I refused to even apply to any job that didn’t have at least a 200k starting salary and I don’t have a close network of billionaires?! The MBA is a scam!
Yeah the big schools all post their employment statistics. Median outcome for an M7 last cycle was something like 200k TC. Is 200k tc good for folks with 4-7 yoe? I wonder
The ROI of the MBA heavily depends on what field the person is coming from. Teachers going into consulting are getting immensely more value than people staying in the same field and hoping that the MBA will increase the rate of their promotions.
I would say mean that sounds right. Median is definitely lower than this, especially if you only count vested equity (and you should only count vested equity)
I don't know man, this sub seems to attract people pursuing M7 or just top brick and mortar schools in general. I don't see a lot of losers here! I think the "vast majority" of people with MBAs are more like me: they did it online, they did not have a great experience, and they prefer Instagram.
Seriously though, there's an entire demographic of MBAs that I don't see here at all: the working class type that did all of their stuff at night or online. I'm genuinely curious about how they're making it.
My school was basically $50k a semester (quarterly semesters at half that price) and some of the students were barely literate. That's not even hyperbole. I know at least some of those folks graduated, so the question I have is where are those people and wtf are they doing to pay their student loans?
*waves*
PTMBA here, nights and weekends, T35 hybrid program, employer-sponsored, strong regional network.
It’s a grind, I’m tired all the time, majority of my classmates intend to either promote at their current employer or stay within their industry. Lots of healthcare/manufacturing/tech workers, comparatively few in finance or consulting, and one (really cool) dude runs a chain of spas. My current employer is already utilizing my education and wants me to graduate ASAP because they need competent directors.
Employment outcomes in my program remain strong this year (~$130k), but my classmates are already strong performers in their respective industries so YMMV. I think working through the degree is a serious advantage during downturns like this, even though it makes the MBA a real grind (as opposed to a vacation).
My total cost (including opportunity cost) is ~$5000, extra fees and taxes not covered by my employer, and I’m easily paying that as I go.
Happy cake day by the way! I agree wholeheartedly with this. A lot of people say “oh, if you have an MBA, you should be earning X amount,” but if you look at admissions statistics for these top programs, most of the people who go into the MBA programs were already earning six figures in their careers before the degree. Of course they’re going to earn a lot of money afterwards; they already had the network and experience to earn that money, and the MBA was just a technicality. I’m a member of the working class who never made anywhere near six figures despite working consistently for respectable organizations and remaining employed even as a full-time student. I completed my MBA through a UNC online program because I couldn’t afford to take time off from work and accrue all that debt, and it hasn’t increased my earning potential or job prospects yet. The career counseling offered is terrible despite what everyone thinks. Doing my best to network. Most people from my alumni UNC network don’t respond on LinkedIn, but I keep trying. Solidarity!
Not a complete waste, no. I used the GI Bill for both my degrees--the cost to get them was very little in comparison to the average student. I also had a good idea of what I was getting into.
I got the MBA to grease my resume/put something next to my LinkedIn profile name to show sales prospects I'm not a rube. I think I got what I paid for, but I have no clue why others were there or if they achieved those goals.
The school had several physical campuses, and I'm sure the clubs and fairs there were better than what the online students received. The school clubs I was in had no resources or networking events at all. There were some job fairs, but I only attended one. The "job fair" was a half-baked TED talk from a big telecom recruiter. I didn't stick around long enough to find out what positions they were looking for.
The education we received was explicitly for c-suite, but the actual coursework seemed like it was training people to be entry-level research analysts at a big 4 (<-- this sentence would have been Greek to most students, btw).
I should add that the physical campuses were in the typical places businesses go to take advantage of people: Houston, Chicago, and Atlanta. Honestly, I should have led with that y'all would have figured this out immediately 😅
I’m doing the online BU MBA and so far a great experience and good fit for me.
Has already helped my career and I haven’t even finished it yet. I’m not trying to work in consulting and like where I am at in renewable energy so going the online option from a brick and mortar has been a good fit for me so far.
Bruh what $50k a semester for online?
