I know the MBA has been discussed on here numerous times, but I'm curious to see what those who have actually completed it have to say about it. I see that Queen's has a one-year, part-time accelerated MBA program for business graduates in Calgary. It's super expensive and I know that you might lose some of the experience by doing the program at a remote campus, but the school is obviously well reputed and I think the paper would speak for itself. This isn't University of Phoenix...
I'm a recently designated CA with a BComm (Haskayne) who's looking to go the management route. I've left the CA firm for a more management-centric role in O&G services and I think that it's the direction that I want my career to go. I still like the finance side of things, but I know for sure that controller-type roles are not at all what I want. I'm much more interested in the investment strategy side of management than accounting.
I didn't really give a shit about grades in my BComm and relied on connections to get an articling job. In retrospect though, I see that being lackluster in school cost me some great gigs out of the gate and may have set me back a bit. I do have a good network of professional friends and with my CA, I have a very good foundation, but I don't know if that's enough. I want to chase the top C-Suite. I think that the MBA would be a boost to get me to where I want to go. While the increased earning potential is certainly a draw (even with the huge upfront cost of $75-80k), I also want to have all the right qualifications to get myself to the strategic decision making role I want.
So for those of you who have actually completed your MBA, why did you take it in the first place? Did it do what you wanted it to do? And were the career and financial gains of the program worth it?
Also, for getting to the line of work I'm interested in, is there any other route that I should be thinking about?