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KingMorse posted:I think the other part of my initial post that is important is that a lot of this depends on your chosen route. If you're happy being a part of the machine, you will benefit from an MBA. If you're not, you probably won't. I am going to attempt to quantify exactly what it is you're saying, followed by a question: Basically, getting an MBA is one of the best ways to get above middle management and be part of the upper class (1%), albeit the lower echelon of the upper class (250-500K salary, net worth in the 5-10 million but not ridiculous high net worth), but it is not the way to become a mega baller. So here's my question: I'm a software engineer of a few years, planning on going for an MBA eventually (though likely not for another 3-4 years, considering my happiness in current situation including life and salary). I have a meh GPA of 3.0 from a meh school of Rutgers with a good major of Computer Science (wish I'd tried harder in college) and a freaking awesome 740 GMAT. Will I be able to get into a top MBA school...assuming I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help my application over the next few years(suggestions for this would be appreciated)? And if so, am I correct in summarzing what you're trying to say? Would I be able to move up the corporate ladder with that 250-500K salary I'm speaking of and suddenly no longer want to vote Obama 
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Oct 10, 2008 21:42
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KingMorse posted:This is not too bad of a way to say it, but I have some issue with the phrase "one of the best ways". It's *a* way but if you're looking for what's going to give you the highest probability of getting to that top 1% it could very well be something other than getting an MBA. I would also argue that the proportion of people who have MBAs and live in that top 1% is probably not nearly as high as you'd think compared to other college graduates or those with other post-grad educations. I'm telling you, MBAs really are a dime-a-dozen and one is going to only help you if you wind up in a very specific sort of environment. Another way to look at this is that in terms of raw numbers (not proportion) there are probably way more non-MBAs in the top 1% than MBAs. I think you're being overly pessimistic on the MBA front. You're treating all MBAs as equal in your posts. Try to differentiate. If you're doing an online MBA from the University of Phoenix, you're going to have a different level of success than getting an MBA from Stanford. And I'm not just talking top 10 here; you'd be doing yourself a world of good getting an MBA from a place like the University of Maryland (top 30 program) or even Penn State (top 50 program). I think you're underselling an MBA here. A Harvard MBA is certainly not a dime a dozen, nor are MBAs from top 50 schools even (though they are in more abundance than said Harvard and Stanford MBA). If you're going to treat all MBAs as one and the same, you should do the same for colleges. And I'd wager that a guy getting an MBA from a terrible school is doing better, on average, than a guy getting an associate's degree at community college or a bachelors degree at the bottom rung of schools in the country.
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Oct 13, 2008 18:12
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KingMorse posted:If you look at my post later where I spell out low-performer/average-performer/et cetera I do differentiate and accommodate for the fact that higher performing people are more likely to have a more valuable MBA. I'm not trying to get into an argument over he said/she said, pointing out minor inconsistencies, etc. What I'm trying to point out is that while you can talk about higher performing people having more valuable MBAs, the same can be said with anything. Higher performing people are more likely to have more valuable bachelors degrees. How is this different when it comes to an MBA?
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Oct 13, 2008 18:41
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locdogg posted:Knowing little about his situation I am going to make some broad based assumptions and assume he he is thinking about the "traditional" MBA path. That is, get a job and work for an established firm in some sort of managerial role post MBA. What I find interesting about this, having been a long-time software developer: During and after the tech bubble crash, there was a HUGE flight away from students pursuing software development or anything tech related, which as far as I know is still a problem at the college level. And what has happened? Companies are extremely hungry for young people with these skills; my company has a huge hiring freeze going on at most departments right now, but in IT we are still hiring, and hard. In fact I'd get a huge bonus for bringing in a college age kid. It makes me wonder if the same type of thing might happen now in the finance industry...
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Nov 13, 2008 16:16
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locdogg posted:It has been predicted that something similar will happen in the next 10-15 as the baby boomers retire. There's something like 80 million of them that need replacing and only the very tip of the generation has hit 60, so it is entirely possible that there will be an increased demand for management skills as all of the old business leaders pack it in. It'll be interesting to see how specific this is to MBAs; the problem you're describing is a small subset of the HUGE problem of people retiring and not enough young people to replace them.
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Nov 13, 2008 17:54
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Omits-Bagels posted:A lot of these baby boomers just lost all their retirement money in the stock market - they'll never retire. Lucky bastards were born at the right time...they still have pensions.
