Grad School MBA - Are the Expensive Programs worth it?

[youngnastyman]

When I graduated with my bachelors I promised myself that I would go back for grad school after 2 years - that was in 2011. Now I am preparing for my entrance tests and thinking about what schools I want to go to. My question for you successful and/or highly educated people out there - are the expensive, high ranked schools really worth the $100K+ Price tag?

I actually hold education in a very high regard, and I definitely understand the concept of getting what you paid for. But - with an MBA, there is no guarantee of getting a high-paying job right out of college. When you get a JD or MD, you are qualified and have the option of becoming a Lawyer or a Doctor. Get an MBA - what does that make you?

I did pretty well in my undergrad degree - got an BBA in MIS from University of Houston with a 3.8 GPA - top 8% of my class, Honor Society, etc. I am working as an IT consultant for a large energy firm in Houston and have about 6 years experience under my belt as a professional.

When it comes to my options - I need to stay local and join a program that works around my work schedule. So far the 3 options I have are University of Texas - McCombs Business School (UT), Rice University, and University of Houston.

UT and Rice are pretty prestigious schools. UT probably has more street cred for its MBA program than Rice, but both are very competitive and offer alot of beneficial experiences for their students. Each of these has a price tag of about $100K for the MBA program. Both of them offer a weekend or night time program so that I can work my day job and attend school at night.

MY other Option is UH Bauer School of Business. This is still a pretty prestigious school but it is nowhere near the ranks of UT and Rice. The price tag for their MBA Program is around $40K. UT is ranked as #17 in the nation, Rice is #30, and UH is around #97. Pretty big difference.

I realize working full time is not ideal but unfortunately I don't have the luxury of being able to only go to school and not work. I worked my way through my Undergrad; it was painful and took 6 years but I killed it and kept a high GPA.

SO my question out there to those of you who have MBA's or Graduate degrees is whether I should bite the bullet and take on the loans and get an expensive degree from a VERY prestigious school - or lean on the side of caution and spend less than half that amount for a degree from a lesser school?

[Whostheboss]

Originally Posted by youngnastyman

When I graduated with my bachelors I promised myself that I would go back for grad school after 2 years - that was in 2011. Now I am preparing for my entrance tests and thinking about what schools I want to go to. My question for you successful and/or highly educated people out there - are the expensive, high ranked schools really worth the $100K+ Price tag?

I actually hold education in a very high regard, and I definitely understand the concept of getting what you paid for. But - with an MBA, there is no guarantee of getting a high-paying job right out of college. When you get a JD or MD, you are qualified and have the option of becoming a Lawyer or a Doctor. Get an MBA - what does that make you?

I did pretty well in my undergrad degree - got an BBA in MIS from University of Houston with a 3.8 GPA - top 8% of my class, Honor Society, etc. I am working as an IT consultant for a large energy firm in Houston and have about 6 years experience under my belt as a professional.

When it comes to my options - I need to stay local and join a program that works around my work schedule. So far the 3 options I have are University of Texas - McCombs Business School (UT), Rice University, and University of Houston.

UT and Rice are pretty prestigious schools. UT probably has more street cred for its MBA program than Rice, but both are very competitive and offer alot of beneficial experiences for their students. Each of these has a price tag of about $100K for the MBA program. Both of them offer a weekend or night time program so that I can work my day job and attend school at night.

MY other Option is UH Bauer School of Business. This is still a pretty prestigious school but it is nowhere near the ranks of UT and Rice. The price tag for their MBA Program is around $40K. UT is ranked as #17 in the nation, Rice is #30, and UH is around #97. Pretty big difference.

I realize working full time is not ideal but unfortunately I don't have the luxury of being able to only go to school and not work. I worked my way through my Undergrad; it was painful and took 6 years but I killed it and kept a high GPA.

SO my question out there to those of you who have MBA's or Graduate degrees is whether I should bite the bullet and take on the loans and get an expensive degree from a VERY prestigious school - or lean on the side of caution and spend less than half that amount for a degree from a lesser school?

THAT!

[youngnastyman]

Thanks that was very insightful you have helped me so much...

Hopefully I can get input from some credible sources? Mostly interested in opinions based on factual information.

[Titanium3er]

Disclaimer - I'm biased because I'm currently enrolled in an unranked business school. Also not sure if you want my opinion since I'm not done yet, but I'm giving it anyway.

I think that you are trying to convince yourself that going to the cheaper school is the better idea. The reality is that there is no way for you, I, or the rest of bimmerpost to determine that. I think it ultimately depends on what you are looking to get out of the degree. Are you looking to stay with your company, go somewhere else, network and potentially branch out on your own with a fellow student? If you are looking to stay put, I doubt where the degree comes from matters. If you are looking to go somewhere else maybe it will. If you are trying to start your own consulting firm maybe the more expensive school will provide access to more competent professionals who could end up becoming partners. Maybe it won't matter.

