..

[simms]

..

 

[dwell]

A. Can't beat a good education.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

D) Lose my mind to schizophrenia, get electroshock therapy and spend the rest of my life taking long motorcycle trips with my son and musing on the definition of "quality".

 

[KeithTalent]

C. No desire to get an MBA.

KT

 

[Matthiasa]

depends on how good you are at investing.
And how close you to retiring, rate of promotion, and a few other things.
As a rule it is very rarely worth a higher degree due to costs, unless you are guarrentied significant extra pay due to money lost.

For option a it is not just the $100k(would actually probably be more) you spend, it is also the $200-$300K you don't make that you could have during that same period of time as well as what you could have made off of investments with that money. For the info given, the best answer is probably to do nothing.
$400K+ is a lot to make up even if you were to make 20-30k more a year, especially since you would have been at the pay range shortly based on given info.

 

[rockyct]

A. Can't beat a good education.

or in the case of an MBA at Stanford, good networking.

 

[Capt Caveman]

A -> You'll be able to make-up for the loss short-term income over time and the network/job opportunities have been increased dramatically.

 

[Imported]

A. Not an MBA, but if I could get into a top 15 law program, I'd be all over it.

 

[maziwanka]

harvard is harvard. there's a ton of benefits you'll get that you won't realize

 

[mephiston5]

It depends on what the local college is. Some state schools ALMOST = Harvard in terms of average salary.

Also, have you taken the GMAT? You will need a 700+ to get into most top schools.

At the end of the day, if you go to Harvard, you are paying for the name and the connections to people you will get while there. What you learn will be about the same as a "local" school.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Depends on two factors not stated:

How well do you like this good career/stable company?

How old are you?

If you are relatively young (< 30), not seeing yourself as a 30-year employee, have minimal financial obligations (i.e. no family) and (most importantly) want to work as an MBA, then Harvard would be the way to go IMHO

 

[The Boston Dangler]

having the option of harvard and choosing something else, including relying on your current employer indefinitely, is a mistake imo. if i had it to do over again, i would "play the long game"

 

[a123456]

It depends what you're actually going to do with the MBA. I think B is probably the least desirable option, especially since you know you're not going to earn extra money from your current company that way. There's not that much upside to it.

Just going to the classes for 2 years even at Harvard isn't going to get you a whole lot. If you're the type of person that will actually leverage the connections and do tons of networking in those 2 years, then the experience should easily pay for itself. Just having the name on the resume might open an extra door or two when you send out resumes but you still have to close the deal. On the other hand, if you know tons of extra people, especially in the fields you want to work in, then that political capital is worth it.

If you're kind of wishy-washy about it or not that aggressive, then just stick with your current job. An MBA is usually not going to totally change your personality or anything like that. Having been there, the actual content material of the classes is relatively worthless, so what's left is the people interaction. If you're not going to take full advantage of the networking, Option C will get you more money since you don't stop working for 2 years.

 

[Soccerman06]

OK Ill ask it, what fing job pays 80-90k without a degree or anything of the sort?

 

[Capt Caveman]

OK Ill ask it, what fing job pays 80-90k without a degree or anything of the sort?

??? He already has a degree. The question is about getting a MBA.

 

[ed21x]

Depends on what state college you are going to... there is a huge difference from say, UCI, and UCLA. But in your situation, I would actually choose 'B.'

"A' is not a desirable choice as even with the slight increase in average salary, it could take you maybe 5-6 years just to break even, assuming you do get a job that is higher paying immediately after you graduate from Harvard. With each passing year, an MBA becomes more and more useless as the market is already flooded with people who have MBAs, even from top tier schools. Especially during this recession, everyone and their dad left work to get an MBA.

I'd say keey your job now, save up, invest, and enjoy the returns later. 15k is a small investment on the side for an MBA that might be useful later.

 

[simms]

OP updated with all the previous questions.

 

[thegimp03]

I think it really depends on career aspirations. If you want to be a "C-level" executive at a Fortune 500 company, the Harvard option gives you the best chance. Yes, there's the opportunity cost of giving up 2 years of salary, but I think these days, having a top 5-10 MBA or equivalent degree may be the only way to have a chance to make it into Fortune 500 executive levels if you're only a few years into work. Of course, that is unless you happen to be in the right place at the right time at various times in your career, and that takes a lot of luck. Even if you're a "superstar", looking for that promotion to Director or VP or Senior VP, there's always the chance the company may decide to pass you up for promotion and hire someone from outside the company.

I think the days of starting at a company with a B.S. degree right out of college and working there for 35 years slowly making your way up to executive levels are over unless you work in certain industries...

 

[Cattlegod]

I vote A by a mile and switch careers. Don't even consider B. C is always an option, but if you are anything like me, you will not be content with a do nothing option.

One thing to be wary about - your assumption that you will be at 110k in 5 years depends on a lot of things. Think of where you were 5 years ago, did you have any idea that you would be where you are at now?

I'm a recent Ross grad btw. Have an engineering undergrad and was in my mid 20s when I started the program.

 

[iGas]

D. Keep the job and go to night school for an MBA.

 

[CraigRT]

I'd pick C only because I could not imagine making that much money...

I don't make bad money but I know what most ppl in management's shoes are making and its nowhere near $100k.

Sometimes I just don't get it..

If being realistic, I would pick B... (I'm still contemplating a B type scenario myself)

 

[MotF Bane]

Possibly relevant question: where do you live currently?

Personal curiosity: what was your undergraduate school?

 

[ed21x]

OP updated with all the previous questions.

in that case, an MBA from a school ranked #50 is pretty damn useless, so your choices are either A or C. Of those two, pick A.

 

[lokiju]

A: No matter how good things are at a given company it doesn't mean that things won't get bad down the road.

An education is something that'll help you out for the rest of your life.

 

[simms]

..