Is a top business school worth it post-meltdown?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>There have been a lot of threads about the value of attending a top business school (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Northwestern, Dartmouth, etc.) in general, but I’m curious what you think about the value of business school post-meltdown.</p>

<p>If you aren’t going into investment banking (or that the investment banking industry is not coming back), and subtract out the high salaries from investment banking that skew the post-MBA salary data – is it still a good idea to go to business school?</p>

<p>If it doesn’t make sense financially, does it make sense for personal reasons (in terms of a better skill set, etc.)?</p>

2

<p>The value of those top business schools is now, and always has been, the friendships and contacts you make there. If anything, that’s more valuable than ever post-meltdown. It’s really not about where you are one year after getting your MBA. It’s about where you are 25 years after getting your MBA.</p>

3

<p>If you don’t see a clear benefit and know that what you want out of it is a likely outcome, no, it’s not worth it.</p>

4

<p>I can only speak from my own experience. I am at State Univ. NY- Stony Brook. It has a 48 credit accelerated program (I have previous masters) where I take classes nights and Saturdays. The quality of the instruction is excellent. My classmates are young (I am around 50), hardworking, ambitious, many are international, and all are friendly. The cost per credit hour is $338/hr and my job pays part of it.
My motivation is to get a more challenging work position and be more marketable. I just can’t think about the economy- I can’t control it.</p>