For me, where I'm going makes sense. The school is well respected locally and a fifth of the cost of some other options. It's not a top school, but for what I'm looking to get out of it, it doesn't need to be. After the first or second position where you went doesn't matter, it's what you did after you graduated. On yeah and at the end of the day I'll have spend 80k less than I could have.

[Greenkirby21]

it really depends on your situation.

Do you have a job already (it seems like it)?

Then it shouldn't really matter. I would do whatever is cheapest. Your employer could probably care less as long as you get the MBA. In the end (this is my honest opinion) it doesn't matter what school you go to, but what effort you put in. I have some friends that have gone to top 5 schools in the nation, but they have slacked off and are not impressive and still searching for jobs with massive debt (i.e school was 60K a year for 4 years). Likewise, I have some friends that have gone to some unknown schools and are some of the smartest I know. Of course, it does go vise versa (have a friend that went to UT and ended up at Apple).

And, as you said, its the cost factor. I was accepted to UT for undergrad but decided to go to a not as good school, but my education was completely paid for through scholarships. I graduated with 0 debt and not once do I think man, I should have gotten into massive debt and gone to UT.

Also, does your employer pay for your masters? Thats another thing to consider (mine does)

[youngnastyman]

These are some good points you bring up.

I do already have a very good job at one of the top Energy Services organizations in the world ( I believe we are #2 ). I'll let you guess which one.

You are right - my employer could care less if I had an MBA or not. I actually got hired on to this job before I even had an Undergrad degree and they helped me pay for it.

The thing is, when I was hired with this company, I also got accepted to UT's business program in Austin. At this time I had to make a choice - take this job, get some experience in, and get a degree at a lesser at open enrollment school with 0 debt, OR go to UT, get in a bunch of debt, and POSSIBLY get a similarly paying job once it was all over.

Obviously I took the first option. Which is fine, but everyone around me went to real universities and I feel like they made alot of connections and experiences that I missed out on.

Now that I am well into my career I feel like I want to take advantage of going to a good school and get the Full university experience for my Masters that I missed out on during my undergrad degree.

I do not plan on staying with this company forever, nor am I counting on my degree to be the main reason I get another top paying job. I am in it strictly for the educational reasons. I am a huge proponent of higher learning and I want the best education I can get. I do want to open my consulting firm one day.

[kscarrol]

U of H gets my vote. In my opinion, the MBA at this point in your career is a good move but frankly I see little impact in paying twice as much for the degree from Rice or UT. If you were changing careers and the MBA was the transition point, the name/reputation of your school school might carry more wait with potential employers. But since you intend to stay in your current position (at least for a while), go the UH route and save the $$.

If your goal is starting your own consulting business some day, your real world experience will be the real key to success, not a diploma that says Rice or UT at the top!

[Myrder]

Got my Masters from A&M in Public Health. Seems to be suiting me well and allowing for a little more credibility being young and all. Overall the success you have is based on your skill-sets not some piece of paper from XYZ school.

[quiksi]

UH Bauer BBA MIS class of '06 here. Also UT MBA (Houston program) class of '11.

IMO, You will have a higher caliber of classmates AND professors at the "brand name" programs, along with the additional prestige. It's a matter of what you're looking to get from B-school. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. Happy to help out a fellow Coog.

[BMW F22]

Tough question. It's something that I went through when applying for grad school as well. I went with a State University (about $35k-40k) for the 2 years. I figured I could probably work and pay for it or take out a small loan. I weighed that against more expensive options like Santa Clara U (private), Berkeley, etc. The reason why I wanted to go to grad school? Number one reason was networking and number two was to get a higher education (like you I told myself I would go back 2 years after graduating undergrad).

That was 2 years ago. I'm now almost done with my program (1 more elective and I'm done). I just recently found out that I perhaps could have gotten into Santa Clara U. It's a much more prestigious school and the network there is probably better as well. Do I wish I had applied there? Yes. Do I wish to go there instead? Of course! The only problem was that it costs about twice as much as the school I'm attending. Of course I would always want to go to the better school. However, you must always weigh the cost vs benefits of the degree. I believe that an MBA will get me further (in any job). It would be better if it comes from a more prestigious school but I did what was possible for me at the time. I couldn't see how I would pay $75-80k without taking out a big loan.

So the bottom line is if you can afford it, you should always go to the bigger, better, more prestigious school. If you're concerned about taking out a big loan or having to pay too much then you should stick with the cheaper option. In the end it's what you do with your degree that matters, not where it comes from. Going to a more prestigious school doesn't guarantee success but I'm sure it helps (in terms of networking, connections, etc.).

[BayMoWe335]

For the MBA specifically, getting it from anywhere but a top 20 school is somewhat of a waste of time and money. They are becoming a dime a dozen and work experience trumps an MBA from a regular university. I've seen it time and time again at 2 fortune 100 companies.

[kscarrol]

^^ Agreed. But if the OP is seriously considering staying at his current company/position, not sure a top 20 school will trump his experience. Only the OP can answer what his goals are.

