Hello friends,

Greetings from Utrecht!

Today's essay is a bit more personal. Every once in a while, someone will ask me about my MBA, and if I think they should get one. After my last essay, I got a bunch more of these.

So today, I figured I'd share the story of my MBA - why I chose to do one, how I chose my program, what it was like, and what I got out of it.

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Is an MBA worth the money and effort?

Numerous people have asked if me if getting an MBA was worth it.

The short answer is: yes, I feel like getting an MBA was very much worth it. But to really understand why I feel that way, you'll need some additional context.

So, for anyone who might be thinking of getting an MBA, here's the story for why I got mine, and what I got out of it.

Background

Let's start with the context in which I made the decision to pursue an MBA.

At the time, I was working at a small-sized PR firm in the videogames industry. I had been working in PR for a while, and had been a freelance PR specialist for 4 years before I joined this company.

Going from freelancer to account manager meant that the scope of my responsibilities was much more restricted than I had gotten used to. More and more I was feeling an itch to be on the management side of things, rather than the executional side.

The more I thought about this, the more I realized that

1) there wasn't really room to grow into that role at my current company, and

2) no company would hire me in a management role based on a background of "used to freelance".

If I really wanted to make this plan work, I would need more weight on the management side of my resume.

I decided to go all or nothing, quit my PR job, and enrolled in an MBA program.

Choosing an MBA program

In choosing a program, I had one limitation: it had to be part-time. I didn't have enough saved up to pay for a full program up front, so I would have to do the program alongside a paying job.

The Netherlands has a number of part-time MBA programs, of which I considered three: Erasmus University in Rotterdam, TIAS NIMBA, and Nyenrode.

The price (which I'll come to) was similar across all three. The biggest difference I found was in the structure of the programs.

Both Erasmus and TIAS had a similar program where classes were scheduled weekly or bi-weekly in the weekends. Nyenrode's program, on the other hand, was divided into 6 two-week, on-campus modules.

I reasoned that it would be rough to switch contexts every weekend, and I wasn't sure I was willing to give up half of my weekends for two years. The Nyenrode setup would allow me to go into full MBA mode for two straight weeks at a time instead, which I much preferred.

Also, Nyenrode is famous for it's beautiful campus, built on the grounds of a 17th century castle, and a close friend (hi Sjoerd!) was very positive about his own experience there.

So I went with Nyenrode and their Executive MBA program.

The only thing I wasn't sure about was Nyenrode's reputation as an "old boys" business school, but I figured I could deal with that.

Price of admission

Alright, let's talk money.

All of the programs I looked at cost about the same, coming in at around € 45.000 for the full program. Not as much as the figures I've seen floated for some US MBA's, but still a buttload of money.

When I enrolled, it was possible to declare up to € 15.000 per year for education, which would be deducted from your gross income. Essentially, this meant a 30% reduction in price, meaning the net cost was actually closer to 30K than 45K.

That's still a lot of money, but my reasoning went like this: if this MBA allows me to make € 30.000 euros more than I would without an MBA, anywhere between now and my retirement, it will have essentially paid for itself. In rough numbers, this meant that I would have to make that amount in 30 years, or 1000 per year, or ~800 per month.

I figured that was not only doable, but probably on the low end of the value I could unlock with an MBA in my pocket.

As for the actual money: I had saved up enough from my PR job to pay the first of the three instalments, and I was able to borrow most of the rest from my parents. I paid them back in full within two years.

The MBA experience

So, I chose a program, plunked down a small fortune and got started. What was it actually like?

People

Let's start with the people. As I mentioned, Nyenrode has a bit of a reputation as an old boys network type school. The horror scenario in my head was a room full of entitled people that grew up with money, using Nyenrode as a short cut to a network of... well... other people who grew up with money.

My cohort was nothing like that. There were people from lots of different industries and backgrounds. Learning with, and from, this group of people was one of the greatest benefits of the program. More than that, many of my fellow students have in fact become friends for life, and I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Structure

The structure of the program turned out to have a huge impact on the overall experience.

