Top MBA = Golden ticket for success?
Asking because I recently sought advice on another forum and half the responses were the predictable "Get an MBA!"
Basically, I'm a sovereign bond analyst at a ratings agency, in my third year now. I enjoy my job but I'm ready to move on, but I don't know where I want to go or what my experience makes me eligible for.
I know a decent MBA is meant to be the ultimate career pivot, and apparently sets you up for long term corporate success, but I really have strong doubts about how much I'd really get out of it. Unless I was able to get some kind of high paying job in finance/consulting at the end of it - which to me seems like a long shot given I'd be competing with former IBankers and MBB consultants - I don't see how I could justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars an MBA would cost me, especially when my own work experience seems pretty niche.
As an alternative, my current job has confirmed they would fully sponsor me for an MS Econ degree (part time) at a local target college. I guess that would open more econ type roles for me down the road.
Any thoughts? Also, I'm non-US based, so the MBA schools I'd be looking at would probably also be non-US (LBS, INSEAD etc).
bump
Career success is all about optionality. You want the most options to succeed in life.
A top MBA is by no means a golden ticket, but it creates more options for your career success. Between the network of alums, your classmates (who at top programs will go on to great things) and helping you land the key 1st post-MBA job; a top program's options can have a multiplier effect on your career.
That being said, there are plenty of top MBA students/grads that have dismal careers. A top MBA is by no means a golden ticket to anything, other than to create options for you to succeed. It's still up to the student to execute on these options. Those who go into an MBA expecting top firms to roll out the red carpet and cater to them will be disappointed.
LBS is one of the best programs in Europe, suggest you push hard for it if Europe post-MBA is your goal.
Best of luck!
Appreciate the response. I don't know if you have any insight to my particular background, but do you think in my circumstances shelling out for an MBA would beat doing a free masters that I could take while still working? Obviously depends on what I want to eventually do, but I feel like even with an MBA you're somewhat shaped by your background, for example, I know an O&G ratings agency analyst who pivoted into Associate level O&G BB IBD post MBA. With my experience, I don't think I'd be eligible for IBD or MBB consulting, which is why I'm questioning if it's worth it for me.
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