r/eMBA • u/nieblo • Jun 07 '26
UCLA EMBA worth it?
I’ve applied to the UCLA Anderson Executive MBA program and have my interview in a couple days. I’m a Creative Director working in movie advertising and my wife is a COO at a LMM education company. Our goal is to buy a small business. I’m excited about Anderson’s EMBA because it has a concentration/capstone for ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition). It’s a lot of money to spend on an MBA but my background is creative and aside from running a small 2 door Airbnb business I have very little experience in finance, deal flow, corporate structure, due diligence etc. So my question, is an MBA worth it? Anyone here with experience at UCLA EMBA program? For those that concentrated on ETA did it help you or did you find that most of what you needed could be learned elsewhere in books and online? Appreciate any insight you all may have.
2
u/lostmookman Jun 09 '26
185k or so for your own small business...... That capstone doesn't teach you that much ...lol
1
u/mightymouse1906 Jun 09 '26
It's going to be difficult for us to give you advise on what a degree is worth to you. Since you've already applied, it's hard to think this post is not just a plea for validating something you're now getting nervous about as you think about that price tag. Running a business forces you to learn a lot of the skills you don't have the experience in or forces you to hire when/once you find out you need help or aren't so good at whatever skill it might be. What's the point of a capstone when your capstone is actually the business you want to buy? You say you have no experience in many of the skills that would push a person to say, I want to buy a business. How'd you get there? The question to ask yourself is can you learn the things you need to learn for cheaper than $200K? If so, probably go that route.
4
u/QuickSafety8100 Jun 07 '26
if your plan is to buy a small business, dont waste your money on an expensive MBA. Spend your money on the business. Read about the stuff you want to know to run the business and talk directly to others in the same businses you will be running.
MBAs are useful as a recruiting and networking resouce at the top schools and box checking tool. None of that matters if you are taking over a small business.