Wow, my MBA school adventure is over. I can't believe it. After having been away from East Lansing for about six weeks now, I went back the other day to do some research for the book I'm working on, and it was a very odd feeling. On the one hand it feels like the first day of orientation was just yesterday, on the other hand the whole experience feels like something that happened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

I'm not the only one who feels that way. I met one of my classmates for lunch last week, and she commented, "Doesn't graduation just seem like it was ages ago?" Yuri said the same thing when we got our graduation pictures in the mail. In some ways, I've picked up my life just as I'd left off before I went to school, almost as if business school never happened. I feel like Dorothy waking up at the end of the Wizard of Oz. Was B-school real, or just a dream?

Despite the surreal feeling, there is definite evidence that business school did indeed happen. After a month of hearing nothing from any of my classmates, we're finally starting to get in contact again. My teammate Frank has started a Yahoo! group, and one of my other teammates, Becky, arranged a happy hour for those of us still in the Detroit metro area. Meanwhile, Yuri and I are planning to meet another classmate for the opening of Fahrenheit 9/11, and e-mails with new contact information are starting to be exchanged. I was worried there for a while, but efforts to maintain connections are starting to surface.

So, now that I've had a little time to reflect, here's the big question: If I knew two years ago what I know now, would I do it all over again? Would I get my MBA?

The answer is a definite yes. Admittedly, B-school was not what I expected, and there are many things about it that I would change. Nevertheless, it was undeniably worth it. For one, it launched me into a new career as an entrepreneur. Many people will say that the greatest value of business school is the contacts that you make. Well, I'm an introvert, and to be frank I didn't make that many contacts. However, I made one very important contact (the entrepreneur who hired me to write a book and is backing my new business) and that one contact has changed my life and the trajectory of my career. Is two years of tuition and stress worth one contact? It can be.

Now, arguably, if I'd gotten a creative writing degree or a PhD in psychology, I might have met someone who would have had just as important an influence on my life in a different way. The truth is I'll never know. What I do know is that if I'd stayed in my old job and not gone to school at all, not taken the step to change my life in some way, I wouldn't be as happy as I am now. Going back to school was worth it simply because it shook up my life and got me to try new things. Oh yes, and there's also the fact that I met my fiancé at B-school, which was worth the price of admission right there. (Before someone starts flipping out about that last sentence, I'm not advocating going to B-school to find a husband. I'm just saying that meeting the love of my life was a nice bonus.)

Admittedly, I could afford to get my MBA on a lark because I'd saved a good bit of money and I was single. I think it would have been much harder to go back to school if I'd had a family and a mortgage. Still, there are so many people who are unhappy with their careers, and we devote so many precious hours to work, that it seems like the investment in an MBA is worth it at any stage in your career if you think it will make you happier. Don't just do it for the money though. Do it to change your life for the better, to launch a career that you love. The question you have to ask yourself is whether getting an MBA is going to be a stepping-stone to a better life, whatever you define that to be.

The answer to that question isn't always yes. I know a few people who went through the program here and found that the type of career an MBA prepares you for is not really what they wanted. Others found that they didn't quite have the drive to pound the pavement looking for the specific type of job they wanted (I was very lucky to have my dream job fall into my lap. That's unusual.) Still others didn't quite have the slick, polished delivery necessary to succeed in MBA interviews, which is critical. Finally, some international students found that in a tough job market, the need for visa and a less-than-perfect American accent were real handicaps, no matter what their skills.

Getting your MBA is not without risk; it opens some doors but it closes others. Given the current job market, Yuri has interviewed for several non-MBA positions, and inevitably he's been dismissed as over-qualified. You need to be sure that you have the skills either to make the jump to the MBA career track or make your own luck, or you might waste a lot of time and money.

Looking back, I wish I'd had a better understanding of what I was getting into, which is hard if you haven't been part of the big business world before you get your MBA. I talked to lots of people trying to get a handle on what type of career I could expect after graduation, but I didn't ever get a sense of what those jobs would really be like. In getting any "practical" degree you're investing a lot of time and money preparing for a career that you don't truly know if you'll enjoy. My advice, if you really think you want a career in big business, is to go work for a Fortune 500 company first and then get your MBA degree.

Another important consideration is that if your real interest is entrepreneurship, small business management, or non-profit management, then an MBA may not suit your needs. An MBA candidate is a product that is marketed to big companies, and thus they are taught finance, marketing, human resources, and operations from the large-scale corporation's point of view. Some of the concepts carry over to small business, other don't. Therefore, you need to find a business school that has a program catered to your interests.

Potential candidates should also understand that B-school is not a business finishing school. Some of my female friends in the program and I were hoping that the program would help us to take a quantum leap in areas such as public speaking, networking, and leadership. Witnessing the poise and confidence of MBA alumni is one of the things that convinced me to get an MBA. I've discovered, however, that it isn't the MBA degree that creates the poise. Some people had it when they started the program, and those who didn't improved a little, but not to the level of those who had "it" naturally. There are some things you can't teach in a university setting.

So, with those caveats in mind, I think getting your MBA is a great thing to do, and I'm glad I did it. It was a good thing for a liberal arts person like me to get some exposure to business theory and the way that world works. I also met some great people, and overall the culture of the program was a good fit. I didn't accomplish half of what I'd intended to, but I have no major regrets. I had a good two years at MSU.

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