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Nov 13, 2008 18:53
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zmcnulty posted:40% of the people in our IT department just got cut (in our office, I can't speak for New York, London, Hong Kong etc). Thanks for your singular anecdotal evidence. In all seriousness, with massive job cuts across the board in the entire industry, of course some IT jobs are going to be cut. In fact I wasn't even talking about IT as a whole since I don't really know; I'm talking strictly software developers. If 40% of your IT department got cut, including software developers, if they are talented people they will have a better chance of finding a new job now than finance people who have been laid off.
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Nov 15, 2008 03:57
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LofwyrSai posted:1. Don't know this for sure but usually IT doesn't care too much about an MBA. Architecture perhaps... This is not true at all. Almost every person in my IT organization above my manager (my manager would be considered middle management, her manager would be considered upper management) is an MBA.
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Feb 27, 2009 16:23
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Just a question out of curiosity. I've been reading the law school mega-thread in ask/tell and have been doing some research on salaries these kids are receiving; additionally, I've been doing some research on salaries kids are receiving with an MBA. What I've noticed: for law school, there's no in between. Either you're earning $160,000 or you're earning $40,000, there's no such thing as a regular old salary (or so it seems). for an MBA, on the other hand, it seems that the top 10 schools will get you a salary + bonus in the 140-150K range, top 20 in the 125-140 range, top 30 in the 110-125 range, and so on and so forth down. Any recent graduates care to weigh in on these findings? I find that very interesting, that MBA seems to be much more scaled, not hit and miss like law school. I'm asking for my nephew; he recently got a 750 on the GMAT, though he's also planning on taking the LSAT. I told him I thought he should go for the MBA, we'll see what happens.
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Jul 21, 2009 01:07
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Bobby Digital posted:I'm new here, but I thought I'd offer my help relating to GMAT questions. My score was a 760, and I've been teaching a prep course (not Kaplan or Princeton Review; a good one) for a year and a half now. Are the elite tutoring companies as stringent as they sound? My nephew told me he applied for both but doesn't expect to be hired because of his 750/98th percentile. Are they really that stringent, is that going to keep him out? I feel bad for him; the dropoff from the elite companies to kaplan is about $75/hour in pay.
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Sep 9, 2009 15:41
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ion posted:consulting doesn't care about your background. finance tends to, however. MBA's used to be super popular for career switchers, but nowadays, because people tend to work after undergrad and delay med/law school by 1-5 years, that's a lot of top notch talent that MBA programs are trying to poach, and is really driving the recruitment age of MBA's down. meaning you have to either have good experience before MBA (usually requiring high grades), or super grades/leadership experience. MBAs are still extremely popular for career switchers. People who have really good IT experience tend to just be smart people, so with top business degrees, they tend to be able to nab those finance/consulting jobs. I've known plenty of kids to work at my office for several years before going back for an MBA and switching to more lucrative careers. Though I'd most likely agree with you on middle aged career switchers, that's not what MBA programs are popular for (I wish we were wrong, I'd consider going for it). 26-28 year old career switchers with 5 years of IT experience, however, career switching is huge at MBA programs. edit: BeatTheGMAT posted:Want to use an MBA to change careers? You won’t be alone. Top business schools report that between 75% and 90% of their students do intend to leverage their MBA to move into a new industry, or a new job within their industry. http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/26/branching-out-using-an-mba-to-switch-careers Don Wrigley fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Oct 9, 2009 |
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Oct 9, 2009 18:31
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Tyro posted:Well I got waitlisted from Georgetown. It was the only school I ended up applying to since I decided I need to be in the DC metro area. I now really regret not finishing applying to the other schools that were on my list, since I've missed the deadline to be competitive for scholarship money. I might end up throwing an app at George Mason as a safety school. I know it's not even ranked but it's about 1/3 the cost of Georgetown and I'd be shocked if I didn't get in. Would you mind posting your gmat,gpa,work experience? My nephew is planning on business school, and he has told me that Georgetown is one of the places he's looking at.
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Jan 20, 2010 20:44
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Tyro posted:GMAT 710 And you didn't get in? Man, MBA programs must be getting ultra-competitive. I'd rather not tell my nephew about that one--even though it is just anecdotal.
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Jan 25, 2010 17:55
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Super Locrian posted:I just got rejected from Georgetown. I had a 700 GMAT, 4.0 in my MS in Finance, but a 2.1 in my BS in Math, which is probably what held me back. I have 3 years of experience at a mid-sized financial services company. He has a 750 and a 3.0 and experience as a software engineer (taking my advice to get out of that field )... not quite a 2.1, but certainly nothing to get super excited over. I'll let him know about the international stuff.
