Leave MBA Program for Job Offer?
I was having a conversation with a few classmates recently and the topic of networking and job offers came up. One question I am going back and forth about is whether or not you should accept a job offer if it required you to leave your current program. To fill out the scenario a bit here, you can assume the school offers online distance learning as an option. Suppose you were in the first semester of grad school at a respectable top 25 program but not top 10, and a job in banking / consulting / PE came along which would require you to move out of the area. Would you take it?
I'm really curious to see the responses here given how much people put into getting into grad school in the first place, but also how seldom some of these career opportunities along.
If the company values you long term, they'd work with you to finish up. I know a few people who are enrolled in FT programs, work real gigs, and attend classes with PT'ers.
That said, whats the LTV of an offer now vs finishing up? Didn't you already give up the instant gratification of a small bump in salary/title for the investment in an MBA?
Curious to hear other peoples thoughts too.
In short...NO...
IMPLICATIONS RE THE INDIVIDUAL Presumably, the person decided to pursue an MBA (i.e. long term investment decision at Top 25 MBA program) for potentially higher earnings/career growth or career change, they would effectively put themselves BACK into the SAME pre-MBA situation they were in if they decided to leave their MBA program for one of the above-mentioned gigs (a rather 'short term investment decision').
IMPLICATIONS RE THE COMPANY OFFERING THE POSITION If you think deeper into this...if a company is willing to recruit MBA students out of their program, what does that say about their leadership and vision? Enough said.
Good points, particularly on the company side except they may not have known someone was in the first semester of a part-time program. If that were the case, I'm assuming it sways your response a bit.
Also, on the first part for the individual, suppose this new role is in fact a role you may have hoped to land upon graduation except you have that opportunity now. If it's a step up, then that goes against the idea you're putting yourself in the same position before beginning the program. I'm sure there are plenty of people that feel stuck in their current role and need some kind of catalyst to break out of the rut.
Depends on where you are in your grad school. Second year? Probably not.
First year? This is where things get more interesting. You went to get an MBA to get a better job, if it is a better ROI than you would get from another year of school (and another year of grad school loans); I would say go for it. No guarantee that job will be there in a year when you are finished. If it will maximize your ROI from the program, then it is logical (although extremely unpopular. Disclaimer: I am not a school person and prefer to learn on the job)
Also consider the possibility of taking a leave of absence from your program, and coming back to finish it up later. I know HBS allows this - not too sure about other schools.
Definitely a good point, but that might also require the idea you're eventually moving back to the area. If you're taking the new job as a career move, that might not be the case here. I'm sure it's not the first time the school has faced this line of questioning though so full awareness of your options is still important to learn.
I feel like this is a better question to sort of feel out. I've seen people make similar decisions as part of an MFE program although its my understanding that there's a social dynamic to MBA programs that's unlike other professional and research-oriented graduate degrees.
1.) What was your goal for the MBA program? Make friends? Get a job? Develop a network?
2.) How does this job rank in terms of outcomes coming out of your program? Are you getting hired into a post-MBA role?
3.) How material is the cost of the program? 4.) What opportunities would you have to sort of hit a reset button 2-3 years out and be a new on-campus student?
One of my close buddies from the MFE program put his program on hold after the first year because he literally had a seven figure opportunity elsewhere. After two years, he came back full time and is finishing up his degree. He lived on campus in the dorms both times and now has networks from two classes.
I also could see how some people might advocate against it. But if this truly is a post-MBA job offer, and the job carries its own marketability and brand name, from a purely career perspective you have to take a fairly long-term (order of a decade) perspective to turn down what would be a pretty darned good offer from the private sector.
I wonder what sort of opportunity your friend had. And was the offer based on the merits of his undergraduate program & work experience?
double post
Someone from my MBA program did this in their first year, and I generally support the move. If the job is a post-MBA level job, the only reason I would see to turn it down is if there are other jobs/careers you place a higher priority on.
As an example, if you went to your MBA program to do marketing at Johnson & Johnson, and they offer you that post MBA job.....what are you waiting for? Now, if you joined to become a consultant and you are offered the J&J job, different decision. Just be careful about whether you have the same career trajectory without an MBA
I think if you went back to school to get the job, you should take it. Experience is more valuable than education at that point and you also save so much money. Just my opinion.
The "offer" was based on the merits of his startup lol. I offered it as an illustration of when it clearly makes sense to quit a FT grad program and how things sometimes shake out- not as an exact replica of your situation.
If I had gotten an offer from AQR or Kepos or Bridgewater or DE Shaw- offers at the top end of what people get coming out of an MFE program like mine, I'd have quit and gone to work. I'd be like that nightmare you have where you miss the final exam for your classes. That said, my priors are that I hate spending six figures on a degree and I hate debt. I currently have my own nightmares over a mortgage I entered this year that is 1.6x my salary- it is scary having a payment you need to make every month that you can't just terminate like a lease. I'd find student debt even more concerning. You may have a different view on debt and different career/personal finance related concerns.
Most schools will want to work with you if you find yourself in some sort of high quality problem situation like this. They may grant you a year or two of absence and might give you some sort of part time option after that. Will it hurt you on the social benefits of a FT MBA? Absolutely. Is it worth quitting over? I'm on the fence- maybe leaning towards yes if it truly is a great offer. If you're young (under 30) and this is truly a killer opportunity, you may be able to go back to an M7 that takes older applicants (Kellogg, Booth, Wharton, MIT) after a few years. At 35 you'd have the benefits of an awesome career outcome from your school and the social network benefits of at least your school or maybe better.
On the downside, if things don't work out with the new job you wind up with an impaired MBA.
I can't totally place myself in your shoes because a top 5 MFE is very different socially from an NYU or Cornell MBA: you guys have a lot more fun and the value is more in the network than the education. But if it were an MFE, and I got an offer from GSAM in my first semester, I'd try to keep my option to go back open, and I'd think long and hard about whether this was a team I could spend 3-5 years on (and whether the lack of a degree would hurt me), but I'd quit.
Bottom line is that outside of ethics and outside the insanely rich, most reasonable people have a price. Most people would quit or defer an MBA program for a seven figure sum that starts with a 2 or higher. Most people would not quit an MBA to go back to their old job. In between, the calculus becomes a function of your risk aversion and your views on the long term outlook for industry. I am actually somewhat bearish on finance (I know I know I spent six figures on a graduate degree). If you can be relatively certain of a career outcome in the top 20% of your program, and can keep an option to finish the degree later, that would be my threshold.
I summered at a ~7bn AUM HF and joked with classmates that if offered to stay on I would have. Getting a similar offer is exteremly hard.
I think to the extent that you can 1) not "drop out" but take a leave of absence, and 2) you are securing a job that is very difficult to get, i.e. high probably you won't land a similar role, then it is definitely worth it.
To the extent that you are just "getting a job" that is nice but not special then I'd say stay in school.
I faced something similar. Towards the end of my summer internship at a small firm (
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