<p>Here's an interesting article that quotes 20 people that are "smarter and richer than your professors" on the value of an MBA degree:</p>
<p>best article ever posted on this site, it speaks the truth</p>
<p>Anecdotal evidence rarely makes convincing "proof".</p>
<p>As with everything else, the MBA degree experience is in the eye of the beholder, regardless as to where they get it from.</p>
<p>cherry-picked list of people. and they're answering the question "are MBAs necessary in order to succeed in business?". Of course they're not. The proposition an MBA makes is that it is helpful, that it improves your odds.</p>
<p>And also, Warren Buffet got a masters' in economics from Columbia Business School. In the 50s, that was indistinguishable from an MBA, at least in wall street's eyes.</p>
<p>Larry Ellison might just have the greatest quote ever: "Now that you have an M.B.A., you will never be as successful as me!"</p>
<p>The article is not a good one as the percentage of MBAs in upper mgt is disproportionately HIGHER than the percentage that hold MBAs overall. It is considerably higher when you only take into consideration top business schools. Hell, just look at a list of Harvard MBA or Wharton MBA grads. The lists will floor you.</p>
<p>ps. Ellison is a POS with constant Bill Gates ***** envy.</p>
<p>You don't even need an undergraduate degree to make money. All you need is a library card. Seriously. So far I've learned more outside of school than I have in. Despite being in my first year of college, I can hold a conversation with most graduates.</p>
<p>these articles always annoy the tar out of me. it's attacking a strawman. no, you don't NEED an MBA to be successful. You don't need one to succeed in wall street or consulting or to start your own business. But they damn sure help.</p>
<p>it's like those articles asking the titular question, "Is Harvard necessary?" and then parading around a list of students who turned down Harvard for other places, or talking about how great the education is that they're getting elsewhere. That's not the point. The question isn't whether or not the thing is a make-or-break decider in future status, the question is the extent to which the degree (be it MBA or top Bachelors) assists the average person getting one. I know a few Harvard graduates who are screw-ups. All that proves is that everything is a meritocracy, even those given the best chances this world offers.</p>
<p>It is not overrated. </p>
<p>MBA increases your earnings and is an good investment. A graduate degree in business is still important to reach senior management ranks within most companies. </p>
<p>I remember a post about why you should get a MBA here ....</p>
<p>**
Put in school's information and ended up with the following:</p>
<pre><code>* 5-year income gain: $70,000
Years to break even: 3.1
Class of '96 salary pre- MBA: $33,000
Class of '96 salary in 2002: $106,000
Tuition for class of 2002: $17,992 **
</code></pre>
<p>Does this look like a good deal to you? It looks like a GREAT deal. Very, very compelling information.</p>
<p>In case, the numbers are a bit different (after all, the numbers above are averages and they are for recent years -- graduated in 1988). Here's an approximation of the figures:
**
* Income before grad school: $18,000</p>
<pre><code>* Income after grad school: $40,000
Cost of grad school: $5,000 (This is the debt he had left over when graduated. An assistantship that paid all other costs.)
Income five years after grad school: $74,000 (remember, this was 1993)
</code></pre>
<p>**
Again, this seems like a pretty good deal to me.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Despite being in my first year of college, I can hold a conversation with most graduates.
[/quote]
They just pretend to have a conversation with freshman mongrels. :)</p>
<p>I can see where you're coming from - a lot of business decisions (and conversations) are the result of common sense and logic and not necessarily any one tangible piece of information that you learned at any school let alone an MBA. I would say that you go to school primarily to learn how to learn; that's why college graduates are popular in the job market (for example, how many history majors become historians?)</p>
<p>I analyzed the education of CEOs of investment banks. There are many who even don't have an MBA!</p>
<p>You can read it online: Qualification</a> of CEOs. This a part of my [url=<a href="http://phdmbacfa.blogspot.com%5Dblog%5B/url">http://phdmbacfa.blogspot.com]blog[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Best,
Student</p>
<p>Pretty poor "proof" if the reasoning behind it is flawed. Using CEOs w/ MBAs as a metric for the value of the degree or school is just as silly as using the # of Nobel Prize winners a school has to measure the quality of its students. Not all college students aspire to win Nobel Prizes, just as not all MBA grads aspire to be CEOs. Even of IBs.</p>
<p>I agree - and I think I have stated this explicitly. Not everyone wants to be a CEO of IB - most of people don't!</p>
<p>There is no precise and objective measure to assess usefulness of the MBA. I just proposed one of them. It says only - if you thinks about becoming top manager in IB MBA is NOT a must.</p>
<p>And I think this is not silly as you say. This analysis is a good indicator and good argument against all who say that MBA is required for Top Tier career.</p>
<p>Regards,
Student</p>
<p>
[quote]
Ross Perot, former presidential candidate and billionaire, never attended college. Perot's company, Electronic Data Systems, was sold for $2.4 billion to GM in 1984, a move that helped Perot establish his current net worth of $4.3 billion. That's not too bad for a Texan with no formal business degree. Perot, like many others, feels that real-life experience can be superior to textbook learning. Perot reflected, "When I go to the Harvard Business School, I talk to them about the real world. At business schools they live and think in terms of organizational charts. But life is a spiderweb; everything crosses at odd angles."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Who wrote this article??? Ross Perot is a graduate of the United States
Naval Academy. He is even responsible for their devising their honor concept that is still in practice today.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And I think this is not silly as you say. This analysis is a good indicator and good argument against all who say that MBA is required for Top Tier career.
[/quote]
I can't believe people are still arguing against this strawman.</p>
<p>Listen up, folks: nobody is saying an MBA is REQUIRED for just about anything. Stop trying to disprove that. And a "top tier career", whatever that means, is one hell of a subjective definition.</p>
<p>The question is whether, on average, an MBA helps those who get one enough to be worth the investment of time and money. and mrxalleycat's post #10 gives a fairly compelling argument in its favor.</p>