Back in 2008, I suddenly got interested in doing an MBA. I thought it would enhance my career and it will allow me to find better jobs (back then I still wanted to work for other people – not anymore). For some reason, I attended a seminar of an Executive MBA program at one of the most prominent universities here in Montreal. Surprisingly, I was impressed…

I was impressed by the quality of the teachers and the quality of the program in general. I remember they also had a 1 month field trip to a business-important country (such as Qatar, China, etc…). In short, the program was brilliant. What made me unable to join the program (back then) is that it cost about $80,000 to do. Yes, it was tax deductible, but, considering my responsibilities back then, I just couldn’t afford it. Oh, and by the way, unlike regular MBA, neither the Federal nor the Provincial governments subsidized this program.

Fast forward to 2011, where I joined the regular MBA program for the second time, and I discovered that it wasn’t worth it. Some might argue that the real value of an MBA is the professional network that you can create and later use to your advantage, but the problem is, my professional network was a bunch of people who were no older than 25 years and with minimal work experience (and, of course, with no management experience at all, which made me wonder how they made it into the program considering that being a manager for a specific period of time is a requirement). One of my colleagues never had a job in his life, and I’m not kidding.

Everything is different between an Executive MBA and a regular MBA. The professors in an Executive MBA are real professors, there is much more seriousness in an Executive MBA, and the quality of the network that you can potentially build in an Executive MBA is much higher than that in a regular MBA. Of course the tuition fees are definitely much more expensive in an Executive MBA, but at least you’ll get something for your hard earned money.

If you really want to do an MBA, then do an Executive MBA in a top-notch university, otherwise, save your money for a down-payment on a house. It’s a much better investment.

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