MBA or Masters of Engineering

wozup12 on 11/02/2016 - 20:46
Last edited 11/02/2016 - 20:48

Hi everyone,

I recently finished off studying my Bachelor of Environments at Melbourne University and am looking to extend my study options with a Masters of Engineering or an MBA.

First off some background. I currently work pretty much full time in a family business as a general manger. I manage the day to day activities as well as the accounts and management back end of the business. I've been doing this full time since I started my degree and on and off when in high school. I enjoy working there, but don't see the passion going on into the very far future. The job is enough to get me through, but it feels like an under accomplishment and I feel like I could reach further, either through a different kind of work (engineering) or expanding the current family business into something greater than it is today (MBA).

During my studies as an Engineer, I struggled in a lot of subjects in my first 2 years. A lot of family issues as well as a jump from high school to university meant I failed a lot of subjects (the whole second year). Nevertheless, I picked up my game an managed to graduate with an average mark of 63.5%.

After graduation friends from Melbourne got their offers for Masters, I never did. I waited for 2 months. Enrolment letters rolled in and subject timetables came and went. So I figured I'd have to find something to do and with engineering out of the question I decided to apply for a Graduate Certificate in Business Management through RMIT as a pathway to complete my MBA. The cost of this comes in at $45000 for the graduate certificate and the MBA. I waited until last week (2 days before the cutoff) before finally enrolling and submitting full payment for the subjects to be undertaken in the first semester.

I guess I convinced myself that I wasn't good enough and that business was a good option for the kind of person that I am. I told everyone that I wanted to make this choice and even if I got accepted I would defer my offer because I knew that my marks weren't up to scratch. Then a letter came in the mail yesterday.

I've been offered a Commonwealth Supported Place for my field of Engineering (Spatial), which basically means 21st century surveying/mapping using GPS and automated systems. Compared to the MBA, the cost of this degree will be considerably less at roughly $16000 for the duration of the course.

I'm honestly at a loss and really don't know what to do. One part is telling me to drop everything I've done and make a beeline straight to Melbourne because thats what I really want. The other part is telling me that I've already made the right choice and should just stick with it.

So people of ozbargain, do any of you guys have experience in either of the two fields and recommend that I pursue one path more than the other? Given the current job market and future prospects is there something I should do over the other? Is one a waste of time? Am I thinking too much?

Thanks for taking the time you read this, I really appreciate it and hope that theres something that would be able to sway my decision.

TL;DR Got an offer for a Masters of Engineering but have already enrolled in an MBA. Which should I choose?

PS: Un enrolling from the Business Certificate would make me liable for a part of the fees, not sure how much this is as of yet

Education & Work

Comments

  • cypher67 on 11/02/2016 - 21:32
    +3

    I wouldnt consider any study until you have some actual real work experience. I wouldn't hire someone with an MBA and no work experience, or a masters of engineering unless they had sufficient experience behind them. A piece of paper is just a foot in the door and these pieces of paper in question are doors to senior positions that you will not have access to without the experience first. I did my MBA after 7 years of real work, and even then it wasn't until I started making senior mgmt that it actually carried any weight. You also mention $16k for an MBA, not sure where you are getting that from, but the cheapest the last time I looked was minimum of $20k (Melb Uni you mentioned was upwards of $80k) and that was with the absolute lowest of tier Universities. An MBA would have made no sense to me without being able to use and apply it to my day job at the time. My advice is go out and get a job outside of the family Business, get some real runs on the board, see what type of work you enjoy the most and then study that when your job progression requires it.

    • wozup12 on 11/02/2016 - 23:07

      Hi cypher67,

      The $16000 was for the engineering course at Melbounre. Total cost for the MBA would be about $45000. The reason that there is such a large difference is because my masters at Melbourne would be a Commonwealth supported place due to the Melbourne model.

      It gets sticky because my bachelor is basically a much less glorified arts degree. Even though I have an engineering major, I have no accreditation by any engineering body and can't actually work as an engineer if I don't do the masters sequence. Myself along with all my classmates tried to find jobs and only a lucky few out of hundreds get a job out of their bachelor of environments because of this.

