MBA Research: Don’t Fall for the Mere Exposure Effect

B-School ‘C-’ started the year with an online info session. I was also present to see how the school shared their information – both positive and negative. As expected, no negative news were covered in the info session. Percentage employed in 3-months was at a historical low but with a good grip on statistics, you can turn any graphs upside down with an obscure variable. A professional presentation followed. It was more of a speech on how great the school was, and how the Alumni have gone on to do great things. “A small chat window” popped out on the right-hand corner of my screen – “Do you believe any of the things that this guy says?” The other session attendee caught on with my Indian Chat name and liked to know my opinion about the program. “I have to do more research,” I replied without revealing my identity. From that day onwards, the attendee and I kept in touch and discussed about the program and its competitors. Within 3-months, the MBA aspirant was sold to the idea that ‘C-‘ was projecting during the info session. Nothing had changed. The aspirant was influenced by what psychologists called “Mere Exposure Effect.”

In 1968, Zajonc showed how even the repeated exposure of words without any meaning, random photographs, and incomprehensible Chinese calligraphy were enough to form a positive association with the object. We are terrible at distinguishing between quality as an idea and real quality. Advertisers have minted millions of dollars with our shortcoming, and schools have cleverly adapted the idea in a more subtle way. How many car dealers did you visit, and haggled for the price before you purchased your first brand new car, but strangely MBA aspirants take the ‘word’ of the Marketing Manager as the final word. It’s not a crowd-sourced project, it’s your future. Do the work, research, and find a program that will fulfill your goals, not the fake goals that you have prepared for the essays.

I recently spoke to an IT consultant, who had planned for a career change with an MBA, but failed to achieve the objective. The candidate was a perfect fit for the school. For one, he was self-funded, and two he was an archetype of what we call ‘a typical MBA’, but the school’s MBA program was a disappointment. His story of how the Economy was bad and why as an International candidate, jobs were few sounded all familiar to me. Truth is that – jobs were available in the market, but the recruiters had a low opinion about the program. The career change did not happen. As a last resort – to avoid returning home jobless, he took a job in his pre-MBA capacity. The 3-5 congratulations in LinkedIn remained without any response.

Candidates frequently fall for the ‘Mere Exposure Effect’, and remain non-communicative as an Alumni. It’s not that they don’t have the time. The expectations were not met, and the anger remains. The number of Business School Alumni who discourage MBA aspirants from joining the program are far higher than the ‘happy’ smiling alumni you see in info sessions and MBA Tours. After the ‘getting to know each other’ part, the real conversation starts, and you will be exposed to a point of view, completely opposite to the one you heard in the MBA Tour.  Alumni deserve the blame. The expectations they had before an MBA were unrealistic, partially fed by the marketing team at Business Schools, and partly by the illusion that MBA programs are a shortcut for success. MBA widens the opportunities, but you are still you, and it is how you break the barriers – culturally and professionally through aggressive networking that matters in the end.

Remember the 3-Golden Rules

1) Recruiter Reputation

While researching Business Schools, follow MBA ranking publications that consider recruiter reputation as the most influencing factor. The increase in salary is benchmarked at 70-201% for top 100 MBA programs. Don’t spend too much time on this data; most top schools offer a 80-100% increase in salary. Spend more time on how the recruiters perceive the MBA program. The curriculum, the career service team, and the quality of the incoming class contribute towards the opinion of the recruiter.

2) Collect Criticism

With our instinctual habit to confirm our beliefs, the info sessions and MBA Tours becomes an excuse to be lazy, and memorizing whatever facts, the MBA marketing team repeats. No one is willing to challenge the data, or look at a comparative scale, and analyze how the post-MBA job percentage has dropped over the past 3-years. Those who challenge the data or question the value of the MBA program will have a better time finding the MBA program the will eventually fulfil their goals. Is the criticism valid? Evaluate them, and see if the factors mentioned in the criticism have credence for your post-MBA goal.

3) Your Real Goal Matters

MBA programs follow a supply-demand cycle. Recruiters want a certain type of candidates, and schools mentor them accordingly. A few are disenchanted within 3-4 months and discontinue, a few change their life goals to fit with the crowd, and a few are content with their decision to do an MBA. The latter group started with their real goal before selecting the MBA program, not the ‘herd’ like “I want to be an investment banker,” “I want to be a consultant,” chanting that has become synonymous with a post-MBA goal. It’s a code word for “I hate my job, and I will do anything, take even an MBA to get out the job”.

No matter how much you hate your job, it’s not worth risking $100,000 per year for an MBA if you are not clear what it can offer. Research MBA programs for the right reasons.