Architect Your Own MBA
The Masters in Business Administration has long been viewed as the gold standard in terms of career investments. Wage premiums - defined as the “percentage difference in the wages for those holding a master’s degree compared with those in the same occupation who have a bachelor’s degree” - in business range between 36% and 89%.
And while over 1 million students are enrolled in MBA programs in the United States, it’s simply not an option for all - money, time, and work commitments may stand in the way.
In place of making this commitment you can architect your own MBA, drawing on first-in-class curriculums and cherry picking courses that will be most beneficial to you. This has several distinct advantages:
Little or no cost
Choose your own pace and schedule
Flexible curriculum
Demonstrates commitment or passion to a topic
As I researched this post I noticed one glaring similarity across MBA programs: You will spend your first semester, either in whole or in part, in “core” courses considered to be traditional business disciplines. This typically means a blend of Finance & Accounting, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Economics, and a mix of proprietary courses therein.
What if you’re out of work and just need to add some additional skills to get back into the workforce? Or what if you’re happily employed and want to explore new areas? Or what you’ve already completed higher education degrees and want to shift the direction of your career?
This post will help you to learn how to design your own MBA, taking the pieces that are most valuable to you and tossing the rest.
1 - Electives
According to Harvard Business School, core courses “give students a firm grasp of broad-based fundamentals” while electives allow students to “gain a more concentrated expertise in the industries, functions, and ideas that interest them most”.
Let’s begin with that second piece and assume that you are interested in developing a narrow skillset that you’ve become interested in.
Action: MBA students generally follow a track of their choosing. Use the broad buckets or themes below (taken from top MBA curriculums) and identify one or two that you are most interested in. This is the broad-based topic(s) that you wish to pursue:
Accounting
Finance
Marketing
Management
Operations
Strategy
Example: Let’s assume that you have sales experience but have done your research and are interested in working in finance. It’s important to note that it doesn’t matter if you’ve never taken a finance course, haven’t taken one in years, or already have a solid understanding of finance.
However, do consider your relative level of competence in the subject.
The Spin: The broad topics above will form the basis of your coursework, the “umbrella” of your program. Since the purpose of formulating this mini-MBA is to learn more in your topic of choice, you can brush past the typical MBA requirements that can extend well beyond your interests.
You may also find more than one of the above topics appealing. In the spirit of a real MBA, you may have a secondary topic that you wish to learn more about. Great, this post will help you with that too.
2 - Electives of Electives - Your Secret Weapon
Now that you’ve chosen your area of study, it’s time to dig in. Building on the above example, not all finance is the same and there may be particular areas of finance that interest you. Hopefully you have considered this already and have networked some to learn key topics. If not, no worry.
Action: By their very definition electives give you the power to pick and choose courses:
Google “[School name] mba elective courses”
Browse course catalogs and write down names of all courses that interest you
Do this for at least 3 schools
The Google search may not be spot on for every school, but you should continue your search until you find a list of specific, in-depth course names (In researching this post I found a course called “The Long and Short of Liability Driven Alpha” - this is the level of specificity you want)
Example: Assuming you are most interested in topics of international finance still, you make a list of the following courses (abbreviated version):
Africa; Building Cities
Investing in Emerging Markets
International Finance
Global Financial Institutions
Many schools will allow you to read an in-depth description of the course too. Take notes when necessary on the topics covered in the courses.
The Spin: Building your electives is probably the most important step in this process. You are tailoring the education specifically to what you want/need and can skip certain topics if they don’t suit your needs.
What’s more, if there are certain skills or knowledge that you need to advance your career, you can spend extra time on them. A traditional education may focus too heavily on areas that don’t expressly apply to your career or may be too light in areas that you deem important. Your elective design is your secret weapon.
3 - Design your Course of Study
Time to get creative and craft your course of study. Though this is more art than science, the below guidelines will help you.
Action:
Begin by referring to the Agama resources page to get an idea of some of the available online learning sites.
Browse these sites and make a list of at least 10 courses that fit the description of courses you found in the step above.
Once you have your list, spend some time reading through descriptions and enroll in courses that fit your electives.
The Spin: Course content aside, factors such as cost, course dates, and time commitments will play a part in formulating this. But you should also consider explicit needs from descriptions of jobs you’re interested in so that your course of study serves an actual need.
Some courses may be more formal, including deadlines and exams. On Udemy though, you may find self-paced classes that help you learn certain skills. Read my Recruiter.com article for an example of this.
Another option, should you decide that certain courses don’t work for you, is to look at course content, materials, background readings, etc. and design your own courses. But that is a topic for a different post.
4 - Show Your Grit
In an interview with CNN, Google’s Head of People Operations Laszlo Bock discussed the importance of where you went to school, or actually, the lack of importance of where you went.
He specifically highlights students from non-Ivy League schools that showcase their “grit and determination” to get to where they are, noting they’re as good or better than those with upper echelon educations.
Laszlo’s Tip: “Put your best work on your resume, we’ll take a look at it.”
Action: At this point, you have identified skills important for your career and have honed those skills through courses. It’s time to showcase them.
Use the list below to brainstorm ways to showcase your skills:
Blog post (LinkedIn, guest post to a website, your own blog site)
Volunteer to provide some analysis or other support to a company, organization, independent professional, etc. free of charge
If you are working on coding skills, put these onto GitHub
Make your own website - you can develop a portfolio of demonstration projects
The Spin: Showcasing your skills brings all of the steps outlined in this post together. You are now self-taught, but making this available online helps back up your resume. As Bock stated, give them some work to look at it.
Gritty
Proactive
Committed & Determined
Another positive aspect of showcasing these skills is that it cuts across industries. No matter how many times you want to switch careers or industries, you are positioned as someone who took control of their situation.