      • cypher67 on 11/02/2016 - 23:38

        Let this be a lesson to everyone, work out what job you want and then do the degree that gets you there. All these fluffy arts like degree's are a waste of money. I have a friend doing an arts degree majoring in education, at the end he cant be a teacher, so essential you are a art teachers assistant … might as well work a retail job for that money. Sorry for going off topic a bit but this is become just a theme for Uni students and the bad advice they are given by Universities as a cash grab

  • thirtysixd on 11/02/2016 - 22:11

    Found my mba pretty worthless

    Much of the finance content was too basic. Lectures were simply two to three hours of someone reading from a power point presentation. Networking opportunities were also limited.

    I am doing my cfa now and its much more valuable in terms of skills that i actually use at work.

    • scotty on 11/02/2016 - 22:30

      Networking opportunities were also limited.

      Really? I heard people doing MBA to network with other future C-suites, rather than the actual study itself. I guess it also depends on where you did your MBA.

      • GameChanger on 11/02/2016 - 22:37

        I think only the USA/London its worth doing an MBA just for networking reasons.

      • wozup12 on 11/02/2016 - 23:15

        Hey Scotty,

        Firstly, love love love your work. Visit ozbargain all the time whenever I have a spare minute.

        That was my way of thinking when considering the MBA. I literally have no connections outside of the family business aside from everyone from engineering so I was hoping that doing the MBA would mean I could make these connections and hopefully get an internship or some graduate position straight after I finish up…. That's a least what they seem to make it out to be.

        I've spoken to a few lecturers and past students and they all say that the MBA at RMIT is very hands with a lot of industry experience (although this opinion may have been swayed because the graduates had their graduation goggles on the professors want people to do the course)

        • GameChanger on 11/02/2016 - 23:20
          +1

          How old are you? How many years have you being working at family business?

          Honestly MBA is for people who are 30+ in manager/director positions.

        • wozup12 on 11/02/2016 - 23:30

          @GameChanger:

          I'm 21 going on 22. I should elaborate and say that it's a restaurant if that makes any difference. We used to have a small shop for about 16 years and decided to expand 2 years ago. I manage both shops and am in charge of staffing, customer satisfaction, marketing accounts and literally all the day to day comings and goings (if the alarm goes off at 4 o clock in the morning, I'm the one to drive there, get the police and call the insurance).

          But I know full well that I'm a little fish in a very very big pond. I feel that I could expand this business even further or even get a job somewhere else and go from there if I have an MBA in tow (not sure if that's logical thinking or not)

        • cypher67 on 11/02/2016 - 23:39
          +1

          @GameChanger:
          In my case this was exactly what happened, turned 30, stepped into a Management Role and the timing was about right. Any sooner and its a waste, any later and you miss the boat

      • thirtysixd on 12/02/2016 - 00:24

        I think its like that in the us but here universities only care about getting bums on seats. My classes were mostly struggling international students.

    • wozup12 on 11/02/2016 - 23:22

      thirtysixd,

      Are you able to tell us which uni you got your MBA, does this matter? And did you do your MBA because you wanted to change career path or simply as additional knowledge for the job you already held?

      • thirtysixd on 12/02/2016 - 00:22

        Flinders

        I was fresh out of undergrad and thought that an mba was a requirement to get into finance. Its probably worth mentioning that my experience is fairly recent (graduated 1 year ago and have only been working for a year and a half).

  • Kevan2 on 13/02/2016 - 01:17

    Hey, better take a step back. You are looking at the process and a journey to where.

    You have two skills that you can apply to your decision making.
    1. You engineering degree. Did you ever start a project first without taking into account what the end result should be and if you are going to add value.
    2. The family business. 16 years ago did you say we will spend $100k and work our arses off doing to jobs to sell pie and peas.
    3 maybe is their a special person in your life.

    Go to basics . Who do you want to be in 10 years. Why is that important. And why is that answer important also. Do the why question until you cannot give another answer and that is your true goal. NOW ask yourself and also write down your answers. To be there in 2026 I have to have done this,this and achieve this by 2021. What will I have to have achieved by 2020 2019 2018 2017 this year.

    If 3 applies then the planing process should be done by both of you.

    You will not get the payoff you want unless you know what you want (or better still need)

    Good luck
    PS the other route get employed with a body that will pay for your studies if you pass whilst you get experience s in the field.

    Oh what do you do with spaciel engineering.

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