What Really is the Value of a TOP MBA program?

[gellino]

<p>

After all, I’m old enough to recall when Stanford was not considered a top school, and Northwestern was not in the running at all for a top MBA candidate.

</p>

<p>My Dad graduated from college in the '60s and he made it sound like he and his classmates regarded Stanford as one of the top three schools even then. I’ll grant you Kellogg is a more recent phenomenon. </p>

<p>

Confidence, inspiration, and similar traits are individual, not something that the school can provide

</p>

<p>I definitely disagree with this. Being around smart, ambitious, diverse group of students can’t help but to inspire people and the top programs do provide this environment through the caliber of candidates they bring on.</p>

<p>

for networking and friends, you can do that at any large school, and with the internet it’s not hard at all to build a robust network even for small schools.

</p>

<p>I wouldn’t discount the personal touch here. There is a big difference between the friends and network you’re going to have and what their influence on you is going to be in attending Stanford, Wharton, Tuck, MIT than in attending Minnesota, Iowa, Maryland, Illinois.</p>

[MBA_Grad_2009]

<p>Shows what a different perspective can do. Here in Texas it took a long time for the West Coast schools to get any respect, from what my dad used to say. HBS and Wharton were the top dogs for a very long time, with Texas schools getting support from good ol’ boys (remember - this is oil & energy territory, and there’s a real cowboy culture even now, it drove my dad crazy since he was born and raised in Philly). </p>

<p>As to influence, we’ll have to agree to disagree. I concur that the people you hang around with will influence you, but sometimes that also means you get dissuaded by arrogant people who look down on anyone outside their clique. That’s not a knock on anyone, just personal observation from a quarter-century of working.</p>

<p>In regards to networking, one thing that changes the rules is that there’s more cross-school professional networking. It’s pretty darn easy these days to chase down old high school friends and find out where the new CAO made his bones. My network includes my undergrad and graduate schools, but also employers, church, fellow sports officials and even my oncologists. It’s just a bigger market.</p>

[roneald]

<p>Thanks for all the input. I found it all the to be very informative. </p>

<p>To try and steer this discussion in a different direction:
What would be the real differences in attending a top 15 program (UCLA/Cornell) vs a top 3 (HWS)?</p>

[roneald]

<p>To qualify, I know that the response to this is highly dependent on where you are, so feel free to address whether the impact your addressing is relative to Wall Street, the West Coast, or any specific branch of business (management, entrepreneurship, finance, etc).</p>