Got paid 360k, do I go to Bschool?

Well, the short of it, is that if you already have what an MBA can give you, why go? You are currently making a lot more than what guys make right our of an MBA, so the question becomes: What will it give you? There are of course the long-term advantages (networking, having the diploma, allowing you to break to the next level, etc.), and that is something that becomes harder to evaluate without a deep discussion of where you are, what you are doing, what you want... Would you be bothered by taking a pay cut if it allows you to move to Boston? or to another industry? It's something you have to answer for yourself. But keep in mind that B-school should have a practicial payoff (salary, and career development). If not, what's the point?

My initial feeling is that: 1. If you are still developing in your industry, you are still young, so there's no need for you to do an MBA now if you aren't stuck. Take the GMAT, see how you do (it's good for five years anyhow). Eventually as you get older you could always do a PT MBA, one-year MBA or EMBA if you do later "Get stuck" 2. If you are willing to take a large pay cut for either moving or moving industry and it will make you happier, and doesn't bother you then, sure, why not?

I think your alias "confused millenial" is pretty appropriate. Millennials have bought this narrative about "keeping yourself happy" at work too much, and it's really been just something said to justify salary stagnation. If you are doing things that are challenging and are well-paid, and you have room for development, then why rock the boat?

Anyhow, just some thoughts here (shouldn't I be trying to convince you to do an MBA dude, hah! This is bad for business), and I hope they help in some way, JF

If I can have your job, then yes, you should go!

FUCK NO

I don't understand how someone gets to this level financially and instead of thinking "let me use all this extra money to start my own business" or "let me learn more to start my own business in my current field" or "let me collect these paychecks and see how far up I can move within the company then retire early" its "let me go to b. school, forgo my paycheck, and be no closer to true financial independence". The lack of imagination makes me want to cry.

I'm curious, what kind of role are you in at an asset manager five years out of school, making that much?

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies. I'm an analyst at this firm. While we had a good year last year and I got paid well, its possible that this year will be lower. Our compensation is in no way guaranteed. So while it's possible that there's upside to this number, it's equally likely (if not more likely given the state of the market) that I'll be down next year. With that being said, I guess the things I was hoping to get some more perspective on are:

1. Does going to business school open up opportunities for more senior level positions that I would not be able to get with just a BA? For example C-level (CEO, CIO, etc.) roles.
2. Or could I accelerate my career by getting an MBA by moving closer to a senior analyst/PM role at another AM?
3. Could I use this as an opportunity to break into PE? This is something I think I would enjoy.
4. Should I even consider consulting or tech? As I mentioned, long only investment management is a shrinking business. While we've done a good job and believe that can continue, the fee pressure and fund raising pressure continue to get worse every year and the industry is going to through a period of immense consolidation (look at all the HFs closing for example and the rise of index funds). I wonder sometimes if it makes more sense to move into an industry that seems to have more structural tailwinds than finance (and specifically investment management).

Prestige is important to me, but only in the sense that I would not even consider business school if I didn't get into a top 10 program i.e. why I only applied to 3 schools. And BobTheBaker, I appreciate your perspective, but I have never taken a job for money. I want to do something that is interesting and fulfilling longer term that if I do well will also get me paid :) And I wonder if it's better to take my shot at something more entrepreneurial in tech/healthcare which I would not be able to get into with my current experience.

Thanks, Confused Millenial

You will not be able to get good advice on here because the advice you seek is super super specific to yourself. Basically no one else is industry switching after making 300k/year and going to b school to do it. Have you not tried to network at all into consulting or PE right now?

This decision is 100% up to you but it is similar to the dude who asked about leaving tech sales making 2-300k to get an MBA. Sure you can do it but why wouldn't you ride the wave until it either peters out or you have enough capital to do something on your own? You're only 27-28.. you do this for 4 more years, have a mil in the bank, and if you really get burned out, hey you can go back to school and STILL not be super old. For someone who is smart enough to be giving investment input like you are this seems like a pretty easy sell. Obviously, you're feeling like the grass is always greener but you have basically the most desirable job for a post-MBA person. You obviously can go back and get your MBA at any time in the next 5 years. Just see where you are then and if you even need to go back. If you take a look at the bios of people in at the firms you mentioned in your OP there doesn't appear to be much correlation between C-level position and elite MBA

I might add another thing to "pros" - the "network" that you gain access to. The word "network" is thrown around a lot on this forum, but I don't think people appreciate how powerful it can be. My father went to a top business school back in the 1980s and the network and the level of "access" that it provides has been a tremendous asset in his career.

