What The (Wharton) MBA Experience Is REALLY Like!

In this video, I talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of MBA school.
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⏱Timestamps⏱
0:00 - Introduction
0:13 - The Good
5:19 - The Bad
11:22 - The Ugly
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[@rareliquid]

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[@ynkybomber]

I graduated with my MBA in December. I will give you the breakdown in numbers for the entire MBA. Books read 33, presentations given 12, group projects 3, excel sheets built 50, words written 300,000 my GPA 3.76 DO not think this will be easy, it WILL be hard but anything worth it is.

[@australianpatriot]

300000? bruh

[@yassyak.2016]

The good : - non-grade disclosure is awesome - great environment for exploration - the MBA is too much fun The bad : - too much code-switching : *academic *career *social - everything (not everyone) is competitive - freeloaders in group projects (because grades do not matter, not everyone gets involved) The ugly : - the cost of the MBA delays a lot of dreams - there are a lot of useless classes - high school never ends (#gossip)

[@akporesiriomene3396]

Mvp

[@doords]

Highschool never ends indeed

[@xxyanlixx]

Really like this edition. It's a brutally honest deep dive into your social and academic experience at Wharton. I laughed when you point out "high school never ends". I think you're on the right track though, you're joining a lot of clubs, meeting a lot of people and since this is only your first semester, you can filter a lot of the idiotic gossipers and mindless freeloaders and truly hone down to a handful of good, like-minded friends that you will keep in touch with. Those people could be pivotal for the rest of your life because you know you guys had been through MBA together. I just hope you eventually do find these guys. Very refreshing to hear your inner thoughts and the three categories. As always I'm cheering for you. You have a great heart and is smart af (750 on GMAT jesus...). Love seeing the updates on your life. 加油 !!

[@miteshjadhav]

Thank you Ben. Loved your vulnerability and honesty.

[@simonn6746]

These are my favorite type of MBA videos

[@heyginnyy]

Great video. Thanks for sharing!

[@pricetagcitrus]

Do a video on recruiting and how to tell who is recruiting at your school and how to be competitive for recruiting.

[@umirinbrah7825]

Amazing episode, I appreciate the sincerity

[@MeredithSui-bm7mi]

rareliquid! ive been watching you since im a summer analyst at a BB! i just received my offer at wharton, and might join you as a quaker! thank you for all you do : )

[@christopherreed3019]

I am currently doing my MBA at Temple University. I am 39 so I am older than most average MBA students. I am here for a reason, so I dont participate in gossips in my cohort. I just come to class, pay attention, participate and GO HOME. I am actually enjoying the program because I am learning a lot. Also, at Temple, Grades matter, If you get below a B-, you will have to repeat the class. I just completed my first semester and I am glad I passed all my classes although I barely passed Statistics. I had a B-.I am glad I am getting my MBA...one of the best decisions I ever made in terms of my career

[@rareliquid]

yeah some programs have different policies. would say most MBAs are pretty lax at grading though i'm not sure what it's like in your case. either way, hope you continue to enjoy your time!

[@doords]

What is your exit strategy ? Back to the top of corporate ladder?

[@christopherreed3019]

@@doords what do you mean exit strategy? you mean if i dont graduate?

[@doords]

@@christopherreed3019 I meant after you do exit. Where is your immediate next location if not decided already

[@christopherreed3019]

@@doords Yeah...I am going back to the corporate Ladder...LOL

[@edricflo]

The group projects with MBA teams and grown-ups is terrible at times. You are 100 percent correct about the free riders and people just not caring.

[@jeffwang181]

this was very insightful, thanks

[@nev6250]

Quality video as always. Happy holidays ben!

[@rareliquid]

same to you!

[@danielmoore9214]

Very helpful !

[@johnbiston2534]

So candid I love it thank you. I’m curious, what do your peers say / think about your current career path ?

[@rareliquid]

in general they're pretty supportive! i also have experience working in corporate + starting a different company so i can relate to them

[@ec188]

14:00 I had a friend from my university went to the same university for MBA. I believe MBA degree is just to know the right “people”. The academic is not that difficult. He and I have MSEE background. One has to go to the top 10 MBA schools since the goal is to know the “right people and get the right connection”. My friend retired at late 30 and have his own small company. Thanks for your honest review. UP Wharton is an excellent MBA school.

[@krisrodriguez571]

When's your next QnA on the Gram?!!! I have some spicy questions!