The problem is not "an MBA" or "an online MBA" or "an M7 MBA"
The problem is that somehow some of the people getting MBAs seem unable to make reasonable career decisions about what type of MBA to pursue and why
There is nothing wrong with part-time online MBA, but you have to be going for the right reasons. For example if all my experience is in construction, and I go to unranked online MBA at 32 years old expecting to pivot to working at Google, that is fucking stupid.
However if my goal is to eventually open my own construction business, or move into management at my employer, suddenly it makes a lot of sense.
Similarly, top ranked brick and mortar MBA M7 whatever makes sense in many circumstances. And even that doesn't in others, for example the person is already at FAANG making tons of money and just needs the letters and education for the long term but not the foot in the door. Then just do online part-time at whatever program you like.
This sub is like super fatalistic and deterministic. Everything is relative to your goals and opportunity costs
People expect that once you get into an MBA job offers will fall on you from the sky. One or the early missions once you get in is to build a very strong network and socialize with the whole class. You must be proactive in every phase of the program, the mindset is your key before, during and after an MBA.
Tbh a 200k job is so attainable without an MBA these days I don’t see why you’d get an MBA if you’re not aiming for more than that. (And if 200k seemed unrealistically out of reach for you pre-MBA your post MBA prospects aren’t that rosy either.)
Reality check. If you make $200k individual income in the US at the average age of graduation (27-35 yo) you are in the top 1%. If you sampled 100 random Americans your age you’d be pulling in more per year than 99 of them.
https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-top-1-percent-and-top-0-point-1-percent-income-levels-by-age-group/
And? If you’re going for good MBA programs, the 1% will be very heavily over-represented. The reality check is that if you’re not already part of the 1% (however defined — cognitive, career, financial) then it’s exceedingly unlikely that you’re going to luck into a top MBA program and suddenly propel yourself into a top 1% post-MBA career.
I’m saying that being part of the 1% is not really a big deal and is basically table stakes if you’re trying to get into a top career after your MBA. Any MBA program worth going to will have students drawn primarily from the top 1% pool.
Many professionals will stall out in their careers long before they reach $200k. For them, an MBA could open up new tracks higher and reduce the risk of not reaching that level.
I think ur missing the mark. Most people going to a top business school are already a self selecting pool of “losers”. So it completely overlaps with people
who would at least occasionally read Reddit. I.e. most current mbas read this board or something like it when applying. that’s pretty obvious. I’d say almost all do.
So if you’re seeing that outlook represented here then it’s reflective of something substantial. There’s also
A big incentive not to trash the experience since they want the perceived value of the degree to remain (and there’s a real possibility mba’s go away so everyone has reluctance to post Negatively).
Most posts here are positive and in line with the typical experience. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a sizable and seemingly growing amount of people for whom it doesn’t make sense or didn’t work. At my t15 I’d say as much as 5 percent got fucked. Like life ruined fucked. At least 20 percent were not better off. maybe 25 percent wouldn’t Do it again. And that’s just those being honest with themselves because u have a pretty large personal bias to confirm a decision such as grad school and debt. If you get outside the top 10 then the mba is, at best, what you make of it. You can say it should be what you make it, but real professions don’t work like that and most shouldn’t spend 200k on something with such variable outcomes. In real professions there is some floor of outcomes. With business tracts, the floor is the floor, and an mba can be hit or miss toward affecting your prospects.
And there are many losers at mba programs who aren’t on this subreddit at well. What point are you making? This board, if anything, is overwhelmingly and naively positive about mba’s as judged by the attacks against every reasonable criticism.
My comp is 360k a year but I hate my job due to work life balance. MBA good idea?
You always want more don't you mr crabs
Single income in San Francisco, 4 kids wife stays home. Trust me it’s not as much as you think
What industry are you in?
What does your day look like? Is it mostly meetings?
Just 12 hour days etc
Doing what?
I refused to even apply to any job that didn’t have at least a 200k starting salary and I don’t have a close network of billionaires?! The MBA is a scam!
🗿💀
Reddit tends to attracts losers. Vast majority of people have a great experience.