An example (This is from a while ago) - I met up with my father for dinner and I caught him in the middle of a phone call. After the call ended I asked him who he was talking to? He nonchalantly said "[-insert name of the CEO of major financial institution-] My father kept me in the dark about the purpose of the call (sensitive information), but it turns out this CEO was my father's roommate during business school. This guy is a major figure on Wall Street. Virtually anyone, even people who are unfamiliar with finance, would have heard of him. My father is pretty much able to reach out to him directly whenever he likes. No secretaries. No gatekeepers.

The benefits of the "network" don't even need to be career-related. In the future, if you have kids and you want to secure a spot for them in a selective private school in Manhattan that gets thousands of applications for 50 spots, how do you get them in? By applying and hoping for the best? No. You look up who is on the board of trustees of the school. Chances are there will be someone on there who went to the same business school as you (at a minimum) or you know them personally (best case scenario) through your business school network.

In a survey of alumni at top business schools, the number one concern that alumni have after their work/career is education, so it should not be surprising (especially in Manhattan) that a lot of selective private schools have MBAs in their board of trustees.

I apologize for going off on a tangent. The TL;DR version of this post is: The "network" that one gains access to from a top business school can be invaluable to one's career and life in the long run. In short, pursuing an MBA at a top school is a worthy investment.

In your situation, I'd take the house in Tuscany over the piece of paper. There are two things to remember: travertine is expensive and you don't need a soil study.

My advice is to go the Executive MBA route at Wharton. I have a friend, she is ~30 years old, MD at Fido/Wellington/Cap and did not see the benefit to go full time MBA due to opportunity costs. She did the Executive MBA at Wharton and is super happy. All opportunities re networking, career switching (consulting, tech, PE) were open to her. She decided to stay in her current job because she likes it. If you got accepted into the full time MBA at Wharton you could ask admissions if they would put you into the Executive MBA. Another friend of mine did that who did not want to face opportunity costs.

If those numbers are true and you're thinking of giving up almost a million dollars overall, then definitely do not go. If you're a senior analyst at a place like Putnam, wells cap or MFS then you will have no issues landing a finance job somewhere else. You likely don't need the MBA

How risk averse are you..?

Absolutely do not leave your $300k job to come out making $120k two years later. If you really feel you need that degree for whatever reason, wait a couple years and do an executive MBA on the weekends.

"Am I being stupid going to business school and trying to break into PE?" Yes

"Or should I stick it out in AM because I'm making a decent amount of money with reasonable hours?" Yes

"Cons of going to school: 1. The opportunity cost (200k + 600-800k in lost compensation)" Your "con" is what most sane people would consider a Dealbreaker

"I make ~300k a year...reasonable hours...I like my job" There are maybe 20 people in the entire world who get to put this sentence together. I'd stay put, OP.

I am not familiar with the IM industry? But, is it really tough to get promoted to PM? Do you expect to make more over time or is this close to your cap? If the industry is down-sized are there solid exit options for you?

I am attending HSW in the fall-- and I would not if i was making 300k, liked my job, and had solid hours. That being said if you want to break away into consulting, C-suite type roles I think it may make sense.

Pros: You will have much more fun in b-school Long term network has serious value Plenty of people take pay cuts to go. i.e banking to tech I assume you can graduate with close to zero-debt. Making 200k afterwards(say you do consulting) with zero debt is still a pretty awesome lifestyle in terms of income.

Really tough call though. Just depends what you want to do I guess.

900k seems a bit much for a piece of paper

As someone in Asset Management currently, I can tell you there's tons of people who would dream of having your role. The real question here is do you want to stay in investment management? If so, don't leave because you're already here and that was the end goal. An MBA won't help that. How far you move up is based on your skill and merit, not an MBA.

On the other hand, if you want to move industries than it may not be a bad idea. You don't sound like you're suffering so I'm inclined to assume it's not for this reason you want an MBA...

Hi Confused Millenial, It seems to me that your question is really "what do you want to do in life?" and do you define "accomplishment". As few said it, it depends solely upon yourself, and I would add, your values and your dreams.

Having said that, you may be interested to know that once you're at H, MIT (Sloan) or Tuck, you can take some courses at the other univ. even if you are not part of a dual program. And of course, you are allowed to take courses within the same univ in a different college. In that sense, the opportunity will open up your network . Provided you value human relations, well, you will definitely have the possibility to interact with simply outstanding minds, faculty and students alike.

"Confused Millennial" is very much an accurate description. OP, assuming you're not trolling us, I'm really surprised you got into several top MBA programs due to your uncertainty about what you want to do. What did you talk about for your short and long-term post-MBA career goals?

