The MBA Thread

Originally Posted by suited

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I was under the impression that it takes the average person 4 years to get their CFA... http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/...m/howlong.html

I would say a CPA or MBA would be more valuable than a CFA-at least more versatile. I'm debating on whether or not to start grad school this coming year, or just get my CPA instead, or both...

I would recommend you visit some local business schools, go to an info session, or even sit in on a class. I know this certainly helped in my decision that an MBA is right for my career and helpful when choosing a school. You can have some of your questions answered there and find out what is right for you.

Originally Posted by Aaron

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I work around the 2010 Olympics and have been contemplating my "next step" after the Games are over. One of the holes in my skill set is experience in finance. I'm thinking about addressing this with an MBA, preferably in a program in the US, Europe or Asia.

Dumb question - are there any bursaries or scholarships aimed at MBA students? Does anyone have any experience using the financial aid packages at their MBA schools?

Thanks.

A

There are many financial aid options available to MBA students but they'll vary from school to school. About 20% of my tuition was covered by bursaries and they were widely available at my school (Schulich). Your best option is to get information directly from the programs you're targeting.

Last week Business Week released their MBA school rankings (US only), they come out every two years and are seen as the most important rankings from what I can tell. Here is the list and the link. http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interac...2008/index.asp 1\t_Chicago (Booth) 2\t _Harvard 3\t _Northwestern (Kellogg) 4\t _Pennsylvania (Wharton) 5\t _Michigan (Ross) 6\t _Stanford 7\t _Columbia 8\t _Duke (Fuqua) 9\t _MIT (Sloan) 10\tUC-Berkeley (Haas) 11\tCornell (Johnson) 12\tDartmouth (Tuck) 13\tNYU (Stern) 14\tUCLA (Anderson) 15\tIndiana (Kelley) 16\tVirginia (Darden) 17\tNorth Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) 18\tSouthern Methodist (Cox) 19\tCarnegie Mellon (Tepper) 20\tNotre Dame (Mendoza) 21\tTexas-Austin (McCombs) 22\tBrigham Young (Marriott) 23\tEmory (Goizueta) 24\tYale 25\tUSC (Marshall) 26\tMaryland (Smith) 27\tU. of Washington (Foster) 28\tWashington University (Olin) 29\tGeorgia Tech 30\tVanderbilt (Owen)

Originally Posted by jurrigggg

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I'm taking the December exam as well. 3 weeks left and stressed out

Yeah, same here. Started some 4 weeks ago with learning for it, and right now it doesn't look that good, I have to say. Still have to read the complete econ book and the quant. method chapters...

Originally Posted by athletics

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Last week Business Week released their MBA school rankings (US only), they come out every two years and are seen as the most important rankings from what I can tell. Here is the list and the link.


This list is considered inferior, in most ways, to the US News ranking. No one in their right mind would choose Michigan over Stanford, unless you wanna work for GMs Snowmobile Division

Originally Posted by Tarmac

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This list is considered inferior, in most ways, to the US News ranking. No one in their right mind would choose Michigan over Stanford, unless you wanna work for GMs Snowmobile Division

I see the flaws in the BW rankings, but schools really value this list. Schools know where they are judged and they know high rankings can mean more attention and better applicants. I think the BW rankings are good by not just evaluating scores and numbers, otherwise they would take the applicants with the top GMAT scores and call it a day, regardless of fit.

I saw someone who took the BW Top 30 US rankings and recalculated them based on their scores alone and the list we pretty different. If anyone is interested, I can post it.

Originally Posted by Tarmac

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This list is considered inferior, in most ways, to the US News ranking. No one in their right mind would choose Michigan over Stanford, unless you wanna work for GMs Snowmobile Division

Hey!! I just got into Ross!!! (The evening program)
But I hear you...if I was going full time and I got into both Ross and Stanford, I may choose Stanford.

But it's my opinion that if you graduate from any of the top 10 schools, you will be able to write your own ticket and pretty much do whatever it is that you want to do.

Originally Posted by dshin

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Hey!! I just got into Ross!!! (The evening program)
But I hear you...if I was going full time and I got into both Ross and Stanford, I may choose Stanford.

But it's my opinion that if you graduate from any of the top 10 schools, you will be able to write your own ticket and pretty much do whatever it is that you want to do.

If you got in to Stanford, you would think you would certainly go there because your chances of getting in are 1 in 12, the lowest in the country. Ross is a great and so are the other ones on the Top 30 list (and then some).

One thing I learned from my search for the right MBA school is as long as its a quality top level school the most important factor is how you fit in to the program. It's gotta be 'your' kind of school, otherwise it'll be a long few years. You have to fit the vision of the school, the attitude and the goals of the program.

As I was interested in business school, I was puzzled by the fact that there are many rankings are all different. But not anymore.

