<p>Carnegie Mellon University offers the opportunity for Computer Science undergraduate students (with a 3.5 GPA) to complete an MBA after completing their junior year. I'm aware that Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business is a top 20 business school; however, from what I have read, it is more useful to work for a few years in the field and then apply for an MBA. </p>
<p>This leads me to my question: What are the positive aspects and the negative aspects of completing an MBA right after college, especially from a university like Carnegie Mellon?</p>
<p>Negative aspects are that you probably won't get the full benefit of your MBA classes, because you have no real-world experience and therefore you probably don't have a good frame of reference. It is also entirely possible that your B-school grades might not be as good as they could be, and your networking might not be as good as they could be, because you don't have any interesting 'war-stories' to share. B-school classes, unlike most other classes, are often times graded heavily on class participation, and in particular, saying interesting and useful things in class. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is my opinion that if you can get into a top-flight B-school, or which CMU is one, right after college, then you should probably take it. Yes, you won't get the full B-school experience because you have no work experience. On the other hand, what you would be getting at B-school is probably better than what you would be getting if you were working. That obviously depends on what kind of job you might get after graduation, but in many cases, people graduate and end up in stupid dead-end jobs in which they learn very little and have little opportunity of gaining good experience anyway. </p>
<p>If you can get a stellar job after graduation, then you should take it. On the other hand, most people won't get a stellar job after graduation. For those people, it may be better to get a top-flight MBA right after graduation.</p>
<p>sakky: Thank you for the thoughful response. I have another question regarding BS/MBA programs, such as Carnegie Mellon's: Would an individual who took such a path most likely end up in a managerial position and never end up as a VP due to a lack of work experience before the MBA?</p>
<p>My S is finishing up a CS degree at CMU, also with another undergrad degree and masters in non-CS (5 yr course); his plans at this time are to work 4 or so yrs then re-evaluate and get the MBA then, if he feels he needs it.</p>
<p>About the undergrad/MBA joint program at CMU: At least as of a couple years ago, it was a very small program and extremely limited and hard to get into. A 3.5 didn't at all guarantee you'll get in. I remember reading an editorial in the Tartan (CMU paper) complaining how limited the program was, but maybe it's expanded since then.</p>
<p>Sakky's right, you would get so much more out of an MBA if you bring something to the table. The schools know this and they want you to contribute to the education of your classmates and the way to do this is through work/life experience. btw, I think most of the CS grads from CMU this year aren't going to work in dead end jobs, S is going to Goldman Sachs in NYC, classmates not going directly to grad schools have equally promising opportunities.</p>
<p>The path to VP vs manager is much more complicated than the order or timing of any of your degrees. So if you took that path I'm sure where you end up would depend entirely on your individual skills as opposed to which program route you took.</p>
<p>I would say that the decision to take the BS/MBA as opposed to getting a job often times depends on the economy. It was just a few years ago when Stanford and Berkeley EECS students were hurting very badly, and were basically being forced to take whatever they could get. I would argue that in that situation, many of them probably would have done better if they had just gone directly for the MBA, as opposed to taking whatever jobs were available at the time.</p>
<p>The ability to opt out of whatever you're doing to attend an MBA program is an option.
This option has value, above and beyond prospective MBA starting salaries. It provides a way to keep you perceptibly moving forward when your career may otherwise not be providing the same level of growth opportunities. Or change directions if you find that the path you took is simply not for you.</p>
<p>This option can only be exercised once. There aren't that many other "approved" ways to just stop and change what you're doing once you get out of school and into the work force.</p>
<p>To 2331clk :Goldman Sachs is a fine firm, but they have dead end jobs too. Not saying your son is heading for one. But merely invoking their name does not mean the quality of a given job is automatically good.</p>
<p>monydad, I guess you're right, there's no guarantee. S did intern there last summer for 11 weeks so at least he's not going in cold. You get a lot of input as to where you want to work within GS...he was specific and will be working in his top choice area, but like you said, who knows, he'll have to see.</p>