Why Don’t You Just Go to Husson?

People have been asking me some variation of that question for the past two years, most recently MRMacrum, so I thought I’d answer it here once and for all.  Why don’t I just go to Husson?  Or some other lesser school?  Even a second-tier MBA program?

First of all, when I went to the state university for undergrad, everyone told me that it didn’t matter.  All that mattered was how smart I was, and how hard I worked, and how much talent and potential I had.  It wasn’t true.  And I shouldn’t have listened to those people because they didn’t know what they were talking about.

I have regretted that decision ever since.  I should have gone where I really wanted to go, which happened to be Bowdoin at the time.  Hell, I should have applied to the ivy league, but I had no idea as a first-generation college student growing up in Washington County that the ivy league was even within my reach.  I had never met a single person who had gone to an ivy league college.

Sure, I got a decent education at the state university, and I’ve had a pretty good career in the nonprofit sector so far.  Not everyone my age has managed statewide projects, and gotten political appointments, and served on boards, and started their own business.  But these things are small potatoes compared to what I believe I have the potential to accomplish, and I stumbled onto most of them with no help whatsoever from State U where, you may recall, I actually trained to be an English teacher.

I mean, would Barack Obama have become president if he had stayed at Occidental College instead of transferring to Columbia and going on to Harvard Law?  He’s a pretty amazing guy, but I think it is highly doubtful.  I think I may have reached the limit of what I can do with my own resourcefulness and perseverence.

What I missed at State U. was diversity; a peer group that could challenge me intellectually; exposure to peers from away and to peers from the middle class, for that matter; career opportunities outside of my immediate region (nobody recruits in Machias!), not to mention outside my major; and a window onto life outside of Downeast Maine.  I was a naive, sheltered, innocent kid who had never even been to Boston, and State U. did precious little to broaden my world view or my aspirations.

My graduate work in public policy and management was a similar story even though the program is well-respected in Maine.  I’m not blaming these schools for my career failings, but I am saying that I needed–and still need–something more in terms of a launching pad.  Maybe this is my fault because I lack confidence or a true entrepreneurial spirit.  I don’t know.

So I carried all of this baggage into the MBA application process with me, for sure.

But I didn’t base my decision to apply only to top programs solely on these disappointing education experiences.  I listened to people like N., my friend from State U. who miraculously managed to go on to do his MBA at Columbia, and who told me that the benefits of attending a top MBA program were like nothing I’d get in a lesser program, especially in terms of branding and access to recruiters.

It should be noted that the curriculum is really of less importance to me.  I already have a master’s degree that was pretty heavy in management theory.  The MBA would have bolstered my knowledge of finance and marketing and helped me understand the private sector, but it really wasn’t the coursework I was worried about.  I know a lot about management already.  It was the branding, the networking, and the access to top consulting firms where the hiring is ridiculously competitive–that I cared about.

I also listened to career experts like Penelope Trunk.  Here is a link to one of several posts in which she said that business school does not pay off for most people unless they go to a top 10 school.  It is also the post that won me the 90 minutes of free consulting that started all the madness.

Incidentally, the post says that a 3.5 undergraduate GPA and a 700 GMAT is “a nice place to be” application-wise.  I had a 3.97 GPA and a 700 GMAT.  99th percentile on the verbal portion.

So to summarize, I didn’t think the return on investment I would get from a lesser school would be significant enough to justify the $150,000 price tag, especially since I already have one advanced degree.

Having said all that, I will now also say that I’m reconsidering.  Plan A did not work out, and so now I am going to take some time to evaluate what sort of ROI I might, realistically, get out of a second-tier program.  If nothing else, it would get me out of Maine, and that would be no small feat.

But to tell the truth, I am kind of exhausted and demoralized by the failures of the past two years.  I am not certain I have the energy to devote to another year of applications.  Let alone the time or the money.  I’m thinking about it though.  It’s not like I have any better plan at the moment.