Cost doesn't matter

Probably the best advice I’ve received thus far came from the Foster MBA Admitted Student newsletter. Ironically, it probably pushed me away from their program. In the newsletter, Dan Poston, Assistant Dean for Masters Programs at UW says:

“Cost doesn’t matter. How can I say such a thing? Because I firmly believe that a free ride to ‘Anytown U’ cannot possibly match the value of a top MBA program, even if you must borrow every cent of the tuition. If a degree from School A leads to exactly the job you want and a degree from School B does not, does that $20,000 scholarship from School B still look like a good deal?”

There are two types of people that go to business school. The first are people that go to improve their skills so they can be better at their job now. The other group are career changers. Regardless of what category you fall under, you need your investment to lead you to the job you want. Even if you are getting a free ride, you are investing two years of your life in your 20s or 30s.

I fall under both categories. I worked in Financial Communications and Investor Relations consulting where I helped companies from different secotrs/industries/countries tailor their communications geared toward their investors. My goal is to do the same type of work in Japan, but in-house (i.e. for one company as opposed to clients). It is completely possible that I change my mind while in school, but this is what I would like to do at the moment.

There are two ways to look for a job in b-school: via on-campus recruiting or networking/finding one yourself. Unless you’re Harvard, Stanford, or Wharton, most companies that recruit on-campus are companies that are based in the same geographical area as the school. For example, 75% of students in Smith’s Full-time MBA program that graduated in 2008 chose jobs in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast region, while 70% of the same class at USC/Marshall’s program stayed on the West Coast to work.

Not many companies recruit for their in-house investor relations positions. They are usually filled internally or handpicked from investment banks that helped the company raise capital. Even if they do recruit for them, they aren’t going to business school campuses. There just aren’t enough positions for that. What this means is that my job search is going to be done by me, myself, and I as I would like to come back to Japan when I finish, and the job I want falls into a niche category.

So if I take cost out of the equation, what factors do I need to look at when choosing a school? I need a school with a big international alumni network. It also needs to have a good ranking as Japanese people really care about rankings (although American people do too). The school’s career services center also has to have a good record of placing graduates in international jobs. As mentioned earlier, there will be no recruiting for the job I want at any of the schools I got into. However, they must be able to provide as much assistance where necessary.

I am currently in at 3 schools – Maryland, USC, and UW. Given the criteria mentioned above, USC/Marshall is the best fit. USC has the largest population of foreign alumni of any university in the U.S. Its ranking is about the same as Maryland’s in most polls, sometimes better sometimes worse. A greater percentage of its graduates work abroad than the other schools I am considering. Marshall also has a greater focus on international business. They are the first business school to require its students to travel abroad.

So as it stands at the moment, I’m going to LA and pretty excited about it. I do have an interview with Hawaii this week and do not have to make my final decision on USC until next month, but Maryland’s $1,000 non-refundable deposit is due on April 8 and I do not have any plans to pay it, nor do I plan on asking them for an extension since I already asked them one to make it April 8.

I am quite relieved that the whole process is almost over, but I do have a lot of things to worry about going forward. Mainly where I’m going to live, how I am going to get a car, etc. Luckily, this isn’t the first time I am moving to a big city. At least I can speak the local language there! I also have a good amount of friends in LA (that I would hide and would hide me!) to help me out with the process.