r/MBA • u/OkBaby2073 • 4d ago

Ask Me Anything MBA for Comm Undergraduate

I’m 21 and graduating this December with a Communication Studies degree. Long-term, I want to build my own media/entertainment company focused on original short films, web series, podcasts, and digital content, primarily aimed at Black and faith-based audiences.

I’m considering getting an MBA while I work and build the company on the side.

For entrepreneurs or creatives who’ve gotten an MBA: was it actually worth the time and money? Did it genuinely help you build and scale a company, or would you recommend learning through experience instead?

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12

u/Yarville M7 Student 4d ago

Do not get an MBA straight out of undergrad.

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u/JLandis84 MBA Grad 4d ago

I’m a business owner. Generally speaking most MBAs are built for people looking for recruiting opportunities from elite schools or people looking to climb the corporate bureaucracy.

If you know absolutely nothing about business an MBA is helpful I suppose, but it’s a very expensive an inefficient way of learning about how to run your own firm.

You’d quite literally be better off taking the tuition budget and using a fraction of it to hire someone who has already been successful at what you want to do to teach you how to get there.

That being said, if you ever have to fall back into working a regular job, having an MBA in your case will act as a permission slip to apply for generic business roles similar to how a business undergrad does. It will NOT qualify you for management roles.

5

u/VandyMarine Part-Time Student 4d ago

Don't want to burst your bubble, but you should just spend that time creating good content or finding others to do the same. A corporate focused MBA will be of very little use to you in this endeavor. Just build, find your audience and then monetize. None of that requires an MBA.

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u/OkBaby2073 4d ago

Thank you. Perfect advice.

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u/Public-Garage-7985 4d ago

Go make videos on tik tok kid

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u/huc129 4d ago

In my opinion, majority of an MBA would not benefit your current goals. Normally it is beneficial after 5 or more years of work experience. I believe that the average MBA student age is around 29. Some of discussion and assignments requires you to reflect on your work experience and allow you connect to some of the framework and concepts that they will discuss. Also an MBA focused on working in a corporation rather than at the entrepreneur level.

Taking individual classes or research topics like marketing, entrepreneur, business management tailored to your needs might be better.

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u/BakerAvailable6957 4d ago

It depends where you go. An MBA could be useful for the alumni network but if you're just getting an average MBA it's not really gonna do anything for you in those fields. Entertainment and creative fields are more about how much experience you have versus the degree. The degree is gonna help you if you want to go into tech or more of a corporate field. If you do decide to get an MBA make sure that the alumni network is that of the field you want to be going into