I think all ranking except usnews are of much lower quality. This is because usnews was first, and if you want to have an alternative ranking you must have visible differences, otherwise it doesn't make sense. Moreover, you must make the top 10-30 different or otherwise newspapers would make fun of your ranking.

Harvard has the best brand, the largest and high-quality network. Stanford is similar, but with a smaller network. These 2 are generally considered at the same level, even tho people generally prefer Harvard over Stanford. A small step down is Wharton. By reading the forums, you realize that people almost always prefer Harvard or Stanford over Wharton. Then there are generally other schools that have been in the top for a long period of time: Kellog, Sloan. Then, after another small step Chicago and Columbia. This has been the status quo for a while. It's hard to change these things, because the main reason you go to these schools is branding and network, both of which are hard to change. Chicago got a huge donation this year, and that may improve the quality of the buildings, faculty, and financial aid, but would not change the size and quality of its network overnight. Change takes time.

This can also be seen in the yields (percentages of students accepting once admitted): H at 90%, Stanford at 80%, Wharton at 70%, MIT 65-70, Kellog 60%, Chicago 60%, and Columbia 70%.

It's very easy to make a different ranking. You can just give more weight to what recruiters say. Recruiters say about Harvard (with which I have no affiliations) graduates that they are arrogant, but in reality they have more job offers and are much more likely to refuse job offers, thus more hated by the recruiters.

Funny things about the businessweek ranking:
Chicago(yield 60%) before Harvard (90)
Duke(45%) before MIT (65-70)
Ross(60) before Stanford (80)

The difference in yield is 20-30%... and my impression is that most people that apply to Stanford don't even apply to Ross. (the same is true for the other 2 pairs, but to a lesser extent)

If I were to choose a school to get an MBA, I would choose H and then S by far.

--trajan

Originally Posted by athletics

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One thing I learned from my search for the right MBA school is as long as its a quality top level school the most important factor is how you fit in to the program. It's gotta be 'your' kind of school, otherwise it'll be a long few years. You have to fit the vision of the school, the attitude and the goals of the program.

Yes and no. The schools do tend to concentrate on one thing and do it well, but that's just because it's hard to compete and improve your ranking on all fronts. There are differences, but at the end of the day, the curriculum and methodology are roughly the same.

--trajan

Originally Posted by Tarmac

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I searched all open forums for the single title phrase "MBA" and there were none, surprisingly. So I thought I'd start. Many people here, especially on Mens Clothing seem to work in business, and I presume some of them went to business school.

Opinions on MBAs? Worth it? Waste of money? You liked the coke parties? Did you get your current job through MBA connections? Is it just to get higher-paying jobs or did it somehow land you your dream job?

Did you go to a top ranked school? Do you consider yourself money-centric (Andy Fastow FTW)? Did you go to a lower-ranked school, if so what was your experience?

I have my GMAT in the bag already, I am on the verge of starting about 5-6 applications.

Without question, one of the biggest wastes of money one can find.

It serves one purpose; to drive the profits of the b-schools.

Originally Posted by mikejones

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Without question, one of the biggest wastes of money one can find.

It serves one purpose; to drive the profits of the b-schools.

Care to justify your reasoning?

i always find these BW rankings mildly offensive, especially when my school's ranking slips!

Originally Posted by athletics

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Last week Business Week released their MBA school rankings (US only), they come out every two years and are seen as the most important rankings from what I can tell. Here is the list and the link.

http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interac...2008/index.asp

1\t_Chicago (Booth)
2\t _Harvard
3\t _Northwestern (Kellogg)
4\t _Pennsylvania (Wharton)
5\t _Michigan (Ross)
6\t _Stanford
7\t _Columbia
8\t _Duke (Fuqua)
9\t _MIT (Sloan)
10\tUC-Berkeley (Haas)
11\tCornell (Johnson)
12\tDartmouth (Tuck)
13\tNYU (Stern)
14\tUCLA (Anderson)
15\tIndiana (Kelley)
16\tVirginia (Darden)
17\tNorth Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)
18\tSouthern Methodist (Cox)
19\tCarnegie Mellon (Tepper)
20\tNotre Dame (Mendoza)
21\tTexas-Austin (McCombs)
22\tBrigham Young (Marriott)
23\tEmory (Goizueta)
24\tYale
25\tUSC (Marshall)
26\tMaryland (Smith)
27\tU. of Washington (Foster)
28\tWashington University (Olin)
29\tGeorgia Tech
30\tVanderbilt (Owen)

Originally Posted by justsayno

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i always find these BW rankings mildly offensive, especially when my school's ranking slips!

I hope you didn't go to Georgetown. They slipped right off...

Originally Posted by athletics

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I hope you didn't go to Georgetown. They slipped right off...

athletics,
did you get enrolled into GaTech evening MBA program? I am thinking about applying for some programs as well,got into GSU MBA program. Tech is great,but as far as I remember tuition for evening program was $45K,right?