Here's my 2 cents, so take it for what it's worth. Lot of other posters have hit on similar themes.

I graduated last year from a top MBA program that has very strong finance placements (Wharton/Columbia/Booth). I can say with absolute certainty that most of my classmates would KILL to be where you are at now. You went to a target undergrad, pretty young, work at a big well-known mutual fund, AND making $300K/year? You really hit the jackpot here. In my opinion, the only real reason to go is if you want to transition into an industry that recruits at the school and that you are unable to break into otherwise. The industries that best fall into this category are banking and consulting and to a lesser extent tech. Given where you are at, I have no idea why you would consider consulting. Aside from the paycut, it's not a good fit for most hardcore finance types. People mistakenly assume that MBB consulting is very big picture strategy, but lot of the work is now less strategy and increasingly more client focused. There's a lot of BS that some people just can't deal with. I think after having worked at a long-only mutual fund, you may find MBB to be annoying. As for tech, most of my classmates who went into it are doing product management type roles or corporate finance at the usual suspects: Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon.

Given your background, your odds of breaking into PE or VC are very low. They don't do OCR, but some of them will post jobs on the school's job board during spring; most of it though will be through your own personal networking. PE and long-only mutual funds are totally different beasts, so I think you will find it to be a tough obstacle to overcome. You are certainly more competitive for long-short equity hedge funds, and if you go to Wharton, you may gain some traction there since some of those funds post jobs for summer internships. Keep in mind though that you will be competing against people who worked at top bulge bracket banks and PE firms before b-school, and hedge funds have a big preference for BB+PE pedigree.

This brings me to another point. Finance is an extremely diverse industry, and due to the specialization of skills and knowledge involved in various areas of finance, transitioning to a different focus (i.e., long-only mutual to long-short equity hedge fund) is far more difficult than people realize. The task is even more arduous if you take 2 years off from the workforce to attend b-school, where you will spend a lot of time just fucking around (lot of employers have lost respect for MBAs because they know that it's just partying and traveling, and I've had multiple interviews where they made fun of MBAs). So in many ways, given your current situation, you will be taking a step backwards by going to b-school.

Finally, I want to address one of the pros you mentioned: life-long network. A poster earlier talked about his dad who went to a top business school in the 80's and having easy access to his roommate who is now a major financial firm CEO. I think it's very dangerous to rely on those personal anecdotes. Is it possible that one of your good friends from school end up being a total hotshot? Yes. What are the chances of that happening? Very low. Let's get real here. HBS alone graduates around 900 students EVERY year. How many of them end up becoming the next Bloomberg, Schwarzman, Dalio, Dimon, Klarman, Black, Immelt, Sandberg, etc.? Very few. The reality is that the vast majority of MBAs become comfortable white collar professionals making six figures. Not a bad life at all. But true glory is out of reach for nearly all of us. In addition, studies have shown that most MBAs only stay in touch with a few of their classmates within 10 years after graduation. I saw this firsthand with older alums I talked to. People get busy with work, families, children, other important obligations, and naturally they fall out of touch. Heck, I've been out of school for less than a year, and already my social life is drastically different from what it was when I was in school. Back then, my whatsapp would be going off nonstop regarding various social events, and I would get constant messages from people wanting to hang out. Now, things are more subdued, to put it mildly.

In summary, the BEST reason to go to b-school is to leverage its on-campus recruiting and other resources to break into an industry you really want to work in and that you are unable to gain access to otherwise. Everything else is secondary and fluff. Think long and hard about what you REALLY want to do after b-school.

I'm at a HF and have an MBA. I agree with what others have written - I'd stay at my role if I were you. Grass isn't always greener and its a massive risk to take when you are already crushing it. That said, if tech/consulting are truly your passion and you don't like IM then bounce. However to the extent its just dreaming about the what ifs and you like your current role, I'd highly recommend staying. You'd be surprised how many super blue chip resume people at top programs "struggle" to get a job similar to what they came in with. Obviously a lot make a seamless transition as well but given your current position I'd say any risk is unnecessary.

Dude you make 300k a year and enjoy your job... what do you need an MBA for? As many people have already said most people that get an MBA don't make that kinda money right out. The opp cost for you is just too high.

Also I can tell you, you wont be making 300k fresh outta an MBA doing consulting....

If you want to stay in AM & like your job but also want an MBA check out the Wharton EMBA and Booth Weekend MBA. I think both would give you what you're looking for without leaving your job.

I registered just to be able to respond to this.

Absolutely go to business school.