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Jan 28, 2010 16:34
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LactoseO.D.'d posted:Complete guess: It didn't get him what he thought it would? To add on this, not all MBAs are created equal. Did he perhaps go to something like the University of Phoenix online MBA program (or even an accredited college, just not a very well thought of one), expecting to come out with automatic big paychecks and a cushy investment banking/consulting job? Having those expectations can certainly make one bitter. I've never met a Harvard MBA (or even say a Virginia, Duke, Indiana MBA) who tried to explain it away.
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Mar 8, 2010 22:34
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anonexpedient posted:No man, like I said he is from one of the big 3 MBA schools. He makes plenty of money so I don't think it's bitterness over that. I also have a good amount of respect for him and think he is a pretty cool and nice guy too. The only mid-80s top-3 MBA graduates I know are Patrick Bateman and Paul Allen. Maybe he's a serial killer?
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Mar 9, 2010 02:39
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Busy Bee posted:Thank you for your response. I am particularly interested in the Stanford MBA program which I believe does not require any work experience and undergrads can apply. No school requires work experience, but good luck getting into a good school (let alone Stanford, hardest school in the country to get into) with just an undergrad degree.
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Jun 15, 2010 04:30
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New reply because totally unrelated... My boss has been talking to me about going for a part-time MBA at Stern. I'm in my mid-30s and working as a software engineer at a large financial firm; i am a VP, but do not have direct reports. She actually brought it up--I'm a new VP and one of the younger ones, and she said the shortest path to MD and direct reports is an MBA. Like I said, I'm in my mid-30s, so already have a pretty full plate with work, family, etc...but the Saturday part-time at Stern is relatively appealing to me, being that the day is over practically before my family wakes up, haha. Question one, any experience going for an MBA part time this late in life? For one, how did you find it, and what's actually more important to me, is it really a shot in the career arm for a lifetime software engineer? It sounds appealing of course if it's a path to MD, but to be honest I'm not sold that it really is. Second, more particular to Stern (and I guess part time programs in general), how hard is it to get in? From the info I've gathered, Stern has a 55% acceptance rate at the part time program, and this seems to be one of the LOWER acceptance rates (EXTREMELY different from full time programs, right?) I have about a 3.0 GPA, but that is over 10 years ago, and I'd assume I could get 700+ on the GMAT, plus obviously good career progression at a top financial firm. Don Wrigley fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Jun 15, 2010 |
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Jun 15, 2010 04:38
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Busy Bee posted:So since going straight from undergrad to an MBA is out, what are some other paths I can take if I am interested in business? I've thought about going to Law school but I'm still not positive about that. I think you should do some more research, it sounds like you want to jump into grad school just to jump into grad school. What kind of logic is this, I can't get an MBA so I've thought about going to Law School...but I'm not sure? Why don't you do some reading and find out what an MBA is and what it can do for you, too many people jump to grad school just because they don't know what else to do, and it rarely works out.
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Jun 19, 2010 23:21
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Boss finally convinced me, I'm applying for the part-time MBA program at NYU Stern, to start in Spring 2012; fully reimbursed, of course. I'm currently a Vice President of Technology at one of the largest investment banks, no direct reports but manage a relatively visible project within the Compliance Division. They'd prefer me to go on the weekends, keeping my schedule free to travel during the weeks, or just generally be available during weeknights (for those crazy Tokyo market opening hours). Anybody currently in the program, advice on getting in? I had a 3.0 GPA in Computer Science (pretty low, but this was many years ago) and scored a 750 on the GMAT. Not much to speak of in the way of community activities, I'd think my essays would focus solely on work experience, job growth, etc.
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Jul 16, 2011 18:31
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shrike82 posted:It's simpler than that. Part-time MBA students at Stern (and many other schools) aren't allowed to go for the on-campus recruiting events for full-time students. Yes, I'm well aware of this. It makes some sense; if I was my company, I wouldn't want to be paying $100K for this employee's education while he's being recruited by other investment banks...let me at least get some value for a couple years afterward if he's going to jump ship. What doesn't make sense to me is why someone would go to a part time program and pay for it themselves. Alas, I am a bit older than your average full-time MBA student, with a wife, kids, mortgage, etc., and feel I'm past the point of quitting my comfortable software developer lifestyle to become a 100-hour a week investment banker and/or travelling consultant. I would, however, like to make Managing Director (partner?) one day within my current organization, and the skills of an MBA can certainly help in that cause, if my manager is to be believed.
