Must Be Acknowledged: MBA round 3
After beautiful three months of summer holiday (yup I am in southern hemisphere 
I started going to daily classes again.
This time it’s Master of Trade and Diplomacy on Monash University. Basically it consists of core politics/economics and elective mostly from the department of Management. So far it seems to suit me better because my initial guess was right and a course with such a name obviously attracts people who are either already experienced in government and non-propfit organizations or simply students who are fed up with business. In both cases it is slightly different bunch than your usual MBA student (especially young one, I still have respect for proper MBAs)
And you know what? It has a tremendous impact on the educational aspect of the classes.
Basically as my electives I am taking the same classes that I would if I were enrolled in an MBA. There are even some MBAs in some of my classes, but majority of people are from different backgrounds. How is this relevant to my MBA bashing? Because I realize that the vibe in the classes is quite different.
My classes now are more relaxed, more open and actually it seems more inclined towards learning rather than showing off.
Most students in my MBA started their questions towards the professor in a manner such as: “In my professional experience…
“ or “In my company we do this…” That would sound might fine from a 40 year old executive, but when a guy whose experience is summer internship on his uncle wool processing plant, you start to get pissed.
Once you get to know your classmates a bit more, you will realize that some people are vastly exaggerating their experiences or even that they call on experiences of others as their own. They are simply trying to preserve an image in face of their classmates. And this actually prohibits learning.
I know I might be simplifying the issue a bit, but my brief experience tells me that when compared to the average, MBA students tend to brag more and are more stubborn students, which of course will reflect on the whole class experience. This goes mostly to the young and less experienced ones that maybe feel threatened by the proper MBA students and thus start pulling these stunts.
I did not realize it until now and I also understood what was bothering me about the atmosphere in the classes so much. So I will repeat what I said before. Do an MBA only when you are ready to do an MBA and pick one in which you barely fulfill the requirements. That was you can be sure that you will gain the most and be saved from all the BS you would have to endure otherwise.
