<p>Also when your 28 and have a good job and a wife/family isn't kind of hard to quit work and go halfway around the country to a business school for two years?</p>
<p>Well that is a decision that you will have to make. A family is one thing you have to sacrifice until later if you go into business. If you want to go to business school bad enough then I'm sure you'll make the right choice.</p>
<p>Tpeck, I think you're confusing some of the issues here.</p>
<p>First off, the salaries that you list for the BSBA program at Olin are basically the salaries for consultants and investment bankers, because I would expect that many if not most of the BSBA grads go to those fields. WU is a highly regarded undergraduate program (not just speaking specifically about Olin, but about WU in general), and so lots of consulting companies and banks will recruit at WU, especially at Olin, because if you study at Olin, you are basicaly signalling to the market that you are interested in a business-type job, like consulting and banking. </p>
<p>However, that doesn't mean that if you then get your MBA from Olin immediately after undergrad, you should automatically expect your salary to be commensurate with the salary of other MBA's. That's not how it works. Employers who hire MBA's are not just hiring people for the MBA degree. They are also hiring for the experience as well. </p>
<p>Take Wharton as an example. Wharton is an indisputable finance and banking powerhouse. However, just because you have an MBA from Wharton does not automatically mean that you are going to be hired by an investment bank. Every Ibank out there turns down plenty of Wharton MBA's. The MBA is only part of the equation. They also look at your pre-MBA experience. If you don't have any, then it is more difficult for you to get hired. Not impossible, but more difficult. </p>
<p>Hence, the point is, if you get your MBA straight out of undergrad, you simply cannot expect to get the same results as the other MBA's will get. An MBA by itself is not a substitute for experience. </p>
<p>I'll give you another example. A couple of years ago, two guys graduated with their master's degrees from MIT-Sloan and immediately upon graduation, got jobs as Vice Presidents at major companies that each paid something above 300k, and that's just in straight salary, never mind the bonus. Those two got by far the highest salary of their graduating class - in many cases, more than doubling the salaries of many of the other graduates (remember, I'm just talking salary here, not additional compensation). How did they do it? Is it really ridiculous for somebody to graduate and then immediately become a Vice President of a major corporation? I don't think so. It's really no mystery what happened here. One of them was in his mid-40's when he graduated, and one was in his early 50's. They already had extremely lucrative and powerful jobs before they went to Sloan, and they were simply going back to their old companies (both of them were sponsored by their employers), with a promotion. </p>
<p>So it wouldn't be fair for other students in that same class to expect to get the kind of jobs these guys got. Those 2 guys were already extremely successful before they ever set foot at Sloan. </p>
<p>The point is, if you're younger and less experienced than the other people in your MBA class, then you shouldn't expect to get the same kind of offers as those other people. I have always said that if you can get into an elite MBA program right after undergrad, you should do it. On the other hand, the MBA isn't magic. It's not going to substitute for experience. You shouldn't expect something for nothing. </p>
<p>And finally, you ask if you're 28 with a family and a good job, would it be difficult to quit work to go to B-school for 2 years. Well, considering the fact that all the elite B-schools' entering class's average entering age range from 27-29, that clearly means that a lot of people have asked the same question you just asked, and you can see how they answered it.</p>
<p>Thanks, this explaned alot for me... but 300,000 doesnt seem alot to me at all. I mean, two of my brother are chiropractors and they take in more then that. I thought Ibanking could make alot more then doctors. Is this true?</p>
<p>Your brothers must be great chiropractors or have a great location.</p>
<p>Maybe they are Paris Hilton's chiropractors.</p>
<p>They both own their own practice. Both are in a heavy area (in front of Walmart). My other brother is a Dentist and he makes more ;).</p>
<p>Wow, I can't believe some one would actually reccomend NOT getting your MBA right out of undergrad school. That might be the silliest thing I've read on this website.</p>
<p>Tpeck, those 2 guys are not I-bankers. And I was stressing the SALARY portion.</p>
<p>The fact is, salaries don't tend to go up very high. When you start getting to the high end, most of the compensation tends to come from other sources - bonuses, stock options, other forms of equity compensation, etc. You talk about investment bankers, so let's talk about them. Their salaries are never all that high. Even the best investment bankers in the world rarely make more than 500k in salary. It's the BONUS that matters. When you see Ibankers make 7 or 8 figures, the vast bulk of that comes from the bonus. </p>
<p>Take your chiropractors and dentist example. How much SALARY are they making? Probably some low amount, perhaps 0. Why? Because most business owners (and that's what the chiropractor and dentist effectively are) pay themselves only a nominal salary, and many of them pay themselves no salary. Instead, they make their money off the profits of the business, and that's not a salary.</p>
<p>The point is, I stressed salary because if those 2 guys I mentioned were making good money just off salary alone, then you can imagine what they are pulling in as a total, when you add in all the sources of income. </p>
<p>I'll give you another example. Bill Gates only pays himself 900k in salary a year. Do you think that his salary in any way captures the kind of true income that he makes every year? I think you would agree that it does not. You may recall that Microsoft had a special one-time dividend payout last year. Because of that payout, Bill Gates got $3 billion in a single dividend check. Yeah, that's right, $3 billion in a single dividend check. Makes the 900k in salary look rather inconsequential, you must agree. </p>
<p>However, let's get back down to the basic point. I would say that if you can get an elite MBA right after undergrad, then get it. I would just say that I wouldn't hold my breath. You can get a non-elite MBA right out of undergrad, that's not that hard. But getting into an elite MBA program with no work experience? That's not easy. But, hey, if they let you in, then more power to you.</p>
<p>I would also add that when it comes to owning your own business, particularly, a cash-based one, making 300k or close to it isn't all that uncommon. I happen to know 2 Vietnamese immigrants who have no formal education, came to the US with nothing, couldn't speak any English, and even to this day, their English is still quite poor, and probably make over 200 k each by starting and runing their own Vietnamese restaurants. I know a guy who never graduated from college, but owns and runs 4 Burger King franchises, and he makes over 250k a year. Heck, I know a guy who owns and operates his own bar/restaurant/nightclub (it's a familiy business, he inherited it from his father), who probably easily make over 500k a year. </p>
<p>None of these people are particularly well educated. What they are, however, is highly entrepreneurial, in a way that most people aren't. Most people simply aren't willing to go through all the scut work and lean years to get their own business off the ground. Running your own business is extremely insecure - one lost lawsuit, one big tax audit that you lose, or one big change in the market, and you're screwed. With a regular job, the worst that can happen is you get fired. If you're making your income off your own business, then not only can you go out of business, but you may be held personally liable for any problems. Don't think that incorporating yourself will shield you from liability either. Entrepreneurs who incorporate themselves and find themselves to be the subject of a tort lawsuit usually find that both their corporate shell and their own personal worth are targeted.</p>
<p>This may be a moribund thread now, however, I think I should add that the percentage of the student body who in top-flight B-schools who don't have experience is tiny. According to USNews, in 2005, the numbers range from a low of 0% at places like MIT-Sloan, Kellogg, NYU, Dartmouth Tuck, and Berkeley-Haas, to a high of 2.7% at Stanford. </p>
<p>I maintain that if you can somehow get admitted into a top-flight B-school right after undergrad, you should probably go for it. I would just say that I wouldn't hold my breath hoping for it to happen. The top-flight B-schools entering classes generally average between 5-7 years of work experience, and work experience tends to be the most heavily weighted factor when determining admission. It's going to be difficult to amass an undergrad career so exemplary that it will compensate for your lack of experience, particularly when you consider your competition.</p>