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Juggling Act
Going back for your MBA while still holding down your job
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Business New Haven
6/1/1998
By: BNH
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What's it like to be studying for your M.B.A. while working full-time?
“It's not a party.”
“Extremely difficult.”
“A nightmare.”
These responses are typical of the answers given when this question was posed to a dozen or so current M.B.A. candidates.
Last year approximately 2,500 working students were enrolled in M.B.A. programs at area schools. If the enterprise is such an ordeal, why then do so many students choose this path? And is it worth it?
People make the decision to go back for their M.B.A. for a variety of reasons. Wendy Hopkinson, 33, who works at the Common Fund and attends Sacred Heart University, voices a common sentiment when she says that “to stay competitive in the job market, you need it now. You want to stay on the cutting edge.”
Many, however, go back to help meet specific needs that have arisen in their particular employment situations. John Zenie, 35, who attends Quinnipiac College, designs and fits artificial limbs. He decided to pursue an M.B.A. because of the need to better understand managed care. Tiffany Chang, who works for the Stamford Marketing Group and attends classes at the Stamford campus of UConn, felt the need to be able to “see the whole picture.”
Often, people feel pushed into going for the degree when they get a promotion and feel they lack the skills necessary for their new position. “I was beginning to be put in positions of management responsibility, and felt a need to get my skills up to that standard,” says Paul Moriber, 42, a senior systems analyst at Bic who attends Sacred Heart.
Finally, some enroll, at least in part, in order to take advantage of the fact that their company is willing to foot the bill. “It helps to know somebody is going to pay for it,” Hopkinson adds.
Hannah Everard says she actually owes her current job to coursework she did in her M.B.A. program. Everard says she had been on-line only about five times prior to taking a course at UConn/Stamford in marketing on the Internet. Now she is managing director of Let's Eat Out, an online dining guide.
Everard is effusive in her praise for the relevance and usefulness of her M.B.A. coursework. “Every course I find directly relevant in some way,” she says. “Every day I learn something I can apply. I keep an extra notepad with me in class for ideas that apply to my business.”
Not only does Everard find pursuing the degree while working tolerable - she actually recommends it. “I get more out of the M.B.A. while I'm still working than if I'd gone full-time,” she says. Every day I can walk into the office and see principles I've just studied being applied.”
While Everard's case - getting a new job as a direct result of something learned in an M.B.A. course - may be bit more dramatic testimony to the relevance of M.B.A. coursework to real-life work situations than one may customarily hear, her boundless enthusiasm for the immediate usefulness of the path she has chosen is typical.
Hopkinson talks about taking an MIS class and discussing disaster-recovery while she was dealing with exactly that issue on her job. Chang was pleased to find that “If I have a client situation, the whole class is involved to help me solve the problem.”
Jeffrey Coe, 36, who attends Fairfield University and works at People's Bank, says a course in strategic management technology taught him how innovative thinking works - and as a direct result helped him understand and appreciate People's innovative idea of putting bank branches in supermarkets.
Steve Smacchia, 31, works at ADP while attending the University of Bridgeport. Smacchia is in sales and frequently sells to accountants. “It helps me deal with them,” he explains.
A number of working M.B.A. students say they find the presentation skills that are taught especially valuable. “There's a lot of presentation skills,” says Coe. “If you're weak in this area, you'll get a lot of practice.”
Many others are particularly appreciative of the new ability they acquire to view situations more globally, to understand how an entire system functions.
“Things are starting to come together,” says Anita Haritan, 30, a Fairfield University student who works at the Common Fund. “I understand how the company as a whole functions.”
Adds Yousaf Kashmiri, 26, a University of New Haven student who works as an account manager for Oxford Health Plans, “You have a better understanding of your job; you think more globally.”
Finally, many students simply find their M.B.A. courses are relevant to their work in ways that are just too numerous to describe. “I can't get enough of it,” says Moriber. “It's so relevant, I don't know how I'd survive without it. “All the classes were helpful. I can't say that I've wasted any of it.”
Although they value their M.B.A. courses for their relevance and usefulness, to a one, working students interviewed found the programs “a challenge” at best. They found themselves forced to devise a number of strategies to enable them to survive the rewarding yet grueling ordeal. Most important among those mentioned was the role played by a supportive spouse.
“Having a family to support you is the most important part in being able to get through, to juggle everything,” says Antoinette Terenzio, a Sacred Heart student working at Purdue Frederick who has been married about half the time she has been in the program. “If you're married, have a supportive spouse,” is the advice John Zenie offers to any working person contemplating entering an M.B.A. program.
Perhaps equally important as having support at home they can rely on is their own ability to discipline themselves and manage their time well.
“You have to be extremely flexible and maintain a lot of discipline,” says Moriber. “I can recall many times taking a ride in my van with my son taking a nap in the back. I'd just pull over and open up a book.” Tiffany Chang travels a lot in her job. “I study in airports, on planes, in hotel rooms,” she says.
Factoring in time for the group work that seems to be ubiquitous in M.B.A. programs is perhaps the greatest time-management challenge. “There'd be group meetings on [non-class] nights and on weekends,” recalls Zenie. “It's the group work and team presentations that really add up.”
“The groups is one of the hardest things,” adds Mike Oliveri, 29, who works for Speedvision and Outdoor Life Networks and attends the University of Bridgeport.
Many working M.B.A. students find it helpful to take full advantage of the flexible scheduling options offered in most area programs - weekend classes, mini-courses, between-semester courses, as well as evening classes.
Mike Oliveri, for example, found the University of Bridgeport's weekend classes fit his schedule. Every other weekend he is in class from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Yousaf Kashmiri likes that at UNH each class meets just one night a week, enabling him to take two, even three, classes a semester. “They work with you, work out a schedule that meets your needs,” he adds.
Finally, some students find it sustaining simply to adopt an attitude that the long-term benefits make present sacrifices worth it. “You don't have a life,” says Haritan. “You have to just decide, 'I'm doing this; I want to excel.'”
“Be prepared to sacrifice your social life for a little bit - not just the time, but the money,” adds Smacchia. “You have to look at it as, 'You're going to better yourself.'”
“I made a commitment to get this done,” Moriber says. “The pay-off will be at the end.”
Despite the difficulties and the challenges, most working M.B.A. students seem to genuinely enjoy the experience. “It was a very rewarding experience, socially and professionally,” says Smacchia. “When you get into the program, you like it,” says Oliveri.
One of the aspects of their coursework students seem to appreciate most is the interaction with fellow students. “[One] thing I'm really happy about is the students I go to school with,” says Jeffrey Coe. “It's been great meeting these people who work for a lot of different companies. They have a lot of different backgrounds. They have the right attitude.”
Adds Chang: “We not only learn from the school, but from other students. We interact a lot - e-mail each other, fax each other, meet in bookstores.”
Nor does overall satisfaction with their school experience seem to depend on which program students had selected. Many of those interviewed made their selection of a program primarily on the basis of logistical convenience. Between them, six different schools are represented, yet all students seemed about equally enthusiastic.
For those considering embarking on a similar path, the students have a few words of advice. Haritan encourages those who, like herself, did not have a business background at the undergrad level (she got her B.A. in piano performance), not to be afraid to go for an M.B.A.
Her other suggestions? “You have to really want to do it; you need to mentally prepare yourself for the workload; and you need to prepare your spouse.”
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