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Jul 22, 2011 02:01
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Got my application in for NYU's part time program about a week ago. As a working professional in NYC who is having his employer pay his way, my choices are somewhat limited, and I wasn't too interested in Fordham: 750 GMAT, 3.0 GPA (from 10 years ago), VP of Technology at a large, recognizable investment bank...keep your fingers crossed for me, hopefully I'll be starting in January!
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Sep 13, 2011 02:33
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Small White Dragon posted:Just curious, what is your goal? In the long term, I'd like to make Managing Director at my firm, which is more or less the most senior position one can expect as a technology professional...really being responsible for helping to oversee the direction of the technology division. An MBA is certainly not a must, of the technology leaders in the corporation I know that about 25% (conservatively) have one, but I believe it will give me the tools I need to be up to the challenge. I do think that it certainly will be more helpful than an MS in CS, for example.
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Sep 15, 2011 00:59
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Don Wrigley posted:Got my application in for NYU's part time program about a week ago. As a working professional in NYC who is having his employer pay his way, my choices are somewhat limited, and I wasn't too interested in Fordham: Can't believe it came so quickly, but just got my acceptance letter online last night. Looks like I'll be starting in January.
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Sep 30, 2011 12:34
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Small White Dragon posted:All things considered, that's a pretty drat good application. How do I like it? It's great...but that's based on where I am now. I've worked on Wall Street in software development for 10 years at a couple of different banks. What makes it great where I currently am is the investment that goes into the technology department, which allows us to keep very up to date on new technologies as well as create robust, proprietary software that meets our needs better than what's out there on the market/as open source (for example, a proprietary Java ORM framework built from the ground up with auditing in mind, as you can imagine is very important in the financial services industry, or a Java collections framework both optimized for speed and performance as well as implementing smalltalk-like iteration patterns). As a VP of technology, and hopefully more so later on as a Managing Director, I have the opportunity to help choose the technological direction of the firm--everything from what type of open source technologies we should utilize, to what type of technologies we should make the investment in building ourselves. This is not even confined to any one line of business; the technology departments are well funded everywhere you go; investment banking, asset management, trading, and even compliance. Would this be the case at my last job? Probably not, as at many places that are not software companies don't make the proper investments in technology, seeing it as nothing but a money pit (short term profits!) and having their senior managers working on maintaining awful legacy systems. Bit of a ramble here, point is, working in technology is great, particularly management, if the proper investments are made. Though I'd love to finish off my MBA and start trying to apply as a management consultant...my wife would kill(divorce) me if I had to travel that much
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Oct 8, 2011 02:27
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Pissingintowind posted:Just wanted to again say that I didn't mean to offend! Just wanted to get some dialogue going. Again, blanket statements can be tricky... I have over 10 years of experience, and am at the VP/Manager level of a technology organization in big banking. My salary + bonus is (usually) roughly in line with median of top 10 business schools. I'm going to NYU Stern part-time (top 15 on your list, probably higher part-time, but this is pretty meaningless for part-time students) with my employer footing 100% of the bill. So the way I figure it--my opportunity cost of getting a full-time MBA is 2 years salary/bonus (lets say 350-400K at my level) plus about 100-110K in tuition (employer footing the bill). All of that may get me a job in i-banking (hello 100+ hour weeks, goodbye 50-60) or consulting (goodbye wife and kids, I'll never see you again!) at basically the same pay I have now. Of course 5 years down the road I'd probably be making more, but that's if everything goes 100% swimmingly, and if my wife doesn't divorce me (cut that salary in half time). What I can do is get my MBA from a semi-reputable school, and continue to work my way towards senior management in my organization. No, I'm not going to make as much money as a senior investment banker or consultant, but my costs are nil in comparison. Anecdotal, once again, but I'm not alone in this. There are tons of reasons to get an MBA other than your extremely narrow view of only going to a top school as a 26-27 year old with the hopes of maybe grabbing one of the small number of i-banking jobs. Again, anecdotes abound, but I know for a fact that at my office, one of the largest wall street banks, there are Harvard/Stanford MBAs coming in as Operations Associates; the I-Banking associate positions are just fewer and far between these days.
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Mar 16, 2013 13:05
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