I'm definitely not getting ahead of myself here - just curious.
I'm against the MBA given the sticker price and opportunity cost but I'm always willing to admit I'm wrong.
So I have two question - what types of school would such a potential profile be competitive for and what would be the benefit?
Potential profile:
3.7+ GPA Big 10/ Top 10 undergrad (honors/distinction) in finance/accounting
2.5 years of SS ER at elite MM firm
2.5 years of BS ER at BB AM
GMAT ~750
CFA chartholder
My initial thought is that someone with ~ 5-years of experience who has the ability to get a real P/L (or has already started one in the last 1-2 years) won't really benefit from an MBA.
After all, performance is the holy grail so why would someone pay up for a piece of paper that doesn't teach you a relevant skill set?
If I'm wrong about the above, for what schools would one be competitive for? H/S/W? Are those the only school that the opportunity cost is justified if one has total comp of $200K+?
Exit opportunities from top schools with such a profile?
Thanks in advance,
KB
bump
You have a great profile. Assuming your recs, essays, and extracurriculars are in line, i think you have a very good shot at every b-school except hbs/stanford.
I agree with you on some of the points and am also very skeptical about the value of an MBA. I applied to mba and mfin programs this year, and from a pure skillset and knowledge level, i prefer the mfin hands down. The reason i'm also considering an MBA is because of the network and the fungibility of your degree. Basically my network from an mfin would be limited to traders and quants while the mba network will be people from every industry imaginable. More importantly, the MBA is quite fungible and transferable because you go through a comprehensive general management education, one that is still coveted by a lot of firms. So if 10 years from now I decide to leave finance altogether, I can do it easily with an MBA but not with a MFin.
Whether b-school is worth it for you is a very personal call. If you want to stay in ER and eventually transition to PM, you don't need an MBA. But if you want to explore other options such as long-short equity hedge fund, event-driven fund, private equity, or something unrelated to finance, you might want to consider going to a top b-school.
On a side note, I think a CFA is horribly overrated for making career transitions.
Another side note: the social experience at b-schools is vastly overrated as well, but that is beyond the scope of this thread.
potentially you can get into anywhere!
I would say you can learn a relevant skill set in b-school, though that clearly is never the focus of anyone from WSO. Truthfully, I think the real educational benefit of an MBA comes from the case method schools like Harvard and Darden, though that is just my personal opinion. Outside of that, you can buy all the books and learn the information in your spare time. For me, the case study method strengthens your ability to deal with swift decision making and ambiguity. Obviously those skill sets might be worthless in many industries, thus making the MBA a really expensive vacation, however, for some those skills are the key to being successful, so the cost is well worth just the educational aspect.
For you the question is different. I think you have to ask yourself whether going to a top school provides any benefit. Clearly the knowledge base isn't going to be very beneficial, as you pointed out already.
So the next question is about the network. Is the network you gain at a top school worth the $200k+ you'll spend? That's probably a debatable topic, but one that I don't feel I know enough about to really offer an opinion one way or the other.
Lastly, you should consider the value of the on campus recruiting. Would going to a top school provide you access to job opportunities that you otherwise wouldn't have access to? I would say, no, probably not, but I'm not very knowledgeable about your particular industry, so I'll leave that question open ended as well.
At any rate, I think those are the questions you should ask yourself. Best of luck.
Regards
I don't know man. I wouldn't do MBA at this point. You have a solid background as it is. Can you really justify quitting your AM job and leaving behind your earning potential over the next 2-3 years with making P/L (which are probably crucial right now where you're at)?
Do you want to do PE or something? I'm pretty junior still (going into my 3rd year of sell side research at a BB) and I had b-school in mind this whole time up until recently. Even with the pathetic comp we're getting these days I can't justify quitting a job that should pay close to 200k next year to pick up 200k in student loans and end up trying to go back into a better research/AM/HF role (which is what I would want to do anyway).
For you it may have been worth it 2.5 years ago. That's just my uneducated opinion though, the guys above probably know better.
Thanks all. There is some good food for thought.
I'm assuming that you're singling out H/S b/c they're so hard to get into versus something about my profile not fitting with those school, correct?
I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, but what doors would an MBA open up for from to L/S HFs (et al...) that I would not have if I was trying to lateral?
You're expecting $200K? Man, I hope so but I wouldn't bet on it. In my experience SS ER flattens out at about your experience.
This is basically the thought I keep coming back.
1) Generally, people get their MBA to have my job. Why would I leave just to have to fight to get back in? 2) My job is awesome. We have a unique strategy and I'm learning a ton. 3) I don't want to give up my income for 2-years + incur $100K of debt. 4) I hold doubts about the increase to my comp.
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