New college graduate considering MBA and MPP/MPA programs

The email below came to me from a young man that I met four years ago during his Freshman year when I delivered a keynote speech to a group of undergrad business students at his university. Over the years, I stayed in touch with him and answered any question that he had related to his college experience and career, including his course selections, internships, and overall career plan. Last month, he finally reached the end of his collegiate journey and walked across the graduation stage…what a big moment! He will be starting as an Analyst at Deloitte Consulting in a couple of months and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

In his email below, he shared that he is considering whether to pursue the MPP/MPA degree or the MBA. He has a very strong interest in Public Policy / Social Impact work, so he’s leaning toward the MPP/MPA right now with the MBA sitting in the back of his mind. I have a different idea of where he should be focusing, which I shared with him in my response below.

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JS wrote:

Hi Marquis,

How have you been? Long time no chat.

After just graduating, I was looking into taking the GMAT or the GRE this summer/early fall. I am struggling on my decision on which exam to take. Specifically, I have three primary concerns:

• Because my goals are more socially oriented, I am concerned that getting just an MBA (therefore taking the GMAT) can restrict my options with think tanks, development banks, etc. This line of thinking leads me to think I should get a MPP/MBA or MPA/MBA dual degree. (I’ll circle back to my question here.)

• Thus, I looked into dual degree programs and they seem to be MPPs complemented with MBA for management skills. Essentially in lots of top dual degree programs, it seems like the MBA plays second fiddle. Is this your perception and could this mean others won’t take my business skills as serious as if I got a pure MBA?

• Last, this situation makes me believe–and I have read on some forums–that taking the GRE compared to GMAT when applying to business school signals you are not as serious about B-School. Do you have a feel on how strong of a signal is? Is it insignificant or a deal-breaker?

Overall, I think which test I take is a serious strategic decision in my career and I really want to do my due diligence before I make a decision. I would like to get your feedback.

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my email and provide advice.

Best,

JS

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My response:

Hey JS,

Congratulations on reaching the end of your collegiate journey! You certainly made the most of your time at IU and I’m excited to see you headed off to a great company to start you’re career. You’re going to kill it at Deloitte.

Based on your career interests, I’m not surprised that you’re aiming for an MPA or MPP at some point in the future, but I’m glad that you’re targeting the MBA along with it to get those killer general management and business skills.

Given your desire to get both degrees, it totally makes sense that you’re looking at joint-degree programs. I wouldn’t say that a top MBA ever plays second fiddle, but what you may be seeing is that many of the schools with top MPP/MPA programs aren’t from schools that have top-ranked MBA programs. There are some rare schools (like Harvard, Michigan, University of Chicago, and Stanford) who have strong reputations on both fronts, but that isn’t the norm. For example, Syracuse is usually top-5 in the Public Administration grad program rankings, but its MBA program isn’t highly-ranked. You have to keep that in mind when looking at joint degree programs because I’d hate to see you end up with an MBA that doesn’t bring the kind of thunder that you deserve because you focused on the MPP/MPA.

One thing for you to consider is to get the MBA and MPP/MPA from different schools and work with both schools to configure it as a joint-degree program. A couple of my Stanford GSB classmates did that with Harvard’s Kennedy School and I know folks from other MBA programs who did the same thing. This approach would allow you to get as highly-ranked of each degree as you can without risking making a sacrifice on the level/tier of either degree.

Net-net, although you are most interested in pursuing a socially-focused career path in the long-term, I think that you should place the priority on getting into the best MBA program possible because that is the degree that the market will look at the most. Optimally, you’ll be able to find a school (or pair of schools) that will allow you get a top-ranked MBA and MPP/MPA, but, if not, aim as high as possible on the MBA.

On the GMAT vs GRE question, I’d say go with the GMAT all the way. According to Traci, the things tested on the Math and Verbal GRE exams are similar to what is tested on the GMAT, so they’re pretty well-aligned. The difference is that most non-MBA grad programs accept the GMAT as part of their applications, but not all business schools accept the GRE. In other words, the GMAT gives you much more optionality. Go with that one.

Take care and have a nice weekend.

Marquis