I had an interesting discussion with a recent MEMP alumnus the other day about his experience in the program. He was very happy with his activities, courses, faculty, etc. but he expressed frustration about one important aspect of the program – the team work in many of the courses. Actually, he understood all the important aspects of teams that we always talk about and how important team work is to every company that we talk to! He even understood the peer evaluations, which tend to cause great concern with our students but that is a blog for another day. Rather his concern was that he felt too many of the students were in the MEM program primarily to get the Duke brand name on their resume and to find a job. Hmmm, is that a big deal? The problem as he saw it was that this was many times in direct conflict with the goal of learning as much as possible from the program. And when a majority of teammates are more interested in the brand and the job hunt than in learning, it causes a poor experience for the rest of the team. (Side bar: Note that when one or two team mates are distracted, uninterested or just slacking, this is part of the learning process and is an opportunity for the other team mates to lead and motivate! But when most of the team has this problem it is a different story).
So what? Why does it matter if the majority of the team is not engaged, looking for a job instead of learning the info in the course and simply not participating? There is a good argument to be made that this is not fair to the other students and thus should not be allowed. Maybe it borders on a violation of the honor code, at least in theory? But that is not what I want to discuss here. Rather, it is how poor a decision it is for the individuals themselves to focus on the Duke brand on their resume and job hunting (and thus, in their minds, the grades) at the expense of how much is learned each and every day in the program. Why is it such a bad decision? It is really pretty simple. Coming to the MEMP for the Duke brand and to find a job helps you FIND your first position after graduation but it won’t help you once you are actually in the job. Furthermore, focusing on learning absolutely as much as possible while you are in the MEMP will benefit you for many, many years. It will have a much greater impact on your career in every way – from total earnings to the position you attain. And amortized over an entire career or even a decade or so, the MEM program is a real bargain! If it is just helping you find your first job, it is really expensive and has a negative ROI! Don’t get me wrong, I am all for a good brand and working hard to find a job. But if that is your primary reason for coming to the MEM program and interferes with your learning while here, you should reconsider. Rather, think about how to learn as much as possible in order to provide your career a boost for many years to come. Otherwise, it is really not worth the time and money. Only when you consider the learning and the subsequent career boost for several years into the future can you justify the investment.
So this leads to the obvious question for the future: How do we insure that as many students in the program as possible believe this concept and really are here to learn? This will make the program stronger and the experience better for all those involved. Any ideas? If so, please post a comment.
P.S. On another note, please be sure to join our MEMP group on Linked-in if you are a Duke MEM alumnus. And keep your eyes out for an MEM Programs Consortium Linked-in Group for MEM alumni of Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern and Stanford to all join together to really expand our networks. That should be opened soon!
"Engineering Management Thought of the Week" Jeff Glass 
Interviewing select(ed) applicants could be a good first step, even if it means smaller, but higher quality classes.
Actively promote participation in other University-wide activities (there are TONS). It might not seem to have a direct link, but, in my opinion, it encourages the motivation for the right kind of learning in subtle ways. (On the other hand, is being involved in other activities a direct consequence of being motivated to learn in the first place…?).
– Raghuram Jandhyala, MEM ’07
Thanks for the comment. Interviewing is beneficial and we are doing that now for some applicants. I am not convinced it can really get at a student’s motivation since that is easy to “stretch” in an interview. I agree, promoting “co-curricular” activities like the Duke start-up challenge is a good way to excite students about the learning opportunities.
As a prospective MEM applicant, I totally agree that my priority is recruitment. However, I think that is actually a very good thing. Why?
1) MEM students are mostly engg. under-graduates and have already undergone 4 yrs of very intensive course-work. MEM students (especially those with work experience) realize that being technically good is no longer enough. What one really needs is good NETWORKING and INTER-PERSONAL skills. So what you call ‘just using Duke brand’ might be misleading. I would call it ‘leveraging Duke brand to build one’s network in the target industry’. Also, as Duke itself admits MEM is a professional degree like an MBA and not a research degree (www.duke.edu).
2) An MEM is a young program and unlike other program like MIS or MBA, MEM is not widely understood by recruiters. This makes it all the more important for students to network.
3) I don’t think it is possible to get high grades without a sound understanding of subject.