MBAs — the barriers set by the wealthy, for the wealthy — No Bullshit

The competition for top jobs is always fierce, experience coupled with education is the requirement. Today, this requirement is also set for mid-tier jobs, with many entry roles in tech or investment firms mentioning in the job description, ‘MBA preferred’.

Does this mean those with an MBA have both experience and education?

Not necessarily. A graduate can go and study an MBA with two years of work experience (in some cases, with no experience whatsoever). An MBA has incredible weight in today’s world, and in many cases, it certainly should. The GMAT requirement is a testament to the self-studying required to be accepted into an MBA course, and the application process is one of reflection to ensure this is the right journey for you. In addition, the top US schools create excellent business people and allow for great social mobility with scholarship schemes.

What about the UK?

A little less. The UK has a number of schools/ universities that focus on MBAs, mainly London Business School, Bayes (previously Cass), Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics, University College London and Imperial (being the main ones).

The GMAT is still a requirement, which should level the playing the field, however, with special coaching with private tutors for roughly £3–5k (socioeconomic barrier one), the tests become much easier to pass. In addition, these tutors and other paid mentors can help candidates with their application letters to play the game to put their best foot forward. Not to mention you need multiple references, ideally someone who has graduated from a business school, or works in a top position in a corporate or financial business (socioeconomic barrier two).

What about scholarships?

The world of scholarships from the US to the UK is a very different world. The US really does encourage social mobility, the UK does not. Scholarship schemes are limited and often offer small amounts of money. Even if you were awarded £10k, this is nothing compared to the course fee alone of £97.5k which is the latest fee from LBS for 2022 (socioeconomic barrier three).

When you add this to the increasing cost of living that will be required for two years (as the MBA is a two year long course), the average person is very unlikely to be able to afford this path of education (socioeconomic barrier four).

But what about ‘Diversity’?

The schools are diversity washing like mad, the most guilty of them all is LBS (London Business School). They measure gender, race, sexuality, but never socioeconomic background, and by the way, neither do Venture Capital firms or the BVCA (British Venture Capital Association)- but they gave the topic two lines in their last 20+ page report (2021). If they did measure socioeconomic backgrounds, they would probably discover only a handful of students actually came from modest backgrounds, and when we say modest, we mean middle-class — not even working class. With this in mind, LBS will act more favourably to a rich foreign student who has had everything they need in life, including employment opportunities from their families over a working class Brit who has made it on pure merit alone. With many of the rich kids coming from under-represented nations, their funds do not undergo KYC or AML checks, so the cash could be blood money, funds from oppressing regimes or dirty politics and bribes (socioeconomic barrier five).

The benefits of the MBA

Whilst this may seem as though I am MBA bashing, I am bashing the road to get on an MBA. I don’t doubt the value of the education, as learning is always a positive (even if the LBS MBA graduates I have met do tend to be a little less sharp than the rest).

An important factor of the MBA are the connections you make, the incredible network you can tap into when you are all in senior positions a few years post graduation. A partial bond of the MBA, are the global trips, the fine dining and social events that happen every week. You may think the fine dining is an exaggeration, but after speaking with a recent London MBA graduate, they mentioned for every ‘friends’ birthday, they would head to Novikov or Sexy Fish in Mayfair. Add this to the tab of summers in Mykonos and the south of France, this is an impossible task for anyone who is not funded by their parents (socioeconomic barrier six).

In conclusion it’s great to be rich (obviously)

The MBA is great for social and professional life, if you are a rich kid. If you are a normal working class or middle class individual and you manage to do one, and get the benefits, I salute you — you deserve everything.

I do hope the UK realises that MBAs supports the wealth gap, with the rich getting richer (and accessing the top jobs), and the poor getting poorer by making progressive education inaccessible to those who need it. You may argue there are new more affordable virtual MBAs, such as the Power MBA, however, no real employer such as a top consultancy or investment firm would take these seriously in an application.

I’m off to Amazonico now for some sushi.