Is there any point in doing an MBA if you want to work in sales and trading?

I work in derivatives sales and have an MBA that I completed a few years ago.I did it from one of the oxbridge bus schools. I can tell you some simple facts:

1) The courses are massively overpriced

2) The exp is great - but then so is playing playstation and that doesnt qualify me to become a banker

3) US qualifications are better regarded because any clown can get onto a decent MBA course here with no relevant experience i.e. you can pay your way in.

4) The MBA careers service at my school was an embarrasing joke

5) The ranking data is 99% lies i.e. leaving salary etc. This verges on fraud.

6) It is a cash cow for the schools.

7) If you can get in to INSEAD, go there. Really. LBS, oxbridge, WBS, etc dont compare in the eyes of an employer.

8) The alumni networks are pretty idiotic really.You are better off with Linkedin.

9) I got into deriv sales from chance - nothing to do with my MBA.

10) I have never come across anyone who recruits into sales from an MBA school. Even I dont.

11) The director of our MBA was quietly fired for blackmailing a student.

12) 2 students from the year after us were busted for plagiarism and still allowed to graduate

A good traders...
only wear white socks, suffer from ADD, swears already before getting out of bed in the morning, drives a Porsche but would not know how many "t" are in the word Stuttgart, talks about his loyalty in units of $ and inches.

A good salesmen...
knows every tabledancing out fit in LDN, can at least handle 4 phone conversation simultaneously, does not know what BRIC stands for, but has been to at least 4 five-star vacation hotels this year, only cares about the letters "C" and "S" in the word commission - NOTE: in real life he gets more C than S.

Unless they are out of a job and need an excuse to plug a hole in their resumee there is no reason why a trader or a salesmen have any place in an MBA program, it's like throwing PEARLS IN FRONT OF PIGS.

Once they leave the world of S&T the only place traders and salespeople should be send to is Gruinard Island. Of course 99 out of a 100 will have to google where there new vacation spot would be.

Just graduated from one of the top notch b schools in the states. Was always and continue to be amazed by the limited horizon in discussing the merits of an MBA. It's not an academic degree only, but has much more levels to it in terms of learning. I also don't think that anyone is afraid of admitting it if they made the wrong choice - it's just that the MBA is a 2 year long phase in your life in which you enjoy a rather unique set of stimulation.

I worked in bulge bracket IB before, and will move into sales & trading now. i am certainly not alone in my class. While the number of MBAs moving into s&t are dwindling, every bank thus far is still hiring.

And the mere fact that the article relates to London only is saying as much as needs be said about the research done on who is hiring / who is not by the author.

I think the point about education is true for many professions. At the end of the day you learn the vast amount of your core skillset on the job. The point is that MBA's provides you with a foundation upon which you can build your on the job skillset. For example, on my MBA course there were people that were previously consultants that had not really done any financial modelling therefore, some courses allowed them to build up their working knowledge and appreciation of how models are created. Also, the softer skills that you learn cannot be underestimated for client facing roles, I think that is a key point.

I mean come on, isn't the argument about education about 50 years old, in a lot of cases you pay for the "piece of paper" and the doors that your qualification and institution can open.

Re: U.S schools, I think that for european jobs they have no more weight than good schools in europe. This makes sense since for example, I went to a well known london business school that people in london in particular, recognise as producing high quality post gards. However, that is because it is a london school with good links to its local financial centre.

LBS Grad - read up Duke has an amazing MBA program.

Look at the US programs breadth and scale, funding, endowed chairs,networks, even endowments and compare to LBS and Insead. There not in the same league. Put this way most of the US schools endowment and investment fund programs are world renowed eg: Harvard 26 Billion Dartmouth 6 Billion. This cannot be said of LBS or Insead. Lets not even start on alumni networking programs, because the Europe is in the slow lane.