[@dac8939]

Great minds talk about ideas and small minds talk about people. At both undergrad and postgrad I found those people that follow this mindset were the most successful in life. Look at Bill gates and Mark Z. Both were deep in their own business projects while idiots in college were getting drunk at parties and getting laid - wasting their college time.

[@accountsequity5587]

Hello Ben, could you interview students that went through IB recruiting? I believe recruiting season for IB is almost over. It would be great to hear from your classmates that are gonna go into IB.

[@mystery0793]

That project situation could have been an opportunity to show leadership from your end. Leaders deal with challenging social dynamics and you could have focused more on solutions than backing out the way you did. Maybe use a similar opportunity in the future to develop "rational confrontational" skills. 2) You seem to be a really smart guy that is more focused on details and ideas than building relationships with the average person. Maybe the MBA should (again) be an opportunity to get out of your comfortzone and hang out with people you dont identify with at first. I think there's always something to learn here.

[@stillakzo]

To be fairly honest. There's nothing wrong about code switching. I am different with my cousins, with professional circle, and different around adults of my family. And it's not tiring at all. Like, i have never even thought about it before you made this a point in the video.

[@rareliquid]

not saying it's wrong at all. just that it's more taxing in business school because you have to do it so many times in one day constantly throughout every single week and it can take a toll (albeit unconsciously). i think the brain likes consistency and so if you work 9-5 you can stay in work mode and then relax after. but in school for me, i'm in school / work / social mode each day and switching tasks / environments is great in its own way but also can be tiring. btw i'm also not trying to complain about this because it's what i signed up for. more like it just is what it is

[@DivineBre]

Nice Insignt!

[@albertomigliavacca1449]

I have a few considerations regarding the MBA: 1st: i would do the MBA only if my firm pays for it because the cost of an MBA is too much. It doesn't make sense to take on such a financial hit to then be stuck in a safe job for years 2nd: i'd rather work for a multinational company where i can switch position and location every few years than be stuck in a MBA. Consider all the time you spend in the MBA and preparing the application to the MBA, if you spend that time working on more projects for your company than you can build your management career without going back to university 3rd: i would only do 1 year programs because I feel like they are better designed as they are more targeted whereas in 2 year programs you do a lot of useless classes. Unfortunately, in the US you don't have 1 year MBA programs

[@kevinsuh5313]

I hope one day you switch my codes 😊

[@anuwatsongkarn1443]

It mean that for anyone who wants to do his or her own venture like building the start-up company. They may struck in loan payment....and cannot move to the direction that they want to be..

[@AsiaAlexander]

Funny you listed code switching as a “bad”. That’s daily life for me. LOL

[@dl5384]

I second you on every single point, especially the gossip part... I just graduated from the top Bschool in India and I have very similar feelings to you... Instead of talking about something productive people just gossip - it becomes high school all over again

[@davontawilliams3958]

Do a the good the bad the ugly at Wharton undergraduate video.

[@AnonYmous-hu6jd]

Really great video!!! Just curious: What would you say is the average debt for graduates leaving Wharton?

[@rareliquid]

hard to say but given some people pay out of pocket while some take out max loans to pay for everything while others get scholarships, probably 100K or so on average

[@firstnamelastname-lm5fe]

Looking at potentially getting an MBA but have always wondered if it fits with my long term goals. I was wondering if you could share some of the dreams/long term goals that your MBA colleagues have. I mean beyond fields like management consulting and investment banking what do MBA students imagine themselves doing in 20 years?

[@rareliquid]

many want to start their own companies and care deeply about particular problems / issues. others have goals of changing policy / working in places like the UN. most say they want to first join X company in a more standard industry in order for it to be an eventual stepping stone to something else

[@graysonalberhasky4390]

What materials/courses do you recommend for the GMAT?

[@DiegoGomez-ol7vd]

It felt like you were more genuine with your audience when talking about the ugly of an MBA. If you do see this. I hope you act that way more often. It was interesting seeing the real you.

[@otobo7641]

The clip at 14:55 is hilarious. The young man is from Nigeria please no gossip 😂 😂

[@lucafrascino3683]

Medical student here, I'm really thinking about getting an MBA to change to Finance, Is there any kind of experience I can have on my Resume (besides online courses) like internships, etc before applying to an MBA ? I feel like I'm already starting behind when it comes to applying for an MBA.....

[@mmcatamm6668]

that group experience sounds like it was really frustrating - makes me think of whether MBA students are actually interested in learning

[@rareliquid]

i would say many are but those who are busy or aren't interested take their lack of participation to the next level lol

[@ashwinshende3731]

can you please suggest me good book on financial modelling ?