As I mentioned, the program consisted of 6 modules of two weeks. Usually, there'd be a bit of homework before the module, then two weeks on campus, followed by more homework. During the modules, each day would consist of lectures from 9am to 9pm, after which we'd work on any assignments. In the middle, only the Sunday would be lecture-free.

Well, free to work on assignments, anyway.

The result of this setup is that each module felt like a pressure cooker. You start off on any topic relatively fresh, and you're expected to get yourself up to speed within those two weeks and deliver top notch results. Everyone feels this pressure, and I have fond memories of slaving away in the small hours of the night together on various assignments in the bar of the compound.

It's the highest energy, do-or-die performance culture I've experienced anywhere in my life. It's not how I would want to live my life full-time, but it taught me a lot about myself and my boundaries. I now know for a fact that I can deliver on pretty much any subject if I get two weeks to turn it around.

Besides the Nyenrode campus, two of the modules were held abroad. One at the Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa, and one at the Renmin Business University in Beijing, China. From working with local companies to climbing Table Mountain and The Great Wall, these trips are among the best I've made in my life. They had a slightly lighter course load, but working with local companies meant that the stakes were still significant.

Course content

Most of the courses were very good, with great professors to really bring home the material. The courses Marketing and Entrepreneurship, taught by Henry Robben and Mikkel Draebye respectively, stick out in my memory as particularly eye-opening.

I will say that you will get the most out of all of the content and the assignments when you can directly apply them to your company. My match in that regard was less than perfect, and so my growth in that regard was more limited than I would have liked.

In addition to the courses focused on knowledge, the program had a heavy focus on leadership development. In these courses, we were asked to reflect on the aspects of our life that made us into who we are, and how we might use that to shape and inform our leadership style. Pound-for-pound, these were the most personally valuable courses in the program.

Thesis

For many, including myself, this was the least favorite part of the program. The thesis had to abide by rigorous academic standards, and really felt like a gauntlet at the end of a mental marathon.

I actually wrote most of my thesis in the weeks following the birth of my daughter, cooped up in the local library, brain fog and all (while distracting myself every so often by solving notpron puzzles with my brother).

Looking back, I am still not quite sure how I managed to get the whole thing done in time, and very sure that I wouldn't have finished at all if my girlfriend hadn't been as supportive as she was.

So is it worth it?

As you can probably guess from the way I've been talking about my experience, I definitely feel like my MBA has been worth my time and money. My personal takeways include:

• A broad understanding of companies and company management, that has become the basis for my current consulting services
• The confidence that I can master, up to a point, almost any topic in a very short period of time, and deliver high quality assignments on those topics
• A group of friends for life, as well as a network of smart and motivated peers
• A deep insight into my own personal values, leadership style, and a more honest appreciation of my strengths and weaknesses

Sure, I have yet to make 30K more than I did before the program, but at the same time I am now on a path that would truly not have been possible without my MBA experience.

Should YOU do an MBA?

Whether an MBA is right for you depends very much on your motivations.

As far as the contents of the courses go, I would argue that a sufficiently motivated individual could probably find similar quality content in books and on YouTube, and master the same material (in fact, I put together a list of books that will help you do just that).

Looking back on my experience, the true value of the program was not in the content of the lectures, but in how the program, the professors and your peers facilitate your absorption of the material, and force you to grow both personally and professionally.

If that is something you're interested in, there's a good chance an MBA program is right for you.

Some additional considerations:

• Focus. Do you want to do a generic MBA, or do you want one with a specific focus on things like big data or international business?
• Structure. Do you want a full-time or part-time program? Classes every week or spaced further apart? What fits into your life?
• Company support. Will your company support you in either time, money, or both? If so, what do they ask in return?
• Pricing. If your company won't pay for it, how will you afford the program? What funding options do you have, and what will those mean for your financial position?
• Additional costs. Does your program incur additional costs, like books or travel?

If you are considering starting an MBA and want to know more about my experience, please do shoot me a message. I'm always happy to help others figure out if this is a step they want to take in their life.

See you in two weeks!

Martijn

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