Walmart plans to AX degree requirements from hundreds of its corporate job descriptions

[SW15]

it is unwise to assume that the average individual can simply graduate from high school and achieve significant success without further efforts.

A high school diploma/GED now means very little in terms of employment. Back before roughly 1975, getting a high school diploma meant something. A man or woman could actually do something with their lives and their careers that was meaningful with a high school diploma.

Now, it's necessary to either have a trade school certifications or a bachelor's degree.

Business administration as a bachelors degree is stupid

I don't think it is. At the very least, a bachelor's in Business Administration will get a degree holder some white collar job. It might not be the best one, but it'll be something.

Those with bachelor's degrees in liberal arts and social sciences aren't as fortunate. Some of them might still end up with McJobs. There's a reason that the college educated Starbucks barista became a cultural hallmark of the late 2000s/early 2010s recessionary period. Most of those baristas with bachelor's degrees were those with bachelor's degrees in liberal arts/social sciences.

But MBAs have a good ROI too, and not that expensive either.

The ROI on MBAs is questionable. A lot of non-Top 25 programs don't produce good ROIs.

The top 25 MBA programs are often quite expensive, as most Top 25 programs are private universities.

If someone gets a basic MBA from a public university outside the Top 25, a lot of the ROI is going to depend upon the individual's personal/professional network.

 

[Bigpapa]

The ROI on MBAs is questionable. A lot of non-Top 25 programs don't produce good ROIs.

The top 25 MBA programs are often quite expensive, as most Top 25 programs are private universities.

If someone gets a basic MBA from a public university outside the Top 25, a lot of the ROI is going to depend upon the individual's personal/professional network.

Depends how much you pay for it

Not even a Harvard mba is worth it if you pay the full price for it

If you get a 40-50% discount on it one way or the other, it is start to worth it ( unless you can afford to pay more than that ofc )

An mba is worth it if it is top 50 depending on the offer they make you in terms of tuition. Maybe makes more sense to go to Kelly business school ( if they give a solid scholarship ) than to go to Harvard ( if they do not give you a good scholarship )

 

[CAPSLOCK BANDIT]

This is a must watch

 

[MatureDJ]

This is a good model for companies whose labor force is basically non-college folks. I'd bet that when Wal-Mart has identified good management prospects, they would strongly recommend to such folks to get a degree on the side, which the company would be more than happy to pay for. Nowadays, a degree can be gotten online, and just a basic BA in Business would be fine.

 

[MatureDJ]

I think the MBA (Master's of Business Administration) degree needs some discussion because it is a somewhat unique master's level degree as compared to other master's/advanced level degrees.

In fields like law, medicine, and engineering, it is very common to go immediately from undergraduate to graduate school. Starting around 1990, this changed for most MBAs. The 1990s is when most MBA programs started to put in a requirement for having had work experience in between completing a bachelor's degree and starting an MBA program. Most MBA students have somewhere between 2-10 years of post bachelor's degree work experience, typically falling in between 3-7 years of post bachelor's work experience.

There are also 3 different groups that pursue MBAs.

1. The usually struggling liberal arts/social science major

This group received a bachelor's degree in some liberal arts/social science major and hasn't been doing too well in the workplace. They are getting an MBA to enhance their career outcomes. Without the MBA, they are destined for mediocrity if their undergrad degree wasn't from an elite university.

Alissa Heinerscheid, the former VP of Marketing for the Bud Light brand, fell into category as an MBA student. She had a liberal arts degree from Harvard before getting her MBA at University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School of Business. The difference between Heinerscheid and most of Group 1 is that most of Group 1 has their undergrad degree from a non-elite school.

Despite her 2 Ivy League degrees, Heinerscheid's legacy is destined to become the marketer who irreparably damaged the Bud Light brand. She's only 39 years old right now. If she's able to get another job in Marketing in the private sector without a political affiliation, it's likely to be a step down.

It's a common path for undergrad liberal arts Ivy Leaguers to end up getting their MBAs at Ivy League schools.

2. The business major

This group has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, or some adjacent area like Economics or Accounting.

In most cases, this group would be more employable than Group 1 in the absence of an MBA. This group will see a benefit to their careers from their MBA, but it is less essential for them.

3. The STEM major

This is typically someone with an undergrad degree in Computer Science or Engineering, though it could be a Mathematics major.

This person is getting the MBA to move more on to the business side within companies with a STEM orientation.

This group is really focused and benefits a lot from the MBA, though they often have a strong undergrad degree and some good pre-MBA work experience.

Unattractive women don't know how to market beer to its prime customer.

 

[redskinsfan92]

When I read stuff like this I always ask myself, "what is their motive"?

Is there a shortage of qualified candidates? Not that I am aware of.

Will a person with only certificates vs. a college degree and certificates be willing to work for less money? Yep.

I have a friend that does network/IT for IBM with certificates and no college degree. They classify him as a contract employee because he has no degree. He is paid less than the non contract employees that do the exact same thing.

This game has been played for years. I've seen corporations do it in engineering departments. They will take guys with lots of hands on experience and good understanding of the product, put them in engineering positions, and pay them 30% less but have them do the same functions a degreed engineer does.

If this puts some worthless college admins out of a worthless jpb I support it.

 

[sangheilios]

Business administration as a bachelors degree is stupid

But MBAs have a good ROI too, and not that expensive either. Can range anywhere from 20k till like 50-60k on average depending on where you do it and scholarships you can get

I know at the bank I go to one of the bankers there, though not the manager, has an MBA. I have no idea what she makes, her job is basically to set up new customers with their accounts, loans, etc. In reality this isn't all that difficult, but having an MBA may be a requirement for the position that she is in. I'm not 100% sure, I've never worked in banking or finance.

 

[sangheilios]

This is a must watch

I haven't watched the video, but college/university has definitely become a money making scam over the last few decades.

In the 1980s President Regan passed the affordable education act, from what I gather it basically greatly expanded federal financial aid resources for people to go to college. Think of it this way, all of these fresh out of high school kids want to go to college and they now have the financial resources available that allow them to do so. The colleges are aware of this, and they recognize that this is an easy ticket to making substantial profit. Colleges become focused on trying to attract students to enroll, so they will invest money into amenities, nice dorms, etc.

The next best business savy thing is to not only enroll as many students as possible but also retain them. The best way to do this is to lower the standards/expectations to be able to enroll in the first place. The next step is to water down the courses a bit so that these students are able to stick around for a few years instead of dropping out after one or two semesters.

There's actually a university in Boston, MA, Northeastern University, that has a mandatory "internship" that makes a standard bachelor's degree as a 5 year program, instead of the traditional 4. This is a brilliant way to milk even more money out from their students lol. This school has an average acceptance rate of around 66% or so, which puts in on par with most state universities. However, a few years ago I remember checking this school and with room and board it cost around 70k per year lol.

I think the worst of the worst schools though are the ones that are not accredited that offer b.s programs that don't prepare students for anything. The for profit mills like ITT, now defunct, are a great example.