<p>First let me clear something up here: I think that I'd like to do consulting possibly, but am just exploring all sorts of options. So please don't accuse me of anything yet.</p>
<p>Ok, now for the real question:</p>
<p>I was wondering how good of a combination it would be to either do a BS in either BME/EE/CS at a T25 undergrad school, get either a masters or phd, and then get an MBA. Again, I'd like to earn around 120k as soon as possible, so would getting a PHD in say BME be a good choice? If I do it, I would especially like to do something with the brain, so would a phd in neuroengineering be a good enough way to earn this type of money?</p>
<p>Would an MBA in all honesty do anything? Its possible that I might want to do management later on, but with a PHD and some experience, can't I move up into management anyways?</p>
<p>Finally, I know that for PHD most people don't really have to pay anything, but does the same go for masters? The reason I ask this is because I'm thinking of attending either USC or Michigan from OOS pending acceptance, so I'll have a lot of debt probably to begin with, and if I choose to do masters and that turns out not to be free, then I'll have more, and then adding either MBA or law school on top of that (law school in case way later I look at patent law) will add a whole bunch more. </p>
<p>a PHD is not in any way to help you get a good job. I don't understand what you are asking you want a BS in BME, a Master's in engineering, An MBA and a PHD? that sounds a little ridiculous. I'm willing to bet that you won't be thinking that way after just one year at the undergrad level. That is an insane amount of work and will just put you at a disadvantage, An employer would see you as a big burden to the company "too picky." </p>
<p>If you want to do consulting, Study business a degree in engineering is not going to help you become a better consultant. Do you even know what consultants do? Or are you just listening to the hype "consultants get paid alot"</p>
<p>Yea, sounds a bit overkill to me. If your goal is consulting, just get the mba after BS (it doesn't need to be egineering). Getting an advanced degree is a waste of time for your goals.</p>
<p>well I'm just thinking of other options in case consulting fails. Like I-banking, not everyone is able to land a half-decent consulting job, so yeah.</p>
<p>And btw, I'm saying get a BS in BME, then get a masters and possibly phd in a more specialized form of BME (Neural engineering in my case). Sorry if that wasn't clear. I was then asking if getting an MBA/JD after getting a masters or phd then be an overkill and be worth it. I'm sure its worth it to get a JD from a decent school because Patent lawyers make bank, but is it worth it to get an MBA?</p>
<p>And again, how much extra will a masters or phd degree cost on top of undergrad expenses.</p>
<p>Sorry again if that wasn't clear, but I hope this makes more sense now.</p>
<p>well, at least you should find a balance between love for science, law, finances and business, etc... which are all disparate fields. It will give you a better idea of what you want to do in life.</p>
<p>Get a PhD ONLY if you LOVE research and science, not for the money. It's simply a degree to get a beginning into research. Thus, I think Master and PhD in BME then MBA/JD is way overkill. Don't get a PhD just to pad a resume. It will take you many years, and is not as marketable as many think it is.</p>
<p>"And again, how much extra will a masters or phd degree cost on top of undergrad expenses." It costs sth not redeemable with money if you don't want to join the academia or research_it costs many years of your life.</p>
<p>well I don't necessarily want to do pure research, so maybe a masters is a good enough option for me then. See, although I do love business, I'm seriously just worried that I won't make enough as an engineer. Most engineers I know live very middle class lives, and I desire something better than that. Middle class isn't bad, but I at least want to be able to afford a 3 story house, a couple of 40k cars (the cars I don't expect right away, and besides, its a bad investment vs a house), not top of the line, but very good ammenities for the house, and to be able to afford brand name clothing. If I can do that, thats good enough for me, and from what I've seen, thats not possible in engineering unless you get into business.</p>
<p>Ha ha, brand name clothing, and a couple of 40 k cars? Doesn't sound like a PhD lifestyle for me. Definitely, don't get a PhD. Get a bachelor's in business or something, then get an MBA. Seriously, as others have already said, I don't see how a person with a goal like yours would even consider getting a PhD. It'd be a waste of time. Get it, as someone said, only if you really want to do research until the end of your life. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the only positions that a PhD would allow you to do over a Master's degree would just be the research positions (be it academic research, or research for company). </p>
<p>As Sakky probably had said a couple of thousand times already, getting an engineering degree would provide you with a great (albeit, a very middle class lifestyle as you described it) backup career should you fail to enter consulting or I-banking (which most people fail anyway). But you can always enter consulting or I-banking through business degree (I'm not sure if getting a business or economics degree would necessarily be better than an engineering degree for consulting though), and you would enjoy college a lot more than if you were in engineering (I might be generalizing a bit here since I know for sure that I myself wouldn't enjoy business curriculum and partying than I did engineering, but then again, I'm a dork, so I might be an exception).</p>