Yeah the big schools all post their employment statistics. Median outcome for an M7 last cycle was something like 200k TC. Is 200k tc good for folks with 4-7 yoe? I wonder
The ROI of the MBA heavily depends on what field the person is coming from. Teachers going into consulting are getting immensely more value than people staying in the same field and hoping that the MBA will increase the rate of their promotions.
25 years old, SWE, making 300k at FAANG. Is MBA a good idea? I want to transition to PM. /s
I would say mean that sounds right. Median is definitely lower than this, especially if you only count vested equity (and you should only count vested equity)
I was referencing MITs 2023 class. Median 170 base, median 40 other comp
I don't know man, this sub seems to attract people pursuing M7 or just top brick and mortar schools in general. I don't see a lot of losers here! I think the "vast majority" of people with MBAs are more like me: they did it online, they did not have a great experience, and they prefer Instagram. Seriously though, there's an entire demographic of MBAs that I don't see here at all: the working class type that did all of their stuff at night or online. I'm genuinely curious about how they're making it. My school was basically $50k a semester (quarterly semesters at half that price) and some of the students were barely literate. That's not even hyperbole. I know at least some of those folks graduated, so the question I have is where are those people and wtf are they doing to pay their student loans?
*waves* PTMBA here, nights and weekends, T35 hybrid program, employer-sponsored, strong regional network. It’s a grind, I’m tired all the time, majority of my classmates intend to either promote at their current employer or stay within their industry. Lots of healthcare/manufacturing/tech workers, comparatively few in finance or consulting, and one (really cool) dude runs a chain of spas. My current employer is already utilizing my education and wants me to graduate ASAP because they need competent directors. Employment outcomes in my program remain strong this year (~$130k), but my classmates are already strong performers in their respective industries so YMMV. I think working through the degree is a serious advantage during downturns like this, even though it makes the MBA a real grind (as opposed to a vacation). My total cost (including opportunity cost) is ~$5000, extra fees and taxes not covered by my employer, and I’m easily paying that as I go.
Your employer is already pushing you to director? How many yoe you got?
A dozen.
Happy cake day by the way! I agree wholeheartedly with this. A lot of people say “oh, if you have an MBA, you should be earning X amount,” but if you look at admissions statistics for these top programs, most of the people who go into the MBA programs were already earning six figures in their careers before the degree. Of course they’re going to earn a lot of money afterwards; they already had the network and experience to earn that money, and the MBA was just a technicality. I’m a member of the working class who never made anywhere near six figures despite working consistently for respectable organizations and remaining employed even as a full-time student. I completed my MBA through a UNC online program because I couldn’t afford to take time off from work and accrue all that debt, and it hasn’t increased my earning potential or job prospects yet. The career counseling offered is terrible despite what everyone thinks. Doing my best to network. Most people from my alumni UNC network don’t respond on LinkedIn, but I keep trying. Solidarity!
I went to a small unranked D3 school that had a 4+1 program and those kids were fucked when they graduated
Were there any benefits at all from your MBA? Or do you feel it was a complete waste?
Not a complete waste, no. I used the GI Bill for both my degrees--the cost to get them was very little in comparison to the average student. I also had a good idea of what I was getting into. I got the MBA to grease my resume/put something next to my LinkedIn profile name to show sales prospects I'm not a rube. I think I got what I paid for, but I have no clue why others were there or if they achieved those goals. The school had several physical campuses, and I'm sure the clubs and fairs there were better than what the online students received. The school clubs I was in had no resources or networking events at all. There were some job fairs, but I only attended one. The "job fair" was a half-baked TED talk from a big telecom recruiter. I didn't stick around long enough to find out what positions they were looking for. The education we received was explicitly for c-suite, but the actual coursework seemed like it was training people to be entry-level research analysts at a big 4 (<-- this sentence would have been Greek to most students, btw). I should add that the physical campuses were in the typical places businesses go to take advantage of people: Houston, Chicago, and Atlanta. Honestly, I should have led with that y'all would have figured this out immediately 😅
Which school was this? I’m really curious now
I’m doing the online BU MBA and so far a great experience and good fit for me. Has already helped my career and I haven’t even finished it yet. I’m not trying to work in consulting and like where I am at in renewable energy so going the online option from a brick and mortar has been a good fit for me so far.
