MBA Programs

It depends on your definition of "move up". If you want to break into Private Equity, you pretty much need to go to Harvard or Stanford, full stop. If you want to break into investment banking or consulting, the field gets a little wider, and the top 15-20 programs can get you there, although you'll have to work harder for it at the bottom half of that list. Once you get beyond the top 20, you start to find schools that are known for their marketing program or even intangibles like "small class size" - i.e. no reputation whatsoever in finance. The level of on-campus recruiting drops very fast as well.

When I was researching b-schools, one of the most useful things I found to look at was the yearly employment report that most schools publish. For example: http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/career/recruit/documents/2006-07employment-re…

If the school doesn't have one of those, take that as a warning sign in itself, but also try looking for just a list of employers that recruit on campus. Then look for names of places you might like to work. As you go lower in the rankings, names like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bain, BCG, etc. tend to fall off the list very quickly.

If "moving up" just means advancing to director or VP level at your current company or in your current field, however, then a lower-ranked or part-time program will probably be sufficient.