<p>I completely agree on what everyone else has been saying about the PhD: it is not for you! Neither is the JD, MD, MBA, or MS.... you need to find out what you want first. You don't have a clue. I know you love money, but don't pick advanced degrees based on money alone; you won't succeed and you won't be happy if you do.</p>
<p>People have been trying to tell you this, but you haven't been listening. First and foremost, do what you love. The money will follow. You're still in that high school mentality where brand name clothes mean everything to you. You will soon realize that brand name clothes, $40k cars, and all of that don't mean anything.</p>
<p>Yeah sometimes if you're extremely talented, you will earn money, but thats again not really true. For example, I'm pretty sure people have to bust their @$$ to make the top 200 in the world for tennis right? Do you know how terrible their lifestyle is? Same with engineering, except its definately not as bad. Just because you're passionate doesn't mean you'll make money. You may be happy in other ways, but you won't necessarily be rich.</p>
<p>I second the jump off a bridge, YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT ADVANCED DEGREES ARE NOT GOING TO HELP YOUR DAMN CAREER UNLESS YOU HAVE THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS, OR HAVE A STEADY JOB AND ARE LOOKING FOR A PROMOTION OR A POSITION ELSEWHERE THAT REQUIRES IT. A MASTERS DEGREE WITH NO EXPERIENCE WILL NOT HELP, IT PUTS YOU AT A DISADVANTAGE OVER STUDENTS WITH A BS.</p>
<p>Your posts are repetitive and it is because you keep asking for advice and are not taking any of it into consideration. NO MATTER HOW MANY DEGREES YOU HAVE YOU WILL HAVE TO BUST YOUR ASS TO MAKE GOOD MONEY. GETTING EVERY DEGREE THAT EXISTS WILL NOT HELP YOU IT WILL HURT YOU. </p>
<p>Every 2 days you decide you want to do something else and every member who posts here replies and tells you that the decision can't be made in high school you will need to spend time as an undergraduate to realize if graduate school is for you. an MBA requires steady work experience with a company for many years before getting into management.</p>
<p>That is something you don't seem to understand, without work experience an MBA, Master's, ETC ETC is not going to do anything for you. </p>
<p>GO TO SCHOOL AND STUDY WHAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH, AFTER GRADUATION IT WILL BE CLEAR THE ROUTE YOU NEED TO TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU WANT TO GO. </p>
<p>You have a very difficult time understanding what college is for. It is not the degree that helps your career and life, it is THE EXPERIENCE OF COLLEGE.</p>
<p>one more thing it doesn't make a difference what degree you get if you want to go into consulting - YOU WILL NOT GET A CONSULTING POSITION FOR A FIRM UNTIL YOU CAN PROVE YOUR WORTH TO THEM BY YEARS OF HARD WORK. CONSULTANTS HANDLE LARGE ACCOUNTS FOR BIG FIRMS AND WORK WITH THE COMPANIES THEY ARE CONSULTING WITH TO SELL THEIR COMPANIES PRODUCT AND/OR SERVICES. </p>
<p>Until you can do sales in a company for years and prove how valuable you are, YOU WILL NOT GET A CONSULTING POSITION, AN INVESTMENT BANKING POSITION, OR ANY POSITION. </p>
<p>THE WAY YOU ARE THINKING I'D BE SURPRISED IF BURGER KING WOULD GIVE YOU A JOB.</p>
<p>you just say you want to do consulting. Why? Because you hear consultants make good money. What type of product or service do you plan on consulting? You have to be successful in a certain field, know the product and services damn well, have good communication skills, writing skills, reading skills, problem solving skills, etc etc to be a consultant. YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT CONSULTING INVOLVES YET YOU ARE HELL BENT ON ASKING THE SAME QUESTION OVER AND OVER WHICH NOBODY WILL BE ABLE TO ANSWER BUT YOURSELF TILL YOU ARE OUT OF COLLEGE.</p>
<p>I DONT MEAN TO BASH YOU AT ALL, BUT I HAVE A FEELING THIS IS THE ONLY WAY YOU ARE GOING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT EVERYONE ON THE BOARD IS ATTEMPTING TO TEACH YOU, NOBODY CAN TELL YOU WHAT ROUTE TO TAKE YOU HAVE TO MAKE THAT DECISION, THERE ARE MILLIONS OF JOBS IN AMERICA "CONSULTING" CAN BE VARIOUS THINGS FOR VARIOUS COMPANIES.</p>
<p>california_love8, the time you spend on this forum asking these questions... you could have made like $5000 this summer at home depot ($10 an hour)</p>
<p>you got issues. live life and stop asking all these hypothetical questions. there is no formula for success in life. ppl from MIT can be jobless. i make $9.5 an hour at NASA and i am from a top 25 university. my friend who goes to a community college iss working at NASA too with his 2.5 GPA but he makes $15 an hour. (there was an opening and i told him about it) </p>
<p>Perhaps, california_love8 still doesn't know how much devotion, work, perseverance and love is involved in pursuing research and doing a PhD. As a warning, a PhD or a Master is not sth you do for a simple whim or to make your resume more impressive.</p>
<p>I hope you know PhD can sometimes take up to 6 years to complete full-time. While you don't have to pay tuition, you only get a modest stipend. It's less common for Master's degree candidates to have their tuition paid for, since they're not really doing any service to the university. PhD students do research that the school can put their name on.</p>
<p>My advice to you... is wait 3 or 4 years before deciding on any advanced degrees. Many many things can change before then, so why are you trying to figure it all out now? Just concentrate on getting your BS degree, which is NOT a given.</p>