Does it matter where you get a MBA?

[yoman]

One of my good buddies from HS got a degree in Finance from KU and had a pretty sweet job down in Dallas. Just quit his job and will be taking on around 160k in student loans to get an MBA from Cornell....Not something I would do but good for him.

This seems like an incredibly bad idea. Just astronomically bad.

[ben ji]

One of my good buddies from HS got a degree in Finance from KU and had a pretty sweet job down in Dallas. Just quit his job and will be taking on around 160k in student loans to get an MBA from Cornell....Not something I would do but good for him.

what you've described is actually not good for him

This seems like an incredibly bad idea. Just astronomically bad.

Yeah, his dad is not happy...but then again this guy had a really shitty home life(lived in vegas motels with meth'd out mom until high school, moved to joco to live with alchy dad) and managed to get a full ride to KU and land a sweet gig in dallas.

His goal is to be an investment banker after he graduates cornell so i wish him the best.

[yoman]

One of my good buddies from HS got a degree in Finance from KU and had a pretty sweet job down in Dallas. Just quit his job and will be taking on around 160k in student loans to get an MBA from Cornell....Not something I would do but good for him.

what you've described is actually not good for him

This seems like an incredibly bad idea. Just astronomically bad.

Yeah, his dad is not happy...but then again this guy had a really shitty home life(lived in vegas motels with meth'd out mom until high school, moved to joco to live with alchy dad) and managed to get a full ride to KU and land a sweet gig in dallas.

His goal is to be an investment banker after he graduates cornell so i wish him the best.

He could make a lot more money as an investment banker, no doubt. However, that business is extremely cut throat and hard to make it in. Not sure if it is worth gambling 160k/year, especially if there is a chance for growth in that company. Best of luck to him though, he will need it in the investment banking world. 

[Trim]

One of my good buddies from HS got a degree in Finance from KU and had a pretty sweet job down in Dallas. Just quit his job and will be taking on around 160k in student loans to get an MBA from Cornell....Not something I would do but good for him.

what you've described is actually not good for him

This seems like an incredibly bad idea. Just astronomically bad.

Yeah, his dad is not happy...but then again this guy had a really shitty home life(lived in vegas motels with meth'd out mom until high school, moved to joco to live with alchy dad) and managed to get a full ride to KU and land a sweet gig in dallas.

His goal is to be an investment banker after he graduates cornell so i wish him the best.

He could make a lot more money as an investment banker, no doubt. However, that business is extremely cut throat and hard to make it in. Not sure if it is worth gambling 160k/year, especially if there is a chance for growth in that company. Best of luck to him though, he will need it in the investment banking world. 

He's not making $160k/year.  Well, he might be, but not because ben ji posted that he'd be taking out 160k in loans.

[yoman]

One of my good buddies from HS got a degree in Finance from KU and had a pretty sweet job down in Dallas. Just quit his job and will be taking on around 160k in student loans to get an MBA from Cornell....Not something I would do but good for him.

what you've described is actually not good for him

This seems like an incredibly bad idea. Just astronomically bad.

Yeah, his dad is not happy...but then again this guy had a really shitty home life(lived in vegas motels with meth'd out mom until high school, moved to joco to live with alchy dad) and managed to get a full ride to KU and land a sweet gig in dallas.

His goal is to be an investment banker after he graduates cornell so i wish him the best.

He could make a lot more money as an investment banker, no doubt. However, that business is extremely cut throat and hard to make it in. Not sure if it is worth gambling 160k/year, especially if there is a chance for growth in that company. Best of luck to him though, he will need it in the investment banking world. 

He's not making $160k/year.  Well, he might be, but not because ben ji posted that he'd be taking out 160k in loans.

Welp. crap. On the plus side: it makes the decision look significantly better.

[wetwillie]

Cornell is a top ten program, I thought that made it worth it.

[yoman]

Cornell is a top ten program, I thought that made it worth it.

It depends upon your situation. If it's likely to give you a significant career bump, do it. If not, (which in all likelihood, it wouldn't in a $160k/year situation like I was reading but was not described) then it is a waste of time.

[Emo EMAW]

Those guys end up working 80 hours a week anyway.  No thanks.

[pissclams]

Cornell is a top ten program, I thought that made it worth it.

there's a reason why you never made it into a top ten MBA program

[lopakman]

I can confirm that an MBA from the University of Kansas was totally worth it because I quit my job, got to enjoy an extra year and half of college and it was paid for.  The program was pretty pud.  I took 18 hours a semester and still had plenty of time for binging.  Am I making more money now because of my MBA?  Probably not but it was still worth it.

