<p>Hello,
I am currently an advertising/marketing communications major. I will be taking classes over the summer term, and my graduation date is set for summer 2015. After graduation I want to advance my education and get my MBA. My long term goal is to to be some type of marketing director/marketing manager, preferably in an agency setting. I am looking for the best way to "beef up" my major. I have room in my schedule for either 2 internships, or 1 internship and 1 concentration. If I were to go with the latter option I am looking at a concentration in finance. I also would like to mention that by the time I graduate I will have 2 years experience working within a student run advertising agency that works with real clients and competes in NSAC. What are your opinions on my best option? The two internships or the 1 internship, with a finance concentration?</p>
<p>I think they are about equal. Go with whatever you prefer. Keep in mind, if you want to get an MBA from a top program you will probably need 3-5 years of post-college work experience. If you’re thinking of a second tier MBA program, reconsider. For many people its just not worth it.</p>
<p>Thank you for your insight. I have put a lot of thought into getting my MBA directly after school, and I do have my reasons for preferring to go about it that way. My main reason is because I am very young to be as far ahead in my education as I am. I graduated high school early, and I’m on track to graduate college early as well. I look very young for my age and I fear if tried to pursue a job right out of my undergrad studies I wouldn’t be taken seriously and would have a very difficult job adjusting to post-college life. My hometown is in a rural town with no job opportunities in my field, so in order to set my self up for success I would have to move to a new major city immediately after graduation. That is something that I am not yet prepared to do because of my age and some other unrelated family factors. I also am very driven right now, loving school and feel that if I left school and started working I would not want to return.</p>
<p>try to get experience with employers off-campus with your internships; an on campus advertising agency is not perceived the same way by employers.</p>
<p>also, realize that the reason reputable MBA programs generally require some years of real world work experience is that they expect students to bring real world seasoning and experience into the classroom with them, to bring depth and color to in class discussion. Good MBA programs will consider you “young” just as employers will.</p>
<p>Why not just slow down and enjoy the academic journey instead of just speeding through, and using the additional time for enrichment experiences that will make you more valuable in the long run?</p>
<p>heymikki, </p>
<p>Let me give you some real advice here, your career objective is to be a marketing director or marketing manager for some organization, there’s no way you will become a manager of ANYTHING unless you go through the ranks of being an employee first. Degrees do not replace hierarchy, and they do not replace experience, while degrees are needed for a number of fields so is relevant work experience. </p>
<p>You are going to have to start out as some sort of marketing rep or advertising rep of some sorts, maybe in sales of some sorts. Okay, you need to get started on that RIGHT NOW. Stay in school and work full time as a marketing/sales rep somewhere so you can begin building your resume with relevant work experience and education. </p>
<p>After you have about 5 years of experience as a “successful” marketing/sales representative, then you can begin applying for positions to be a marketing manager while also looking to complete your MBA on the side. When you do the MBA you can have a specialization in Marketing if you would like. </p>
<p>You want to do research on the types of positions you will be in as the marketing/sales rep and then as a manager, and the expected/estimated compensation that comes from it. The reason you want to do this is because it will determine what college you choose because you would need to choose one you can afford. </p>
<p>The notion that a second-tier MBA program is useless is based on 1990’s thinking and logic. That logic and thinking is outdated, wrong and isn’t applicable to today’s market AT ALL. If you plan on working for a large corporation as a Marketing Director or Manager one day, maybe you might need a branded and high ranked MBA due to the politics involved with the hiring practices of those organizations. If you plan on working for a small/medium corporation as a Marketing Manager, your MBA just needs to be from a “respectable” and high quality college that’s regionally accredited and with great marketplace standings/reputation. This also helps you out in the cost area, cause if you are going to be working for a small/medium sized organization your estimated income will be lower than working for the larger organization, thus you can’t justify spending $75,000 plus on a branded/high ranked MBA. </p>
<p>It’s all about creating a specific career plan that looks all the way into the future of 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 30 years, and then 40 years at retirement. This plan needs to be created based on quality industry standings, reports, information, cost analysis, etc. Too many people are “winging it” out here in the job market and wonder why they aren’t getting ahead as they truly want to. If you want to get ahead, you have to create a very SPECIFIC and detailed plan to get there, which will of course then determine the resources, types of college programs, costs, etc. that you can afford and need.</p>