I need MBA advice to make sure I don't waste two years and $100k

I personally don't understand why anyone would take themself out of the work force to get a degree when they could be working toward their dream job. We've had some people come through our company recently that have MBAs... and they were just nothing- nothing about their work that made them special or even worth keeping around, and it seemed like they had wasted their money. If you're going to make an investment, invest your energy and your time to be the best employee at the best job you can find, and you'll move your way up the ranks in no time (at which point, maybe your company will pay for your education and Chinese lessons!)

Yes, you can get into a top school with bad grades and good standardized test scores. Especially with work experience and a really convincing in person interview with the dean of admissions or his proxy. I had a 2.47 and got into Newsweek's (at the time) top school. The key was the test scores so the admissions could justify your ability and the interview to explain the reasons why you had a low score and the upward slope to the grades as well as the really great things you want to do with your MBA. Sounds like you have thought it out. If you can go at night, you can keep the best of both worlds (work and education). No, not everyone at business school was a money hungry pretentious ass. Many were. Many others were more than willing to help, to be friends and to work collaboratively. I also found some lifelong drinking buddies. Although I have no idea if it translates into marketing, the investment bankers I know who speak the language of the country in which they work are higher paid and enjoy living abroad much more. YMMV. If you are going simply based on the return on investment from a financial standpoint, it is probably not a good investment. If you are going because it will help you get into a field of work you would really enjoy, but otherwise could not get into without an MBA, then go for it.

i have a good friend getting an mba. i suppose it might pay for itself, but i have my doubts (granted, this is coming from someone with the most useless graduate degree EVER, so believe me, i'm not passing judgment, just making the observation). also, from meeting her schoolmates and from the mba students at my own school (two different ivies) i have to say that you must be prepared to re-enter a social scene that is a hundred times more toxic than high school, in terms of social competitiveness and self-involvement. of course not all b-school students are like this, but man, i would not spend two years with these people even if i could increase my annual salary by a factor of ten. i don't know exactly what you will learn at school that you won't learn on the job--what you are really paying for at high-powered schools is the networking. only you can judge if it's necessary. if you want the knowledge, do an executive mba on weekends through a local college and spare yourself the social and financial pain. but you might do better just to take specific classes, if you are lacking a particular skill. mba programs make their money because people are insecure about their own potential and think they need the letters after their name to give themselves a boost. that's their marketing plan. if you are getting a lot of good experience where you are, just network like crazy.

Interesting you should mention this topic. I have been considering going back to get my MPA (Masters in Public Administration). I'm a tad bit older than you- just turned 50. I just enjoy learning. I have a great job in a very large non-profit as a techno-crat. This was a career change for me several years ago. I already made the money, bought the cars, the houses, etc etc- so money and ego are not the motivation. That said... in my organization, and others like it I'm sure, there is a little bit of a glass ceiling that you you can hit without some acronym behind your name. Just like the BA or BS gives you (as my econ prof used to say) a "license to compete" for certain positions, those added initials give you a license with an endorsement. If you are interested in the public/non-profit side of things- you might check on some of the executive or managerial MPA or MBA's- you can still have a career while working on your degree. My two cents worth- YMMV.

If you get into a top ten or near top ten school, then yes it is worth it. You will make back your tuition etc. in enhanced earings many times over. Podunk business school? Well, if you have no business sense, then that is worth it for the learning, otherwise maybe not. B school is very much about burnishing the resume, and podunk u ain't gonna do it. So, you haven't even applied yet. See where you get in and then re-evaluate. Add to this, a local B school which is not a national power but which has local connections can help you greatly in a local market.

It's been said that the value of an MBA is not the education itself, per se, but the contacts and connections you make there, and the recruiting that is done by companies at graduation. At Harvard, Stanford, etc, this is enormously valuable. But an MBA from University of Random State U with Decent Football Team? Yeah, not so much. Don't waste your time.

Consider a more specialized degree since you know what you want. There is a Masters in International Business at the school I attend (where I am getting my Masters of Science in Finance). We of the specialized degrees (Masters in: Int'l Business, Real Estate, Entrepreneurship, Finance, etc.) regularly take classes with the MBAs and you can't tell what degree program any particular motivated and interested student is taking. Its the large portion of folks who are getting MBAs because they have nothing better to do that dilute the degree and leave it as much of a networking tool and social enclave as an academic learning experience. And with all these specialized programs growing in popularity, its fast becoming the undecideds who are populating the MBA. As far as getting accepted goes I got into my program with a self-designed undergrad degree in philosophy, psychology and theology, a few years in retail management and bookkeeping, and a couple of accounting classes from the local university in the evenings. I interviewed my way in because I had a clear vision of what I wanted out of the program. (My email is in my profile if I can help in more detail)

I like bytemover's concept of a "license to compete"... Sure, you could learn all the stuff from an MBA in the workplace, but the easiest way for somebody to ensure you have the knowledge is to have those three letters after your name... I used to say that people shortlist based on items like qualificiation and I'm sure you'd prefer to be in the "has a masters" pile on the top of the desk rather than the "doesn't have a masters" pile under the desk! Having said that, have you considered a more specialised Masters degree? As you can see from some of the comments, the MBA is becoming a little-bit of a "fashion" degree, so maybe you'd be better off with a Masters of Marketing or somesuch? Full Disclaimer: These comments are coming from an Academic with many letters after his name and a passion for people to get more education (hence the job I guess), so please apply your own filter based on your educational experience

I have an MBA and I teach GMAT prep sometimes. Although I scored in the 99th percentile on the verbal and had fairly high undergrad grades, I chose to do a weekend-based executive MBA program here in Vancouver. I didn't want to take two full years out of my career. If I had gone to Harvard, I would have spent USD 150k, perhaps a little more. However, instead, I spent the equivalent of USD 37k while continuing in my career and earning an income. I was also able to buy into the real estate market. If I'd had USD 150k in loans, I wouldn't have been able to do that. I also might have had to defer the decision to have a child when I did, because I would have needed money to pay back loans. You hear all this stuff about needing the contacts at a prestigious university. Well, I went to a Canadian EMBA program. Many classmates have gone on to VP positions and my teammate, a woman, is now the CEO of an engineering firm with hundreds of employees. I've got a really good network, although mostly for positions here in Canada. But I don't want to leave. I'm currently self-employed and not looking to work in an office job, but I get calls from recruiters about positions here in *Vancouver* that pay six-figure salaries. I have no doubt that I could make even more in the US or elsewhere in the world. I didn't go to Podunk U, but I also didn't go to an Ivy League school for my MBA. I'd heard from people who did shell out $150k that they felt obligated to work at high-paying positions so that they could recoup their tuition, even though they were interested in other jobs. And the loan costs caused them to delay other pursuits in life, like children and homes. Some of them feel they can't come back to a smaller city, like Vancouver, because they will only make $120k a year, not $150k. And so on. When I teach GMAT classes, some people can't believe I didn't go to a famous school. But I think I made the right decision for me and that's what counts.