Oct 8, 2018
High-Paying Non-Finance MBA Jobs?
I go to a great college (not H/S/W but very highly regarded) and I'm getting my MBA right after undergrad (I don't want to deal with the inconvenience of doing it later in life), so are there any jobs that aren't in the finance industry that I can get that will give a $90k+ base salary?
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Comments (13)
What are you studying in undergrad?
Double-major in Accounting and Economics
MBA programs release statistics about what students do after graduation and what they make.
https://www.darden.virginia.edu/mba/career/employm...
Look at the one you are applying for, however I personally doubt its a high quality program if you can go straight in.
What programs allow you to go direct to an MBA?
Seems uncommon. You've taken the GMAT and gotten into a school?
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
Here's the problem. The minimum requirement for CPA licensure is 150 credit hours of college education. Most bachelor's degree programs will get you to about 120. So basically, no accounting firm will accept you for an internship unless you meet those minimum requirements. That's why many schools (for accounting students) let students enroll in an MBA program to get to the 150 credit requirement. So basically if I want a job in accounting I MUST do the MBA immediately.
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If you're doing the CPA and want to work in accounting, what's the point of this thread? It's such a specific career trajectory that the only exit you will likely have is exactly a finance job, and that's if you make some wise moves in a few years (or right now if you avoid an accounting career altogether). It's not like you're going to jump from doing B4 audit to marine biology any time soon.
Let's say I do the MBA immediately after undergrad. Other than accounting, what are my options
You haven't done your research.
Its only feasible to go to Top 10 MBA programs (maybbeee Top 20).
Most of these programs require 1-2 years work experience, minimum with 3-4 possibly being the average.
Your initial question is wrong. "If I do an MBA immediately after undergrad...?"
Answer is: You don't.
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
Fastest I have seen someone get into a good MBA program was dude I started with in Management Consulting. He took the GMAT right after graduating and the January after we started (he'd been working 4mo or something), he got an acceptance letter from HBS (I think entrance was contingent on min 1 yr experience, which he would have).
He had about a 760 GMAT, 3.96 uGPA
He didn't do jack after he got that acceptance letter. He was only at that firm for 8 or 10 months, then did a summer internship, then HBS, and then went to BCG after HBS.
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
There are schools that allow you to proceed to the MBA right after undergrad, but top programs that I'm aware of do not. My school had one, but then again it isn't on any top 100 list...
None. The question you're asking by itself indicates:
- You haven't done enough research to make the most of any MBA program
- You don't know why you're doing the MBA
- You don't know enough about the business world to justify what you're doing
- There's a decent chance you won't succeed in the accounting world
If you're doing the MBA + CPA from undergrad route, I think the highest-utility choice you've got is to work in Big 4 to get your CPA apprenticeship hours or whatever it's called and carve out a niche for yourself working with clients in industries close to whatever you'd be interested in making a transition toward. At that time you can choose to pivot, but since you'd have already exhausted the MBA option, any pivot options you have will be much more narrow. In other words, you'll always be seen as an accountant unless you go back to school for a PhD or MS in a different field. You're locking yourself in at a very early stage.
Edit: this may sound worse than it actually is. You can make a lot of cash as an accountant, and with the right education, you could pivot to investments, insurance, or some form of entrepreneurship. The business world is both deep and broad, but you need to be aware of the fact that those MBA + CPA programs are a bit of a double-edged sword.
$90K seems kind of low for top MBA programs.... thats like a marketing position in a low COL city
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
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