Why MBA? Positives and Negatives found whilst studying an MBA at the University of Adelaide

So what’s it like studying an MBA? Why do it and would I recommend it?

These are some of the questions I get asked about my Adelaide University MBA study. In short, yes I recommend it, but there’s a better answer, with disclaimers.

Studying an MBA is great, but it depends on your motivation for doing it. What do you want to get out of it?

It’s a LOT of work if you’re just after a bit of paper. Adelaide works on trimester system. For each trimester, you’ll be giving up 3 hours of your time for lectures, somewhere between two and seven hours a week preparing for them (reverse class room style), and then there’s all the time spent on assignments and exam preparation. At three subjects per year, this repeats for four years.

Does everyone really do that much work? Well, no – if you believe in the undergrad saying ‘P’s get Degrees‘ then you may get away with less effort. Even so, it’s still a big commitment.

To give you something to think about, here’s a brief list of positives and negatives of MBA study.

Positives of MBA Study

(Assuming you apply yourself)

• Doing an MBA can re-wire your brain. You’ll think differently.
• You’ll learn frameworks and methodologies that help you to approach situations outside of your normal comfort zone and knowledge.
• You’ll have weekly interaction with managers of all levels outside of your organisation.
• If you’re an aspiring manager, it will help you to believe that you can make that leap
• You’ll learn enough about specialist areas to hold your own, and detect people not pulling their weight in those areas.
• You’ll make some cool friends.

So that’s the positives.. What about the negatives?

Negatives of MBA Study

• Cost, both financial and personal.
• Studying whilst working a demanding job and juggling family life can be very difficult. The saying MBA stands for ‘Married But Absent’ often rings true.
• Instead of having dinner round a friends house, you’ll often find yourself working on an assignment.
• Time spent studying could be spent launching your own company. This obviously carries huge risk but, it needs to be acknowledged.
• You may start to think you have all the answers, causing obvious problems.
• Sometimes, a group assignment can feel like a negative! So much harder than individual efforts.

So that’s it. Ready to enrol? Think I missed something? Hit me up in the comments below!