MBS in Review: Electives

Continuing from yesterday's post about MBS core subjects, today I'll talk about the electives, which are half of your subjects at MBS.

During orientation, different study strategies were suggested. The first broad view, taking different subjects in different areas without any specialisation in mind. The other option, of course, was to specialise by selecting multiple subjects in the same area.

In my opinion, specialisation is really not much of an option. With the exception of marketing and possibly finance, there are simply not enough subjects offered in a given discipline to specialise.

This is further complicated by popular electives being frequently oversubscribed. If you did have your heart set on finance, for example, it is likely you would have been unable to take the Financial Institutions subject this term. MBS generally offers places to those graduating the soonest so, presumably you'd be able to take the subject some time before you graduated. Of course, that only works if the next time it is offered, it doesn't clash with another class you want to take or, if you are a part-time student, taking a leave of absence for work-related reasons. Personally, I was excluded from both Business Law and Social Policy this term and will not have a chance to take these subjects at a later date unless they offered when I am on exchange (not likely, and I doubt Israeli business law will be very useful in Australia).

I must say, though, that I have taken some excellent electives at MBS. Standouts include:

• Managerial Judgement - examines the psychology of decision making
  
• Brand Management - an MBS staple taught by renown brand guru Mark Ritson
  
• Business and World Trade - a half subject (we call it a unit) taught by Gary Sampson, a former WTO official. My final exam is Friday.
  

It is unlikely you will take any bad electives because you can drop a bad class relatively easily assuming a replacement class isn't oversubscribed. MBS also provides the quantitative assessments of prior classes so you can check what your peers thought of the subject the last time it was taught by the same lecturer. This helps, but word-of-mouth is much more powerful. For example, I was strongly advised against taking the Entrepreneurship subject by several people. This was reinforced by a last minute information session run by the lecturer for future students of his class at a time that was nearly impossible to make. I wasn't impressed and dropped the class shortly thereafter.

I also found one elective had the wrong prerequisites. While I really enjoyed a subject called Managerial Accounting Control Systems (sounds bad, I know), my mark was less than spectacular. One reason is that the final exam favoured those with finance experience, or those who had completed the Financial Management core subject. I hadn't. This remains, by far, my lowest mark at MBS.

Let me sum up what I've been saying. In general MBS electives are pretty good – some of are excellent – and you aren't likely to be stuck in one you don't enjoy unless it is the first time it is offered, the professor is new or you haven't asked around. An MBA from MBS is more for those who want a broad perspective; if you want to focus on HR or innovation, for example, you are out of luck. Students frequently complain that subjects are oversubscribed. This has certainly been fodder for unhappiness this term and I expect it to continue. Expect some frustration in this area.

MBS in Review: The Core Subjects

I had a chat with one of my fellow Melbourne Business School bloggers this past weekend, and he mentioned wrapping up his blogging with some closing remarks regarding his studies at MBS and his MBA in general. Not wanting to be outdone, I thought I would chime in too.

A little context. I am currently half way through my last term at MBS and my second-last term of the program. My last term will be spent on exchange. I have very ambivalent feelings about MBS and I will try to structure my entries in a fair way and I am happy to amend each post as comments are made or to respond to others in the comments section.

The MBA at MBS is divided into the "core" subjects and electives. This entry will be about the core subjects.

There are 9 electives and one subject called World of Management that I'll discuss separately. The core subjects are similar to offerings in other business schools. Overall, I'd rate their content and breadth highly. After completing all but one (Managing Processes), I'd say my metaknowledge has increased (I now know how little I know) but can still hold an intelligent conversation on subjects like accounting and finance. I also have the tools to continue learning in these areas. I'd say that after completing the core, I'd make a better manager and can better engage with "the business."

I was fortunate: I'd rate the lecturers I had for most of the core subjects above average. This wasn't the case for everyone. Most of my intake, for example, has a very poor experience in Financial Management. Because I fell a bit behind with the core subjects, I was fortunate to get someone better.

Some of the core subjects, such as Data & Decisions (D&D) and Managerial Economics, are somewhat mathematical. As MBS students have such a diverse background, some students with rusty math skills struggle with the quantitative subjects. Others, particularly those for whom English is a second language, may struggle through the qualitative subjects. Luckily, MBS allows students to "test out" of a few core subjects. This, no doubt, saves former statisticians the boredom of 12 weeks of D&D. However, for people who have a relatively strong quantitative background (me: major in computer science, master's in software engineering), the math isn't that challenging but I probably won't be able to test out of any of the subjects. Yet, they move a pace more suitable to those without any background in hard sciences. I get get bored…

One last point about the electives. When people ask me why I chose an MBA, one of my responses is that "an MBA is a good course for someone who doesn't know what to do with their lives." I stand by that. An MBA is probably the broadest of all professional degrees. One outcome has been that I can definitely eliminate certain careers from consideration. For example, I now know I have little interest in finance.

World of Management (WoM) is a different beast. This is the very first subject you take at MBS. It is only offered as a one-week intensive (basically 9-5 Monday to Friday), with separates weeks for full time and part time streams. There is no real structure or pattern to WoM. It introduces you to a potpourri of "business related" concepts such as diversity, public speaking, and stress management. No knowledge from anything in these sessions is retained, and I have basically done WoM twice! (Long story, and, no, I didn't fail.)

One good thing about WoM is that there were many break-out activities such as a negotiations exercise, a public speaking contest (I won!), and some peer-to-peer interviewing. So, more than anything, WoM solidifies a connection between new classmates. I'd describe it as a week long orientation. However, unlike a real orientation, you pay for it as if it was a normal subject. That makes it a very expensive orientation. Even more so if you are working and need to take the week off.

In conclusion, I'd rate the MBS core subjects highly for both their breadth and the quality of teaching. However, variance in teaching quality and student capabilities is definitely a problem. World of Management, on the other hand, makes for an excellent social experience, but offers little in terms of learning outcomes. Fortunately, as this point, you only have a vague concept of "value for money."