At first glance, the idea of getting an MBA degree could be compared to assembling a time machine – it’s expensive, requires lots of hard work, and may not even have a happy ending. But what if someone could offer you the entire education for free? Is there any point in paying for this? Do people get anything out if it that they wouldn’t get by simply spending hours digging around on YouTube?

The short answer is ‘yes’. The long answer is ‘yes but’.

Getting an MBA might seem like overkill to some who are just looking for additional resources to improve their skills or knowledge set. These resources are indeed available online – but probably not in one place. You do need to spend time searching through them, and then try to figure out how they relate to each other.

The benefit of an MBA degree is that it gives you the opportunity to go through all these concepts in one place, surrounded by like-minded people. You will get top-quality content, taught by industry experts who are hired because of their industry experience. That’s not something you can get simply by watching videos or reading blog posts about a subject. It also contains the social aspect – meeting new people in similar positions as yourself, networking with them and potentially finding your next job through them… But this benefit only really kicks in after graduation when you’ve made some good connections during your studies.

So, should you start searching for an MBA program right away? Not necessarily – if you’re an amateur, still trying to find your way around the business world, you might not need one. It will be worth it if you already know what industry you want to work in. You should also be aware that applying for MBA can reveal some of your current shortcomings – low GPA, too many jobs/internships on your CV… If you don’t have any of these issues and are looking forward to spending up to five years studying, then yes – go ahead!

Compare the price of getting an MBA degree with the salary potential after you obtain this degree. You’ll probably see that the opportunity costs aren’t that high even though the initial investment is roughly $100k (for example).

And the final benefit of an MBA degree is that it acts as a signalling mechanism – companies like to hire people with advanced degrees, especially if the company is also willing to pay for them.

So there you go. I guess you still think that an MBA degree isn’t worth it? Then consider this: You can actually find videos on YouTube that will show how to assemble a time machine… But why would anyone ever try?

Overall I would say that there is definitely a point in getting an MBA degree, even if you can get the same knowledge from free online sources. But you need to understand the difference between simply consuming information and learning. There is so much information around us, that’s precisely why it’s important to choose where you get your education from – people who are actually in these relevant fields will be more likely to provide relevant materials.

I hope this blog post has helped shed some light on the subject!