Ultimately I'm sure Rice and UT offer executive/professional MBA programs as well so going to school at night/weekends is should still be an option though unsure if the UT program is offered in Houston.

[mmbv1000]

if you want to get into VC/PE/ or top-tier consulting, then it's a must. Otherwise, no.

[donovan]

Unfortunately people look at where you graduated sometimes rather than the degree, sometimes. I think its all rigged but I would go towards just getting the degree regardless of the school.

[MisterSkiMask]

a big part of any school is the networking that can be done through the school. I don't think the education will necessarily better or worse, but the pipeline to better jobs will flow more freely with the 'better' programs

[Mr. Liu]

M7 school or bust. Its also the type of companies that recruit and the people you will be able to network with in those schools.

If you are staying with your current firm make sure you know what they would offer after you acquire your MBA and how much of a salary boost you would get.

If you plan on looking elsewhere anything sub to 10 would IMO be a waste of time and money.

(This is coming from a finance background.)

[Trijicon]

In my experience, an MBA is equivalent to 3-5 years experience in a corporate environment. Position and salary should mirror this.

[youngnastyman]

So I've added another twist to this plot:

UH (and the other schools I'm sure) offer a Joint MBA/JD Program, in which you work to get both an MBA and a Law degree at the same time. They offer it at night and weekends and overall it takes about 5 years to get both degrees. I am now pursuing this route. I will be taking the GRE within the next month and the LSAT will follow shortly after. Once I get my scores in I will be applying all over the place. I find that I shouldn't limit myself to Houston because my job is here. I am well versed in my craft and have alot of good experience under my belt so I am pretty confident that I can score a job in another city if I needed to.

UH is still one of the top contenders on my list but we'll see who accepts me into both programs and who does not. My GPA is pretty decent but I know the law program in alot of these top schools are very competitive.

What am I trying to get out of this? Higher education is the top of my list. As many of you have said work experience often pulls more credibility than an MBA these days, and I completely agree. I just feel that pursuing any other degree wouldn't be worth it for me other than Law, and since my end goal is to open my own consulting firm I can definitely see having a JD as beneficial to my career. Will it be a career change? Who knows... I've yet to figure all of that out.

[jasonX]

I work at Rutgers University and could essentially get my MBA for free. However, for my profession (IT/Network Engineering) I would think the 3 years it would take me to complete the MBA would be better served obtaining a CCIE or other high level IT Certifications as I already have a MS. I don't think the return would be significantly different from the MS -> MBA versus getting 2 CCIEs I could possibly complete.

I would only consider paying for an MBA program from a top-10 program. Anything less, my employer would need to pickup the tab.

MBAs are a dime a dozen and WHERE you go as well as the network you build are the difference between a top 20 program versus the rest.

Edit* Just read the OP in more depth. I would guess you're a Business Analyst? If so, you have enough experience to obtain a CBAP or if you meet the requirements by managing projects a PMP. Coming from someone who is in the field, I'd try to get your employer, or find an employer to pay for any Graduate studies if you're dead set as I have yet to see a return on mine, and the Certs I've obtained have opened more doors.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by youngnastyman

So I've added another twist to this plot:

UH (and the other schools I'm sure) offer a Joint MBA/JD Program, in which you work to get both an MBA and a Law degree at the same time. They offer it at night and weekends and overall it takes about 5 years to get both degrees. I am now pursuing this route. I will be taking the GRE within the next month and the LSAT will follow shortly after. Once I get my scores in I will be applying all over the place. I find that I shouldn't limit myself to Houston because my job is here. I am well versed in my craft and have alot of good experience under my belt so I am pretty confident that I can score a job in another city if I needed to.

UH is still one of the top contenders on my list but we'll see who accepts me into both programs and who does not. My GPA is pretty decent but I know the law program in alot of these top schools are very competitive.

What am I trying to get out of this? Higher education is the top of my list. As many of you have said work experience often pulls more credibility than an MBA these days, and I completely agree. I just feel that pursuing any other degree wouldn't be worth it for me other than Law, and since my end goal is to open my own consulting firm I can definitely see having a JD as beneficial to my career. Will it be a career change? Who knows... I've yet to figure all of that out.

You don't need to take the GMAT for the MBA portion?

I remember taking the GMAT in late 09... I heard they changed it around this year

[youngnastyman]

So I hear that MBA's are a dime a dozen all too often from posters here. What, in your opinion, would be an alternative to the MBA for someone with an undergrad in MIS?

I have several technical certifications (RHCE, NCIE, MCSE) and I don't exactly think of those as being on the same par as an accredited degree.

I do not see myself working in corporate America for the rest of my life so all this talk about it getting me this job vs that one is irrelevant. I want the education to better myself and as some of you said build a solid network so that I can succeed in my private ventures.

[youngnastyman]

Originally Posted by persian54

You don't need to take the GMAT for the MBA portion?

I remember taking the GMAT in late 09... I heard they changed it around this year

Yep Now you can take the GRE. I think this year is the first year that universities are allowing this.