Was Taking Out Student Loans Worth It?

School was a complete waste of time for me. I don't think the math works out at all for anyone doing b-school unless they go to a great school as those have solid networks.

Coming from a lower-middle class family, college gave me the opportunity to at the very least expand my network. I would not be working in the job I am now without the recommendation from a close friend who had interned here before me. I was not the most driven individual in high school or community college either, but transferring to a 4-year institution and making friends with individuals who are has spurred me in my career to accomplish more than I've ever dreamed of. Obviously an anecdotal experience but lends to the notion that college is what you make of it.

I would go back and do it again for sure. Between my school being relatively inexpensive, some scholarships, and money my parents saved, I graduated with a shade under $20k in student debt. So it was more than worth it.

How much would I be willing to take out knowing what I know now? Great question. I think up around that $75k mark things get dicey. Maybe closer to $50k.

Yea for me I only ended up taking out about a moderately priced car worth of debt for undergrad (over $30 under $40) so given where I am now I would absolutely do it all over again, I mean if the choice is take out debt and go to college or not and don't go, I think that's pretty easy call (for a finance/business/hard science student that is). Admittedly I think once you start getting into starter home pricing for B-School the decision gets a little more murky especially if you're not going to an M7.

Think it worked out. I borrowed full MBA expense. Paid off within 3 years after working in banking. If I stayed in my pre MBA job (non-MBB management consulting in lower COL city), I would make 1/3 or less of what I’ll this year. Or another way to think of it - im making 8x pre MBA earning 6 years later. But only 25% of associates who started with me survived this far. NYC is more expensive. Similar or higher attrition in my old consulting job. So basically depends on what you make out of it.

Yes. Its literally how I paid for college

I graduated w/ $58k in debt in 1998 w/ a BS in Electrical Engineering. I had my loan paid off exactly 10 years later, but the compounding of interest had ballooned my final payoff to over $80k. It was still worth it.

Had I not been able to borrow the money I would not have had the opportunity to get an education which has sustained my family and me since I graduated. I would do it again in a minute, but with 20-20 hindsight, I would be much more judicious on my spending while taking the loans out, lived more frugally and tried to limit my debt load. Such is life.

BTW, going to a specific tiered school does not limit your income potential. Perhaps it limits your starting potential, but opportunity is out there.

Great post. Any more insight from MBA graduates?

I personally spent $0 on my undergrad with full athletic scholarship (non-target state school), but I will be thinking about T10 MBA soon and there is no way around it... If I am being honest the network and current jobs of my classmates aren't great and having a solid brand school on my resume would most likely boost things for me.

Absolutely think that taking out loans was worth it. It was the difference between a state school with decent IB pipelines and a private school with great IB pipelines. You can definitely succeed coming from a variety of backgrounds, but I think taking out some debt for something that will be on your resume/bio for the rest of your life is important.

Debt was wroth it but I probably would have chosen an in state school if I could do it all over again.

The only thread I've ever started on WSO was a different flavor of this same question. I chose a large state school over two Ivies. Going into college, I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I chose getting paid to go to school (~$1k/mo after tuition and rent was paid) over graduating with $200k in student loan debt. A few months into my freshman year, I "realized" I had a passion for finance, so I panicked and looked for external validation. I emailed the only high-flying business alumnus from my school, posted on WSO, called every family friend I could think of, etc. Fast forward 7 years, I've just started at an M7 bschool and will be taking out loans to cover close to the full cost of attendance. My observations, for what they're worth, are the following:

I knew what I wanted to do, too. You'll see that I put the word "realized" in the paragraph above in quotations. Hopefully your senses are tingling... College, for me, was so much about exploration and figuring out who I am and what I want. The list of my separate aspirations (that I put significant work toward while in college) are as follows: Mutual Fund PM, FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, Private Equity Titan, Executive/ Life Coach, Algorithmic Day Trader, Ski Instructor. I landed in Corp Dev right out of college. In the end, attending an Ivy likely would have helped me with my chosen career path; however, looking back and thinking "what if it hadn't?" is a frightening prospect. In hindsight, the risk of being $200k in debt to be a chemical engineer far outweighed the extra work I had to put in to break into finance from a non-target. I truly believe that a senior in high school doesn't know enough about herself to take that risk.

Who are you? Having a diploma from an Ivy league school is not nearly as strong of an indicator of success as having an acceptance letter from an Ivy league school. In both scenarios, the subject is obviously smart, driven, organized, and well-spoken. I'm really happy that I treated that $250k surplus as 4 years of "compensation" to work my ass off and build the life I wanted. Can you put in the extra work if it comes down to it or do you absolutely need on campus recruiting to land your dream finance job?

That being said,

Take the risk if the time is right and you have the right reasons. I've very much enjoyed my post-undergrad work so far and have big aspirations. I always knew that bschool was in the cards for me. I'm now convinced that, in order to get where I'm going, bschool is a necessity. In the presence of much more information about myself, my aspirations, and working world in general, I didn't sweat taking the leap... I have no doubt that it will pay off.

TLDR: College no, Business/Law/Medical school yes.