same thing with PE (requires experience). Public service would be an interesting option, but I don't wanna go back to my native shithole and I'm not a US citizen (I am a legal permanent resident though, so no Visa issues). I could probably get a start-up job, but why would I need HBS for that?
With LDPs, startups, PE, public sector and brand management out of the running, what's left? I don't want to go back to consulting or, god forbid, banking.
The only two options that I see for myself after the HBS would be
a) corporate strategy at an industry major, then try to weasel into a P&L role (which is hard, as far as I know) and
b) International public service (i.e. World Bank, UN agencies and the like). Not sure if I'm competitive for those jobs.
Kinda lost and disappointed with my life choices in general. Should have gone to a good US school for some kind of an engineering masters and taken the industry line management route right away.
Go to HBS. The name on your resume and the network you develop alone are worth it. I didn't get an MBA and I don't swing on Harvard's jock strap (so I'm not enamored with b-school and you can be successful without getting an MBA) but you should go. If you were talking about a ~20th ranked program it may be a different story but it's Harvard. It will open up doors for you to get into something you want (recruiting alone would be worth it) and will stick with you for your entire life. Honestly, CS undergrad, MBB, emerging markets experience & HBS will let you write your ticket for nearly anything.
Totally agree with what he said. Just having HBS on your resume can have such a huge impact on your life. When I interned over the summer at a non-MBB consulting firm, many of the managers and directors would often defer to the guy who had a HBS degree and these were people who had Booth and Northwestern MBAs. Just having a HBS degree gives you so much clout in business discussions.
This it the first time in history someone accepted to HBS has said this.
I would go. I think you ideally would have stayed at MBB longer and then applied (to be eligible for the more senior positions you mentioned), but still think HBS can get you where you want to go above all of your other options. Based on your listed potential career paths I think the two years would do a lot of good for you to decide what path to pursue.
Hey dude, I do get your points and it all is very logical, in a way. That is, if life just went as planned. But I can tell you, things HAPPEN when you go to B-school. You meet people, you get ideas, you find out about new markets, you find future partners. And all those folks going to HBS, they are all pretty amazing too.
The gains from going to HBS are long-term, permanent, and irreplaceable, and they help me every day, in everything I do, even if I too can't say "HBS got me better job X". And when 10 years down the line you can call up your old HBS buddy and get that package of investment you need for your new NGO startup just cause you were mates at HBS, well, then you will be thankful you went.
I agree with what everyone wrote here. Go to HBS. It's worth it.
ask yourself, why did you apply in the first place?
Better to go than to miss out and always wonder "what if"
FWIW, your resume with HBS at the top would make you competitive for just about anything.
I understand that for someone with such a sterling CV, HBS would only be "icing" and probably doesn't seem all that special. But icing is really probably the worst, most bare minimum way to view it. Given your lack of interest in the more popular/saturated areas of business, you should look at this as an opportunity to find a role you didn't know existed while building a bulletproof network that will get you there and beyond. You clearly wanted to leave your current gig and maybe buy time in a safe space to explore your options-all without losing any of the momentum you've gained; where/how else would you be able to achieve all 3 objectives in one fell swoop? Trying to find the equivalent is actually where your options would begin to narrow!
You should go to HBS because you'll never regret a sure thing. Enjoy the next 2 years!
Listen I am the first one to rail against pedigree, etc. Here is my advice.
GO, go now. 2 years of professional experience means you are relatively young and most likely with little or no debt in your life. No matter what you decide to do, that diploma on top of your already solid background is going to give you more options than I could dream of. The network you build will remain with you for life. I promise you will regret it later on in life if you choose not to go, the same cannot be said of going for it.
Are you joking? GO
This is the ultimate first world problem. (Go!)
im not in any position to give you advice but
this what i think you should do.
1) go to HBS 2) get a job as a data analyst or some sort of analytical role doing business intelligence or data science-y stuff.
you can use your coding skills and have an impact on the business via data analysis
not sure if this affects your decision in any way ....
I don't get all the monkey shit for that post. Did I say something that wasn't true? Anyone care to elaborate?
