Does an MBA hold the same weight anymore?

This is obviously pure anecdotal but I work in finance for a 2nd tier consulting company. There is a new hire, working in the same department as me, that is making 5k more than me but this person has an MBA from Columbia vs my MSF from Loyola University Maryland (I’m in my late 20’s). This makes you wonder about if the MBA degree is becoming so proliferated that it’s loosing it’s earning potential. Any thoughts? I’m starting to think that unless you go to Kellogg, Wharton, HBS, or Chicago you’re wasting your time/money getting an MBA!

It’s all relative and you’re basing some assumptions off of one person. Did that person switch careers? $5k isn’t much of a difference, as you said, but the information you provided isn’t useful unless we know your base salary. The same thing can be said for JDs, MDs, etc… As additional b schools pop up around the world and more people try to obtain their MBAs, the elite schools will become even more prestigious and harder to get into. Most people will now say that unless you attend a top 25 program an MBA will probably have a negative NPV over the course of that person’s life. Post-MBA salaries start to drop off once you get out of the top 20-25 programs.

@Chuck, Show me yours and I’ll show you mine… I wouldn’t agree with your assertion about an MD though. An MD takes 8-10 years of study (not including undergrad), very competitive application process, and numerous exams. IMO, an M.D. will for the foreseeable future be a degree that’s worth it’s weight in gold. Any MD> Top MBA> Top JD

Zesty, MBAs have never been the top tier. Just a reasonable way to get to a pretty comfortable spot in life. If one’s doing really well in one’s career at 27, one doesn’t bother going back to get an MBA because the opportunity cost is too high.

This really says nothing to me… is he younger than you? Past work experiences? Personalities? Are you sure it wasn’t a part time MBA/executive MBA? 5k now but how much long term? (We would need to wait and see) The job market hasn’t really recovered yet either. Also, the weight of the MBA has been throughly discussed on this forum: clearly, more people are getting degrees so it would make sense that the competition, coupled with a shaky job market, would make it harder to sign for good wages. Plus, the numbers on school sites are always medians: even though the median might be 100-140k, one guy might be making 200k and another might be making 60k – we don’t know.

strikethree Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This really says nothing to me… is he younger > than you? Past work experiences? Personalities? > Are you sure it wasn’t a part time MBA/executive > MBA? 5k now but how much long term? (We would need > to wait and see) > > The job market hasn’t really recovered yet > either. > > Also, the weight of the MBA has been throughly > discussed on this forum: clearly, more people are > getting degrees so it would make sense that the > competition, coupled with a shaky job market, > would make it harder to sign for good wages. > > Plus, the numbers on school sites are always > medians: even though the median might be 100-140k, > one guy might be making 200k and another might be > making 60k – we don’t know. The employment reports of the MBA schools are very tricky. They tell you that the median salary of students with a job 3 months after graduation is 100k. However, this doesn’t account the fact that, for example, only 70% of the graduating students got jobs. This means that the median salary is really 70K and not 100K. What do you think?

Zesty Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > @Chuck, Show me yours and I’ll show you mine… > > I wouldn’t agree with your assertion about an MD > though. An MD takes 8-10 years of study (not > including undergrad), very competitive application > process, and numerous exams. IMO, an M.D. will for > the foreseeable future be a degree that’s worth > it’s weight in gold. > > Any MD> Top MBA> Top JD Trust me, I know. I was pre-med for three years and almost took the MCAT. I wanted to be an surgical ENT and that would have taken something like 8 years beyond med school. Any MD>Top MBA> Top JD I’m assuming this scale is ranking the lifetime earning potential? I would strongly disagree. Think about it. M school is 4 years, b school 2, and l school 3. If you go to b school you have a two year head start on the MDs. M school is also much more expensive so that just adds to the debt load as well. A person can easily graduate from med school over $250k in debt. Once you come out of med school you do your three year clinical rotations and make $80-90k and work 80 hour weeks. By the time you actually hit six figures as an MD you are already 30 years old and suffering from a heavy debt load. If you want to really make it rain as an MD you obviously need to go into private practice and specialize in something like pre-natal neurosurgery. With all of the health care reform coming down the pipe I really don’t see becoming a doctor an easy path to cush life anymore. Finance is unfortunately driven by prestige. Where you went to school matters, a lot. L school has the T14 rankings, but you can be just as competitive with the T14s from a state l school so long as your class ranking is high enough. M school is a little different. The industry does not place as much emphasis on school rankings and prestige which is a nice change of pace. We all know MDs, JDs, and MBAs that all make it rain. What you choose to do with the degree is what sets you apart from everyone else.

Oh my god. If you say “make it rain” one more time, I am going to vomit on my keyboard.

make it rain

lol, Make it rain!

MDs make it rain

I will crush all of you and hear the lamentation of your women.

If I pass level 1 how hard can I make it rain?

You’ll make it rain harder than Noah.

If I pass level 2 how hard can I make it rain?

This hard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_asu7n6QUc

ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I will crush all of you and hear the lamentation > of your women. And in pimpingeasy’s case, his tranny.

Chuckrox8 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Trust me, I know. I was pre-med for three years > and almost took the MCAT. I wanted to be an > surgical ENT and that would have taken something > like 8 years beyond med school. lol, I’m not disagreeing with your message as a whole, but this part made me laugh. I think most admin assistants started out as pre-med - hell, half of entering college students probably think they’re pre-med. And you “almost” took the MCAT? Does that mean you considered signing up for the exam, which should give weight to your argument?

let’s not compare MDs to someone in business with an MBA or whatever. Doctors, on average earn more than MBAs. It’s the outliers for MBA grads that make a lot of money. But for me, the real difference is respect. I can graduate from HBS or MIT MBA and still be called MR. Infinity. But with a medical degree i’m a doctor. It takes a long time and hard work to be a doctor so it must be that good. If I can study 10 hours a day for 8-10 years or so including undergrad and was smart enough, I think I would love to be a doctor. Be done with intern and all that by 28-29 years old and make 250K a year. Working hours is not as bad as finance. Plus people in the community call me Dr. Infinity =) Yeah, I’ll have debt of about $300K but so what. For business people to make 250K MOST would need a post degree plus some kind of studying, hence that is what we are doing. Doctors save lives. When we are sick and in acute pain, some pray but in the end they go see the doctors. To me, that is ultimate pride (if I was a doctor). Ok back to CFA studying lol

mik82 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The employment reports of the MBA schools are very > tricky. They tell you that the median salary of > students with a job 3 months after graduation is > 100k. However, this doesn’t account the fact that, > for example, only 70% of the graduating students > got jobs. This means that the median salary is > really 70K and not 100K. What do you think? What do I think? That you have no idea how a median works.