..

[Slew Foot]

Really the only times its financially worth going to extra schooling is a top 15 law or business school, or med school if you're going to specialize, or dental school.

 

[Ionizer86]

I say option C. With option A, how do you know you can recoup the tremendous opportunity costs and tuition costs for the MBA? Even if you graduate and land a baller job that pays 120k+, that job most likely comes with long hours. Have you necessarily improved your compensation to effort (or time) ratio vs. your current position?

Depending on how close you are to your S/O, it may be pretty sub-optimal to move away and try to carry on long-distance. Your personal life should factor into your decision as well. Also, bear in mind that statistically, MBA's are more likely to divorce than people with a BS/BA, although I don't have enough information to guess whether it's more of a correlation or a causation effect.

If you are not yet familiar, now would be a good time to read up on Prospect Theory too. In a nutshell, equivalent sized losses hurt psychologically roughly twice as much as equivalent sized gains. What if you take on the 6 figure tuition bill, and after graduating, you find that you can't really score a much higher paying position than what you have now? It might be more disappointing than if you lived your life with option C while wondering what you could have accomplished by going with option A.

 

[Blackjack200]

From what I've read, Harvard and the other top B schools are looking for "upper management potential" when they screen applicants. Basically, they're looking for people that almost certain to reach the upper ranks of business. As a result, big firms know that there graduates are top quality, not because the school is so great, but because they screen for the very best. That's why it's not so much what they teach, IMO, or even the networking, it seems like a big rubber stamp on your talent. That stamp is worth a tremendous amount of money, and I'd sell the house to go if I could get in.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

A. TOP school please. And 690 on GMAT is meh. Shoot for better if you want top 15.

 

[Blackjack200]

Also, bear in mind that statistically, MBA's are more likely to divorce than people with a BS/BA, although I don't have enough information to guess whether it's more of a correlation or a causation effect.

They're divorcing their plain ol' wives and macking it with hotties in NY night clubs. :awe:

 

[BoberFett]

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

I made six figures as the Director of IT at a medium sized company with no college. Just need to be intelligent and take opportunities as they arise. College is overrated.

 

[BoberFett]

No one got the reference in my post? ATOT makes me sad

I got it. It made me grin.

 

[Blackjack200]

I made six figures as the Director of IT at a medium sized company with no college. Just need to be intelligent and take opportunities as they arise. College is overrated.

Rising to that level without any college is rare.

 

[vrbaba]

C, because you have to still think about it and need confirmation from others on what you will be doing is right or not.

 

[alkemyst]

The ones that don't consider Harvard are the ones that can't get in.

 

[Pegun]

In this economy? Option B sounds awfully appealing. That also has to do with whether you can keep the work from both sides straight. I like having a safety net and being in the situation now of trying to find a job that will allow me to apply the Master's Degree education I have has been a bitch and a half.

 

[soulcougher73]

C. No desire to get an MBA.

KT

This.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

C. If you're only going to increase your salary by 20-30k after the MBA, it's going to take a long time to recoup the opportunity cost of lost salary.

 

[yh125d]

B


While you may not get a pay increase for it right now, it could put you over someone else for some big promotion in 5 years time if you stay at your company

 

[zinfamous]

It's one thing to waste a colossal amount of cash on something as silly as an MBA, it's quite another to waste triple that b/c a particular name is stamped to it.

 

[ViviTheMage]

In your shoes .. A, if it was me, i'd do none of the above.

 

[Blackjack200]

It's one thing to waste a colossal amount of cash on something as silly as an MBA, it's quite another to waste triple that b/c a particular name is stamped to it.

It's a silly arrangement, but it's still a legitimate stepping stone to an exceptionally high paying position in the financial industry.

 

[Imdmn04]

I made six figures as the Director of IT at a medium sized company with no college. Just need to be intelligent and take opportunities as they arise. College is overrated.

You are an exception, not the trend. In an argument, never use the exception case to make your case, even if you are that exception. Plus how do you know you won't in the VP/C-level position by now had you gone to college? There is an education glass ceiling in almost all companies nowadays at the upper management level. Today, to make VP and C level executives, an MBA is almost required. (Again, there are exceptions, so don't blurt out Bill Gates examples because that is meaningless)

For every high school grad like you, there are thousands that are doing a lot worse. College is not a golden ticket for every individual that goes through it, but from a broader statistical perspective, someone with a college degree will most likely be more financially successful than someone without.