[@doords]

In your group projects is it ever possible to hint to the professor that you did most of the work just so at least someone recognizes your work. Not literally like "I did all the work" in bold letters, or maybe literally write it in there if you are the person submitting everything

[@Rhea1]

My school had a policy which needed us to have a page with a table that lists the names of all team members with their contribution in the project. So if David contributed to the data analysis and Maya to writing the inferences- we mentioned that clearly. I don't know if this system works in the US.

[@doords]

@@Rhea1Seems like a nice way to make people accountable

[@eman146]

What if someone wants to go to consulting after the MBA? Consulting firms are known to look at everything in the resume, including marks (please correct me if I'm wrong). I'm doing an MBA in Australia, a top 100 MBA, but not a target school. So do you think my MBA mark would be one of the important factors for me to get a consulting interview from MBB and other consulting firms?

[@accountsequity5587]

They ask for GMAT here in the US

[@lazizaakramova8602]

Hi! Could anybody from the banking/investment banking sphere tell me do you have to know applied math or any types of math to become an investment banker? Or ACCA/CFA would be enough and bachelor's degree in banking and audit. And is experience in audit a huge plus ? Do they test during your job interview your knowledge in econometrics and applied math?

[@JohnMoog-ug6bk]

Arithmetic

[@thetmonaye]

pls kindly help compare MBA vs MFin.I am in Mfin but my professor is telling me I might need MBA in future. I ve ten years experience.

[@nqh777]

at MFin, u'll probably get all the classes around finance only, such as corp fin, banking, and some economics related classes (micro/macro econ, international finance, taxation,...) etc. Besides, for most MFin courses (or u can say it's 100%), grades DO matter. It means you must study for exam, take a lot of effort to cram those big textbooks with Einstein formulars just to get those A+ for each classes at the end of each semesters. But in case of MBA, it's designed to teach you generally everything around business, you will be taught marketing, accounting, finance management, economics, start up management, leadership, entrepreneurship, business model, management theories and practices, human resources, negotiation, etc. you name it, even these days, they have many classes on data like R, python, AI, innovation,... for you to choose which route suit you best. In addition, like Ben said, grades is generally nothing, you'll spend most of the time not to study for exam prep. but completing your projects with your teammates, they want you to talk a lot, to train your networking skill, you'll have to attend a lot of social activities there, participate in seminars with speakers mostly are businessman the C-suite coming from top 500 (those who's maybe their super-star alumnus of the program, that's why you'll want to go for a quality program that trained those superb successfully businessman). Hope this help!

[@phaedrusmendonca4854]

These events you speak of, are they free?

[@cjmor6590]

if your getting the same thing from undergrad repackaged for the most part why are u in mba school when you already got a job that can get u into most companies without have an mba from a m7 school

[@rareliquid]

long story haha i will make a video about this later but short version is that i think it'll be good for my business in the long run. not planning to recruit anywhere

[@jasonreviews]

you can learn python from free codecamp and udemy. But you really have to build to be good coder. So many languages. But python is used for AI models.

[@doords]

And free up one elective for something else more useful that you need to learn in person. I agree, python and programming can be learned from basically anywhere

[@josephjoe2937]

is that fisher fine arts library bye 😭 (penn undergrad)

[@rareliquid]

yup!

[@awesomeguy3211]

How does an mba cost 200-300k? That's ridiculous. Could you do a breakdown of the costs?

[@cjmor6590]

mba is only worth it if u go to a m7 school and had an undergrad in a worthless degree from a no name school to get u decent paying career

[@armitageshanks2499]

@@cjmor6590 wrong

[@awesomeguy3211]

@@rareliquid Korean won? That's a little more understandable then lol

[@doords]

@@cjmor6590 T10 T15 is still good. You technically just need to end up in your ideal long term future job immediately exiting the school.

[@omkarsawant7933]

1st sem 😪

[@armitageshanks2499]

How long will they mourn me? (How long will they mourn my brotha) ~~

[@Bethlehem0BC]

No hate... but imagine going to business school just to learn Python

[@phoenixgamer6737]

hiya

[@ThePhilbox]

Talk about how horrible your advice has been? Your strong recommendation for bitcoin at 60K. the tech companies you recommended that have been cut in half or more? How many people do you think were hurt by your advice? Do you care?

[@accountsequity5587]

For the algorithm

[@cannedpineapple438]

Algorithm comment :)

[@rareliquid]

haha thx

[@JohnMoog-ug6bk]

Is it woke?

[@axeldahlman2405]

Damn your group sucked, can relate