Is a top MBA (Harvard/Stanford) worth it for me?
Hi,
I'm currently 5 years into a career working in trading at a top prop trading firm (SIG, Jane Street etc) as part of a growing and successful team. The pay is now pretty decent ($400-600k) and the hours are manageable (~50 per week) but I feel that I might be more interested in a more qualitative field such as PE or consulting. As such I've considered applying to a top business school, but am concerned that I'd be taking a massive pay cut.
Is it true that coming out of HBS I can expect to make no more than $200k? Are the compensation figures posted by the school (~$170k median salary) inclusive of expected year end bonuses? And what does the typical compensation trajectory look like after HBS; are 7 figure annual comps feasible for most within 4-5 years?
Also do I have a shot at HBS? 780 GMAT. 3.6 ugpa at Wharton/Penn Engineering. Over represented minority. Male.
Trader in PropTrad, sorry about the lack of response. Maybe one of these topics will help:
More suggestions...
Hope that helps.
If you're making ~500k on 50 hours a week and you like your job and think there's stability where you are, then you're probably not going to lvoe your job as an entry level consultant, banker, or even PE Senior Associate/VP where your hours are almost certainly going to be higher and the compensation less.
As far as long term outlook goes, that's a toss up. I can tell you that even ~5 years out of B school as a consultant, banker, PE professional, F500 manager, etc basically any job out of B school, it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to make the same amount of money with the hours you're working.
Now with that being said, if you don't love what you're doing, don't think there's that much stability in prop trading (which there might not be) or just want to take a few years off and reset your career, then it might be worth it. If you were able to transition into PE and made it to the upper levels of a firm, your comp could be in the millions, but it'll be a long hard road to get there and there aren't any guarantees. And that would be a best-case outcome. As an MBB consultant, you'll probably have to work ~6-8-10 years to become a partner post MBA and it's a tough lifestyle all the way through.
If you purely care about making money, it's probably not worth it. If you want some career diversity and would be ok starting back at a $200k type of salary then maybe it's worth it.
As far as chances go for H/S, you've got as good of a chance as anyone.
You might be able to lateral into consulting without the MBA (Deloitte/Accenture type) with an M&T degree. I’m considerably older than you but know of a few that did this post trading careers during the washout period of late 2000s/early 2010s
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