{"id":703,"date":"2010-05-06T08:29:26","date_gmt":"2010-05-06T12:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/?p=703"},"modified":"2013-09-18T15:52:04","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T19:52:04","slug":"choosing-an-mba-program-where-can-you-do-your-best-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2010\/05\/choosing-an-mba-program-where-can-you-do-your-best-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing an MBA Program–Where Can You Do Your Best Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

D<\/span>arden is in the talent discovery and development business. We look pretty far and wide for excellent inbound talent with which to fulfill our mission, \u201cto improve society by developing principled leaders for the world of practical affairs.\u201d And then we work very hard to develop that talent to have a transformational impact in the world. At this moment every year, we are well into the talent discovery cycle. Letters of admission have gone out for our MBA Full-Time Program and our MBA for Executives Program. About now, the candidates’ questions focus intensely on parsing out the differences among schools. Deposit deadlines are approaching. The candidates must decide, \u201cWhich school should I attend?\u201d<\/p>\n

As I told a group of admitted applicants at Darden recently, I have one consideration that dominates most others. Issues such as cost, convenience, geographic location, brand, alumni network, job placement, and others all arise in the candidates’ thinking, and justifiably so\u2014but they are dwarfed in significance by the consideration I will tell. All too often, this consideration is a stealth issue that is overlooked entirely in choosing a school and then later discovered too late and with regret. My point is that it is far better to grapple with it now.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, I was counseling a second-year student who had received two job offers and was trying to choose between them. The dilemma was stark: on one hand, high pay at a large, well-known firm in a big city to be part of a three-year leadership development program that would rotate him through many different jobs quickly. On the other hand, there was an offer for frankly low pay, to work for an unknown rapidly-growing small firm located in a dodgy neighborhood where the student would be a general manager from day one. The realities of student loans and economic uncertainty being what they were, the student was leaning toward the high-pay job offer. He seemed to be looking for my blessing on the choice.<\/p>\n

Instead, I asked him, \u201cwhere can you do your best <\/em>work?\u201d The look of astonishment on the student’s face told me that this was a new way of thinking to him. He offered some blah blah blah about hypothetical career progression. I politely suggested that he go away and think some more about my question. Not long after, he accepted the job with the small company. A few years on, he is successful in every way: happy, well-compensated, a big cheese in a much bigger company, and doing the work he feels ready and able to do. I’m glad that he and I had the conversation when we did. But the end of an MBA program is a little late to start thinking this way.<\/p>\n

My advice to admitted applicants is to start wrestling with the question right now. \u201cWhere can you do your best<\/em> work?\u201d It’s deceptively simple and radically challenging. You must define for yourself two words in particular:<\/p>\n