MBA worth 400k?
My friend and I estimated that MBA may cost up to 400k including opportunity cost, which means it may take 5+ yrs to break even. Is that true? Can someone working in tech (in product management roles/biz management roles) share a bit about your thought process in terms of finance?
Don’t do full time mba, waste of time, just do executive mba part time while working and get your work to sponsor if you can.
^ this
Mba cost is 120k per annum - and company sponsors 10k. Atleast that is some benefit
Haas EW is 140k all in
There’s a number of factors you may not have considered when you came up with that opportunity cost. One is financial aid/scholarship. Depending on how you do on the GMAT, the school may cover all or most of your tuition so you don’t have to rely on loans. Secondly, Full Time MBAs often work during the summer in paid internships. Depending on where you go that could be in the $30K range for 10-12 weeks of work. Full time MBA makes sense for finance folks who are going the Private Equity route. It can also make sense if you’re trying to be Csuite in certain Fortune 100 companies via the Leadership Development program. You can google MBA Leadership Development Programs to see which companies do it. If you’re just trying to be a product manager you don’t need an MBA. Get some books on Amazon like ‘Sprint’, get a team together, and launch something. MBA to Product Manager makes sense if you’re deadset on going to Amazon, Atlassian, Salesforce, Microsoft, or Google, but that’s like 5 companies that recruit MBAs that way, there’s many other companies in tech...PT MBA makes sense if your company will promote you with it. Using it to jump elsewhere in Finance, especially if you are not in Finance already will be a bit of a challenge. It can be done of course.
Are there any good options for mba for working professionals in Bay Area? What kind of roles as a software engineer should look for post mba ? Does us permanent residents have any benefits? Thanks for ur insights.
The better question is: What do YOU want to do with your career? Look at some people you admire at your company and elsewhere, check their backgrounds. Do they have an MBA? In my case I wanted a Product Management gig at my company and I asked my Chief Technology Officer (he manages them) what do I need to do so I can be considered for that role. He said, “go get your MBA” so I did. For PT MBA, you could go to Kelley Direct. They have career services for PT people that want to jump to diff careers and you get to do recruiting with the Full Timers...the irony is there’s a ton of non-tech folk getting MBAs trying to get into tech companies. You already have an advantage if you plan to stay in tech. Post MBA, Typically it’s Program Manager, Partner Manager, Product Marketing Manager, Product Manager, Senior Strategist, Business Analyst, or if you go the consulting route (Deloitte, PWC, Accenture, E&Y, InfoSys) Associate.
NO. And I’m sure 400k is a vast underestimation. It’s especially not worth it if you’re not in a top 10 school. So if you got into Stanford, fine you can go. Otherwise, if you go to some obscure school, you’re a fool.
I have no idea what the OP currently gets for Salary and which schools he/she are looking at. It can get a bit below that 400K if they crush the GMAT, get scholarships/fellowship from the school and 3rd parties, and attend a top school that is in a lower cost of living city vs Bay Area, Boston, or NY. Chicago Booth, Michigan Ross, UVA, and Duke come to mind.
Wrong. Top 3 is fine
You don’t do a full time Mba as a software engineer. You also don’t go to an expensive MBA school unless you are looking at entirely switching careers. Santa Clara university and the like are perfectly fine
MBA is very 1999. Also, companies are moving away from degrees mattering (unless it’s niche).
Only do an MBA part time. Waste of opportunity cost of lost income/promotion/money from company to pay for schooling.
If you are hot shit, you'll get scholarship
No- you won’t. And if you do, it’s typically at about 10% of total cost at top schools
I'm a student at M7 and I personally know multiple people who got a full ride at M7.
Don’t quit your job while doing mba
Do part time or exec mba ?
Part time is where it’s at