Bankers, consultants, lawyers - we're all bitches to the people with actual power, i.e. the clients - industry executives and investors (and sometimes government officials). Partners at all these firms are regularly grilled by the client side project managers (who are responsible for delivering that project smoothly and effectively), and that can easily be a director or even a senior manager.
If you think that a banking MD is a BSD in that relationship, think again. He may be making it rain for the firm and taking home a lot of green, but in the outside world he will squirm when called out on some bullshit and suck up to the higher ups to develop the relationship. He will also skip his kid's baseball game and will be on the phone at 2 AM if the client wants something, and he will fly out to Bumblefuck, Tennessee to meet a client executive who's going to give him 20 minutes of his time.
Same is true for consulting, law, Big 4 advisory etc. It's all bitch business.
Holy shit. I'm going through the exact same thing. HBS 2+2 admit, its been 4 years. Really don't feel like going.
I've looked at the classlist so far, and besides the finance kids (who they accept fewer and fewer of), no one is that impressive. The classes they are taking seem so outdated and useless, compared to what I have learned from working in the real world. Its going to be so hard to go form making money and learning so much, to paying to do work for professors who have 0 real world experience and for a degree that is both dying and teaches you nothing.
"no one is that impressive."
I'm sure some people slipped through the cracks, but this just screams "out of touch with reality."
You're right and I wasn't clear enough. Only like 20% of the class uploaded their info, and I think there is some self selection bias because the more impressive kids aren't rushing to upload their classcards. Either way, think what another commented said is true about truly phenomenal people have no use for an MBA, its the people just short of that.
You are missing some critical points here.
Agree with most of your points. However for #3, I disagree, as more firms are promoting from within, and the MBA is no longer a hard requirement for many jobs.
I'm also disillusioned with school at this point. Undergrad was a joke, and I've spoken to many HBS grads in my city now and they all think given where I am right now, and MBA will give me nothing (my industry gives 0 fucks about an MBA). The only decision I need to consider is if the network is worth me giving up two years and paying $200k for.
Maybe school just isn't for me
Go to harvard. Who cares if you don't learn anything useful. The network alone is worth the money. Your CV will be bulletproof such that any door will be open to you. Thousands of kids would kill to be in your shoes right now.
Are you kidding me? Go to HBS. I don't think I've heard anyone actually question if they should go or not.
You sound unhappy in your current position. Do it. Worst case scenario, you end up where you are not but at a more senior position. Perhaps leverage your HBS accept to get into a more rigorous school for cheap (Booth comes to mind).
Do not mistake for fldps for what they are...they're really glorified "financial analysts" that focus on boring stuff like FP&A.
Agree, but I was talking about the general management LDPs, i.e. those that focus on business development/marketing/P&L management.
If you really want to grow, embrace the bullshit.
There comes a point where you realize that almost everything work related is bullshit, whether you're selling advisory services or 'helping people' in a non-profit. Embrace it, love it, nurture it. You are nearing the crest of realization. If you fall short of that crest, disillusionment and bitterness await you. If you reach it, your success will have no bounds.
But I guess at some point this bullshit should add up to value, right? At least for some of the careers?
Why so indecisive? Why did you apply at the first place? Either you are trolling for attention or you are not ready. Regardless, you shouldn't join HBS till you are able to mature up and make your life's decisions.
I applied because of two things primarily: the emotional pull of Harvard and a desire to relocate to the developed world. And I'm not thinking about not going, I never said that, I only said that I'm disappointed. I'm just a) Venting b) Looking for advice/options on how to use this degree in my situation taking into consideration my predispositions and interests.
Went through a similar decision but was Wharton instead of HBS. The nail in the coffin was a mixer w current students and I was just left w the idea that everyone there needed B school for their mental well being/confidence and upgrade their pedigree. You aren't going to learn much, you'll get a network plain and simple.
If you're successful and have a good pedigree, you can easily network into roles you want and you'll write your own ticket.
There is no right choice and it varies person to person, each person makes their own decisions. There are a plenty of people in the world that have turned down the GS' and McKinsey's of the world. What you must ask yourself is are you a sheep or a wolf?
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