[michigancat]

eh, Cornell is sort of close to top 10. But expensive is better, right?

[Dr Rick Daris]

yeah. really the only good part about getting an mba at a non top tenish school would be if you quit work for two years to do it. college life is pretty great. that and again, you'd theoretically have another school to root for in sports if you played your cards right. mba from oklahoma state? you just doubled your chance at a dr pepper. 

[Skipper44]

It would seem to smarter to spend $160k on an Ivy League MBA than $100k on a state MBA and that doesn't even begin to add in the networking possibilities of attending a school like Cornell.  If the guy has worked some and now really wants be an investment banker, it seems like a pretty safe investment. 

There are thousands of new grads on the east coast that will have six figures in debt for their infinitely less marketable undergrad degrees from a "prestigious" private school.

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

i hear ithaca is pretty nice in the winter. good call on his part, imo.

[Lynchmobrules]

mba from oklahoma state? you just doubled your chance at a dr pepper.

Not getting an mba, but will be starting grad school there in a few weeks.

[michigancat]

It would seem to smarter to spend $160k on an Ivy League MBA than $100k on a state MBA and that doesn't even begin to add in the networking possibilities of attending a school like Cornell.  If the guy has worked some and now really wants be an investment banker, it seems like a pretty safe investment. 

There are thousands of new grads on the east coast that will have six figures in debt for their infinitely less marketable undergrad degrees from a "prestigious" private school.

eh, you'd be surprised at the jobs those "less marketable" degrees from those schools land. I'm sure a lot of History and English majors at those schools took MBA spots at better schools and pushed our Dallas friend to Cornell.

[Skipper44]

It would seem to smarter to spend $160k on an Ivy League MBA than $100k on a state MBA and that doesn't even begin to add in the networking possibilities of attending a school like Cornell.  If the guy has worked some and now really wants be an investment banker, it seems like a pretty safe investment. 

There are thousands of new grads on the east coast that will have six figures in debt for their infinitely less marketable undergrad degrees from a "prestigious" private school.

eh, you'd be surprised at the jobs those "less marketable" degrees from those schools land. I'm sure a lot of History and English majors at those schools took MBA spots at better schools and pushed our Dallas friend to Cornell.

I am sure some did but I would guess the majority did not.  I had a few beers with a UT MBA grad that had some role on the admissions committee when he was there.  His anecdotal story is that the UT business school would be 99% foreign born students if they went strictly by GPA and test scores.

[michigancat]

It would seem to smarter to spend $160k on an Ivy League MBA than $100k on a state MBA and that doesn't even begin to add in the networking possibilities of attending a school like Cornell.  If the guy has worked some and now really wants be an investment banker, it seems like a pretty safe investment. 

There are thousands of new grads on the east coast that will have six figures in debt for their infinitely less marketable undergrad degrees from a "prestigious" private school.

eh, you'd be surprised at the jobs those "less marketable" degrees from those schools land. I'm sure a lot of History and English majors at those schools took MBA spots at better schools and pushed our Dallas friend to Cornell.

I am sure some did but I would guess the majority did not.  I had a few beers with a UT MBA grad that had some role on the admissions committee when he was there.  His anecdotal story is that the UT business school would be 99% foreign born students if they went strictly by GPA and test scores.

Well, yeah, because the top 10 schools were letting the private school kids in and pushing the foreign kids down to UT.

[Havs]

Part of the lure of land-grants is the increased value of an undergraduate degree that doesn't require a masters. A large portion of students I know at the University of Iowa major in Political Science, Communications, or Psychology and hope they get into grad school. Seems like a waste unless the plan is to go to law school.

[yoman]

Part of the lure of land-grants is the increased value of an undergraduate degree that doesn't require a masters. A large portion of students I know at the University of Iowa major in Political Science, Communications, or Psychology and hope they get into grad school. Seems like a waste unless the plan is to go to law school.

Getting a degree in these areas if you want a well paying job without going to graduate school is a waste regardless of where you got your degree from.

[michigancat]

Part of the lure of land-grants is the increased value of an undergraduate degree that doesn't require a masters. A large portion of students I know at the University of Iowa major in Political Science, Communications, or Psychology and hope they get into grad school. Seems like a waste unless the plan is to go to law school.

Getting a degree in these areas if you want a well paying job without going to graduate school is a waste regardless of where you got your degree from.

Like I said earlier, at elite undergrads, those people get decent jobs as consultants or do something like the Peace Corps or Teach for America and set themselves up for elite grad schools.