Top 10 B-school: EMBA, certificate, or nothing

I visited an infosession at at top 10 business school for their E MBA program. Was totally NOT sold on the idea of paying 180K to go there and sit in classrooms for 2 years. I seriously questioned:

  1. whether it would help me perform as a CFO at small companies

  2. whether it would help me get my next job as a CFO of another small company

  3. whether I could have enhanced my network for a fraction of the cost

FYI, I went to a top 20 (probably top 15) undergrad, and I went to a hacksaw school for my MS.

I’m wondering if I should try to mask my educational history late on in life by taking my MS off the resume and putting in a certificate program (15 credits instead of the full 60 credits) from a highly-ranked schoo.

One of my concerns is that the public perception, whether right or wrong, are that professional certificate programs are bullshit because they don’t have (serious) entrance requirements and competitive pre-screening. I am more concerned about the perception than I am concerned about the truth. I have no idea if it’s actually hard to get into a certificate program at a top B school.

you have to remember most of those super expensive EMBA programs are mostly a i’ll-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine scheme.

companies will pay for their top employees to get the MBA from a top school, and get them to sign an agreement to stay with the company for X yrs, and the school gets to brag about how many of their graduates work at the top banks/companies in the world to boost their stats, attract top candidates, and more funding.

well

  1. my employer won’t give me a penny for this. It’d be all on me if I decide to do it

  2. I don’t think I’ll ever work at a top bank or a F500. I work at a startup and hope that my next job is a finance leader at another startup.

How does that impact your commentary?

The program isn’t for you, since you don’t fit the ideal bucket

If it were me, I would question my commitment to spending all that time and money over 2+ years to get the degree. It seems highly inconvenient and expensive without employer support. Don’t you normally have to get a company letter saying you can take Friday afternoons off, or something like that?

y que mas?

What about a graduate certificate to pad the resume with a big name then?

^^ I think those rarely help

Could you provide a web link to the certificate you’re looking at?