Buisness school, waste of money& time?

<p>the biggest bucks are in consulting/finance, but those careers tend to dominate your soul. mba grads usually work in those fields for 3-4 years before moving onto greener pastures.</p>

<p>“general management” in a company is one option, where you basically enter a mgmt track and work your way up the company. the consulting/banking experience can get you in the door and is well respected within the business world.</p>

<p>“buy side” is a finance-specific exit option. once you work your butt off in an investment bank, you can often lateral to the buy-side. this includes hedge funds, investment management, etc. the lifestyle is a bit more sane and you can still make a killing. </p>

<p>if you manage to stay in consulting/banking, you will also make a killing, but you will pay the price: your life will basically be your career as i understand it. thus, most people try to switch out after a few years.</p>

<p>Yes of course - besides banking and trading you have private equity and hedge funds of course.</p>

<p>I thought I made it pretty clear in my first reply what people do after an MBA, and that if you go to a top school you don’t make 75k. Did you even actually what I wrote?</p>

<p>To make things as simple as possible, I will write the most common jobs for a grad from a top 5 MBA program (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT Sloan, NU Kellogg) and a median for starting salary plus signing bonus and year end bonus.</p>

<p>Management Consulting (Consultant) - 150k
Investment Banking (Associate) - 200k
Sales and Trading (Associate) - 200k
Hedge Fund (Associate/Analyst) - 250k plus
Private Equity/Venture Capital (Associate/Analyst) - 250k plus
Investment Management (Equity Analyst, Fixed Income Analyst, etc.) - 200k</p>

<p>This is an oversimplification, but will help you get an idea. More than half of the grads from the above schools will go into one of these jobs or something close to it and make something like this in their first year. Some less, and some a lot more, but this is about right for the median - and the pay scale climbs quite quickly.</p>

<p>This is easy to find via google, most schools publish their employment stats (mind you these don’t include year end bonuses which are often larger than base pay). A few examples:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/cmc/reports/documents/EmploymentReport_08_09l.pdf[/url]”>http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/cmc/reports/documents/EmploymentReport_08_09l.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
[2009</a> Wharton MBA Career Report](<a href=“http://mbacareers.wharton.upenn.edu/report/indus_2.cfm]2009”>http://mbacareers.wharton.upenn.edu/report/indus_2.cfm)
<a href=“http://mitsloan.mit.edu/pdf/fullreport07_08.pdf[/url]”>http://mitsloan.mit.edu/pdf/fullreport07_08.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Typical top hiring firms (in terms of # of recruits) are Bain, McKinsey, BCG, Goldman, Citi, JP Morgan, etc…</p>

<p>man… listen… i’m starting a business major… there are jobs very relevant to what i’m learning that doesnt require me to “start my own business”. and yea if you’re good at math, than business isnt gonna be too brutal on you. if you’re good at algebra than you shouldnt have any problems in the math field of business… you can always use a calculator… not even those big fat dooky ones that costs a lot…</p>

<p>tell you the truth doctor123, i think the business field is right for you. just learn it and look at the big picture; without having to start your own business</p>

<p>nothing is a waste of time if you enjoy what you’re doing and pursue your goal</p>

Doctor123 what do you think America’s top CEO,CFO, Presidents etc typically earn? There is a reason why
these people are highly compensated for their talents and it’s not because of med school training.

So many people major in “business” but do not know what it actually is. So good for you for pointing out how generic and BS-y it sounds and asking!

Usually you focus on an area of it. So essentially you get training in accounting, or finance (valuations, reading BS/PL). You could focus on Capital Markets, on Supply Chain Finance. You could focus on econ, regulatory capital. Anything really.

Or you do Math. The employers love that too!

Google some of those job areas and see if the interest you.

This thread is five years old–I think the OP has made a decision.