MBA Programs during COVID-19

MBA Programs during COVID-19

2020 has been a crazy year. There still is no clarity or uncertainty on what schools (elementary, secondary, undergraduate and post-graduate) will be doing this coming Fall. Here are some things to consider when considering your options this year during COVID-19.

A few MBA programs have announced online-only options for the 2020-2021 school year:

You have some options when considering an MBA for the upcoming year. Some schools are allowing you to defer your enrollment to a future semester if you’ve already been accepted. You may also be getting a discount for the program as many schools won’t be charging you room, board, and technology fees when you’re attending online only.

Some schools are going to an accelerated Fall schedule, in hopes that shifting the semester a bit will help avoid the anticipated coronavirus peaks which could coincide with flu season. Dartmouth and Cornell are some schools planning on ending classes by Thanksgiving, while others are doing online-only finals after Thanksgiving.

Maybe an MBA isn’t worth it at all, if only online. Many will tell you that MBA Programs during COVID are not worth it, like Paulina Karpis says in this Forbes article. Karpis’s main points are that the value likely isn’t there, especially in considering the hiring freezes and soft economy. But it may be a good shelter from the bad job market, just make sure you do a cost-benefit analysis.

The University of Iowa Discontinues Its Full-Time MBA Program

The Tippie College of Business recently graduated its last full-time MBA class. Tippie is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. The school had been seeing declining enrollment in its full-time MBA program. The peak enrollment was in the 1990’s, falling to 140 students in 2012 and 87 students in 2017, according to university spokesperson Tom Snee.

The Tippie College of Business recently graduated its last full-time MBA class. Tippie is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. The school had been seeing declining enrollment in its full-time MBA program. The peak enrollment was in the 1990’s, falling to 140 students in 2012 and 87 students in 2017, according to university spokesperson Tom Snee.

Jordan Simpson, a graduate of the last Full-Time MBA Class at the University of Iowa (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The school has decided to reassign its full-time faculty to other areas of the business college. None of the the 24 faculty members will lose their jobs, according to Dean Sarah Gardial. “The most compelling thing to us was that we had significant resources tied up in a program that was shrinking year by year,” Gardial said.

Although applications for MBA programs are down 6.6 percent, you shouldn’t rule out an MBA, full-time or part-time. Jordan Simpson, a graduate of the last class at Tippie College of Business, said, “there still is value in a full-time MBA. That being said, I think with the labor market the way it is, it’s tougher to justify leaving work for two years to do a full-time MBA.”

Simpson continued, “The part-time MBA is an opportunity for (students) to stay in their jobs and not have the opportunity cost of not working two years, while positioning themselves to get promoted or work at a higher level.”

Read more about the full-time MBA program at the University of Iowa at The Gazette in the story written by Thomas Friestad.

Recently Graduated? Job Search Tips for the MBA Student

Businessweek recently published an article which gives several tips for the graduate looking for a job. It offers some great advice, including:

  • Determine when you need to start getting paid, then use that determination to develop your job search plan
  • Consider using an MBA career center at your school, which does not close during the Summer months.
  • Consider meeting with a career coach who will help you target you goals
  • Work backward from your career goals to develop stepping stones for achieving these goals.

Read more here.

Do You Need an MBA to be a Highly Paid CEO?

One of the highest paid CEOs in the world is Fuqua (Duke) MBA Tim Cook. He is the CEO at Apple and his compensation package totals $378 million. This raises the question: do you need an MBA to be one of the highest paid CEOs in the world?

Not exactly.

If you take a look at a list of the globe’s wealthiest people, you’ll find CEOs that have dropped out of school (Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates). You’ll also see many that simply inherited it like the Sam Walton progeny. A large number tinkered and invented their way to the list like Dell, Steve Jobs, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google.

Yes, there are other MBAs on the list beside Cook. Russia’s Alexei Mordashov is the wealthiest MBA (he’s ranked #29). Michael Bloomberg has an MBA from Harvard and ends up at #30.

The wealthiest people in the world probably don’t have an MBA. But that doesn’t mean an MBA is without merit. The MBA is about getting you into that corner office, not putting you on the list of wealthiest people in the world.

But it is important to note that 40 of the 100 best paid CEO’s in America have an MBA.

MBA Enrollments Down in the UK

According to a recent article in the Financial Times, enrollment in the 16 full-time MBA programs are down 10-15% in the UK. The economy is the primary reason, but another reason is the strict visa requirements put in place by the government. Just a short time ago, foreign graduates of UK MBA programs lost the right to work for two years in the UK–which also has an impact on interest in the schools there.

Some schools are trying to find ways to attract more students. Oxford’s Saïd school is trying out a community education bonds program in which alumni invest in the students who follow after them. Prodigy Finance, which runs the bond program, says that there are other UK MBA schools looking to carry out the plan as well.