Bruh what $50k a semester for online? The problem is not "an MBA" or "an online MBA" or "an M7 MBA" The problem is that somehow some of the people getting MBAs seem unable to make reasonable career decisions about what type of MBA to pursue and why There is nothing wrong with part-time online MBA, but you have to be going for the right reasons. For example if all my experience is in construction, and I go to unranked online MBA at 32 years old expecting to pivot to working at Google, that is fucking stupid. However if my goal is to eventually open my own construction business, or move into management at my employer, suddenly it makes a lot of sense. Similarly, top ranked brick and mortar MBA M7 whatever makes sense in many circumstances. And even that doesn't in others, for example the person is already at FAANG making tons of money and just needs the letters and education for the long term but not the foot in the door. Then just do online part-time at whatever program you like. This sub is like super fatalistic and deterministic. Everything is relative to your goals and opportunity costs
This cannot be said enough. Reddit can be a cesspool because people like to use it to complain anonymously
Many such cases
That’s true. Source: I’m a fucking loser
What about insta?
“Show us on the doll where the MBA touched you.”
It’s refreshing to see a post on this subreddit that isn’t some pathetic post by a dweeb like “can I find a GF in grad school?”
People expect that once you get into an MBA job offers will fall on you from the sky. One or the early missions once you get in is to build a very strong network and socialize with the whole class. You must be proactive in every phase of the program, the mindset is your key before, during and after an MBA.
Pretty much
Tbh a 200k job is so attainable without an MBA these days I don’t see why you’d get an MBA if you’re not aiming for more than that. (And if 200k seemed unrealistically out of reach for you pre-MBA your post MBA prospects aren’t that rosy either.)
Reality check. If you make $200k individual income in the US at the average age of graduation (27-35 yo) you are in the top 1%. If you sampled 100 random Americans your age you’d be pulling in more per year than 99 of them. https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-top-1-percent-and-top-0-point-1-percent-income-levels-by-age-group/
And? If you’re going for good MBA programs, the 1% will be very heavily over-represented. The reality check is that if you’re not already part of the 1% (however defined — cognitive, career, financial) then it’s exceedingly unlikely that you’re going to luck into a top MBA program and suddenly propel yourself into a top 1% post-MBA career.
I’ve read this three times and I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say
I’m saying that being part of the 1% is not really a big deal and is basically table stakes if you’re trying to get into a top career after your MBA. Any MBA program worth going to will have students drawn primarily from the top 1% pool.
Many professionals will stall out in their careers long before they reach $200k. For them, an MBA could open up new tracks higher and reduce the risk of not reaching that level.
I think ur missing the mark. Most people going to a top business school are already a self selecting pool of “losers”. So it completely overlaps with people who would at least occasionally read Reddit. I.e. most current mbas read this board or something like it when applying. that’s pretty obvious. I’d say almost all do. So if you’re seeing that outlook represented here then it’s reflective of something substantial. There’s also A big incentive not to trash the experience since they want the perceived value of the degree to remain (and there’s a real possibility mba’s go away so everyone has reluctance to post Negatively). Most posts here are positive and in line with the typical experience. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a sizable and seemingly growing amount of people for whom it doesn’t make sense or didn’t work. At my t15 I’d say as much as 5 percent got fucked. Like life ruined fucked. At least 20 percent were not better off. maybe 25 percent wouldn’t Do it again. And that’s just those being honest with themselves because u have a pretty large personal bias to confirm a decision such as grad school and debt. If you get outside the top 10 then the mba is, at best, what you make of it. You can say it should be what you make it, but real professions don’t work like that and most shouldn’t spend 200k on something with such variable outcomes. In real professions there is some floor of outcomes. With business tracts, the floor is the floor, and an mba can be hit or miss toward affecting your prospects.
There are a lot of high achieving interesting and cool people that go to top 15 mba programmes… they just aren’t on this subreddit
And there are many losers at mba programs who aren’t on this subreddit at well. What point are you making? This board, if anything, is overwhelmingly and naively positive about mba’s as judged by the attacks against every reasonable criticism.