It is an opportunity you will not regret and literally only have once - I have never met someone who looked back on their business school years and thought "gee that was a waste, I should have stayed in my first job out of college." Nobody I know has regret going or even thought about the cost. Instead you will come out with your eyes opened to new people and experiences, you will have fun, you will learn something outside of your narrow industry and most importantly, since you got into good schools, you will come out with a network that is invaluable. The network is key and the reason to go.

To answer your questions, I do think the MBA will help you get into leadership roles and give you the ability to pivot if you ever chose to or needed to for any reason. Who knows where your life may end up - you will always have the MBA which is not inherently valuable, but still provides a broader skill set. I don't know what sector or product you cover, but if you decide to stay in the investing industry, it will provide access to classmates who will be successful in your same line of work who you can talk shop with, hire, work with, etc. If you are sector specific, it will provide you with classmates who are industry experts who you can call in that sector. I think the point is that it will provide you invaluable relationships and some classes may open your eyes to a new way of thinking and analyzing your current investments.

I cannot stress enough how it will expose you to classmates who will go on to do great things who you will have the fortune of knowing and perhaps joining in their endeavors. As you can probably guess, I spent many years in banking and did go to business school (on the later side). I loved the experience and have made great friendships at minimum - but also learned a lot, have called on my classmates to help me with job-specific problems in industry, and who have been grateful to talk to me about the times I've thought about perhaps switching firms or even careers entirely.

YOU CAN ALWAYS GET ANOTHER JOB IN AM / INVESTING - it sounds like you are good at it. Your current firm is not the only place in the world. Take a risk - learn something new - meet new people - open your eyes to other ways of thinking and THEN decide if you want to stay in your current job or not. I'm sure they would take you back, and if not, you can probably leverage it to a higher paying similar job at a different shop. Business school cannot take away from your current success and skill set, only add to it.

One last thought - I have many many friends who were making 250-500K before business school (mostly at KKR type PE shops and hedge funds). NONE of them are in jobs that seem "worse" than what they were doing before. In fact, they have all pivoted to do bigger and better things - whether it be running their own investment shops, leading groups or being PMs and well known shops, or totally changing gears and starting very successful businesses (some of which you have heard of). Take a chance. You will be out a little bit of money, but in the grand scheme, you'll end up ahead.

PE firms have a huge bias toward the IB + PE (2 + 2) background. Considering there are far fewer post-MBA PE spots than pre-MBA spots and an AM background, it would be almost impossible to even get an interview anywhere.

I don't work in investment banking, nor am I anywhere close to this industry.....simple economics do tell me this:

I wouldn't do it. If I made over $300K annually,and left to school for 2 years, that means I'd lose over half a million in income. That's insane.

If my job puts no pressure in me to advance for an MBA, I wouldn't get it! Makes no sense!

Some mentioned an ExMBA, that'd be your best route. Nothing wrong with that. Or maybe a Part-time MBA? Regardless...I personally wouldn't tell admissions "Yeah, I stopped going to my $300K job to do this full-time MBA." I'm sure they'd be like 0_0 wtf. Even if I was accepted into Harvard, I would straight up tell Financial Aid "Look, I make $300K. Can you grant me a scholarship to cover all tuition? I'm not gonna stop my $300K job to pay all of this." I'm dead serious. Sounds shitty, but I know i"m not the only one.

Edit: I'm a blunt SOB.

I just finished my MBA after over two years of lost of income, for me it was well worth it because my background was in STEM, so I have very little business understandng such as macro economics, strategy, financial managment etc. I am graftul that going back to college has open my mind much more than before I went, it has been worth it, so far, yes, you lose over two years in pay but now the possibilities are even endless.

Why not make this decision when you have another million or so in the bank?

It's a highly personal decision, but you already know that. I am in the same boat, made about 350 this year with expectation for about same next year, but will be going to school

Was in a similar position as you ( $/role-wise) deciding whether or not to go back to school, went through the entire process and was admitted to my top choice, and decided ultimately against it. It is one thing if you want to completely switch careers, since it does open up a natural recruiting avenue, but I would not go back to school if you want to stay in investing. Anywhere you go you will need to prove yourself and have strong performance to work your way up to PM anyway, so it's difficult to justify the cost of attending.

I think more people than you think are in the exact same boat. At an EB right now and pulled in ~$350k as a first year associate, direct promote. Same age range ~27-28. Dont know what I want to do next, but the thought of giving up nearly $1mm in pre-tax money is daunting...just to land in an entry position somewhere else.

Is it possible to break into IM coming out of a top MBA program without previous IM experience?

Yes, but is difficult and can depend on the hiring environment at that time