r/MBA

Like the title says,

I have an opportunity to interview for an entry-level analyst position in a bank (IB path).

Now I am studying for GMAT to potentially get an MBA, but after MBA I would still pursue IB. My background is in technology, and through networking, I was able to secure a few interviews. Now I am trying to understand whether it is better to start at the entry level or do MBA and skip a few levels with larger opportuntiy cost -> I would be quitting my job to do MBA for 2 years.

Ty!

When selecting an MBA program, should it be from a top school? Is a Top Ranked MBA important?

Should it be a 1 year or 2 year program?

My goal is the Tech industry or AI field. Open to other fields like law and government.

Would University of Arizona's One Year MBA program have a good outcome for me? Or would i be spending more on it than actually making?

I got acceptances in MBA programs but cant choose which ones.

I have a STEM degree 5 years ago. Career transitioning into tech.

Please any advice is appreciated :)

I’ve been a long-time reader of this sub and am posting for the first time as I consider pursuing a part-time MBA. I’d appreciate any advice or perspectives.

Background
I’m currently a mid-20s middle-market private equity associate in a non-deal team role with 4 YOE. I’m based in the Midwest (not Chicago), so either program would require weekly weekend travel.
I graduated from a Top 100 university with a 3.9 GPA, completing two business majors and one liberal arts major. After graduation, I joined a bulge bracket bank in a front-office role outside of investment banking before moving to the buy side. Outside of work, I’ve also held several nonprofit board and leadership positions that would be included in my application.
I’m primarily considering Kellogg and Booth. I’ve attended preview days at both schools and sat in on classes at each.
Kellogg has granted me accelerated status, reducing my required coursework from 20.5 credits to 15.5, and I’ve been encouraged to apply with a GMAT/GRE waiver rather than taking an admissions exam. Between the reduced time commitment and lower overall cost, I’m currently leaning toward Kellogg.
I’m pursuing a part-time MBA because I don’t think leaving the workforce for a full-time program makes financial sense in my situation. The opportunity cost alone is significant, and I estimate the total cost of a full-time MBA would approach ~$600k versus roughly ~$120k for a part-time program.

Career Goals
My goal isn’t to make a major career pivot. I’d like to continue growing within my current firm, accelerate my progression, and remain in private equity in my current Midwest city. The biggest change I’d potentially pursue over the long term would be moving into a more investment-focused role within the PE industry.

Questions
Am I placing too much weight on Kellogg’s lower cost and accelerated curriculum, or would Booth provide meaningfully better long-term opportunities that justify the additional investment?

Booth has a well-earned reputation in finance and economics. For someone planning to stay in private equity, is there a meaningful difference in finance-related career outcomes between Booth and Kellogg?

For anyone who completed a finance or economics
concentration at Kellogg, how was your experience?

Should I take the Executive Assessment and apply to both programs simultaneously? I’m wondering whether Booth scholarships could narrow the cost difference enough to change the decision.

For those familiar with scholarships at either program, how competitive does my profile seem relative to recipients you’ve seen?

Am I asking the right questions, or are there important considerations I’m overlooking?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi I am from Latinoamérica Peru and I just score 645 - percentile 87.
This score will be enough to apply to Chicago for example ?

Graduated a year ago in probably one of the more brutal MBA job market in recent times. I decided to scroll through my old LinkedIn sent messages and emails from my recruiting days.

Holy shit. The absolute, unadulterated desperation. When the market is bad, you completely lose all your pride. I looked back at messages where I was basically begging alums for 15 minutes of their time like a Victorian orphan asking for gruel.

I was sending essays disguised as "quick questions" to people I had zero connection with, just short of essentially offering to wash their cars if they could get my resume past HR.

If you are currently in the trenches of this terrible market and feel like you're losing your mind and your dignity….don't worry, we've all been there. And to the alums who didn't block me lol thank you for your mercy. Now in a decent role in tech. Hope I wont get fired and start that cycle ever again 😭🫣

31M, choppy startup career, thinking about MBA - does this make sense or am I coping?

Long time lurker, first post. Would appreciate some honest outside perspective here because I think I might be too close to my own story to see it clearly.

Quick background: 31, based in London. Bachelor's in Business from a UK uni, then did an MSc in Advanced Computer Science at a top 5 UK school (not because I wanted to code for a living, just found it interesting and wanted the technical grounding for a PM job).

Here's the messy part. Since 2020 I've worked at 6 different companies. First job was Associate PM for 19 months, then somehow fell into product marketing at that same company and just kept doing PMM roles for the next few years, jumping between 4 companies at 6-8 months each. Right now I'm a Product Marketing Lead at a public fintech, and I'm actually moving back into product management internally as we speak, which is the path I want to stick with long term. No interest in going back to PMM, I feel like I learned what I needed to learn from it.

The reasons behind the short stints are all over the place and I know "it depends" is what everyone says before doing something dumb, but genuinely:

• one company overhired their whole PMM function then fired the entire department a year later and never rehired
• one company literally ran out of cash and stopped paying salaries
• one was just a bad fit, I left on my own terms
• the move to my current company was for the PMM Lead role that would've been stupid to turn down

So on paper it looks like a mess, 6 jobs in under 6 years, but there's an actual explanation for each one.

I've done a few GMAT mocks and I'm scoring well, so I'm not worried about that part. What I don't know is whether a good GMAT score can actually offset a resume that looks incoherent on its face. Does this read it as "unlucky in a volatile industry" or just "flight risk"?

Other things weighing on me:

• Age and timing. Realistically I'd start at 32, maybe 33 depending on the program. Is that already pushing it for a traditional 2 year MBA?
• Goals are honestly still a bit fuzzy. Two directions I keep coming back to are working towards a C-suite product leadership role, or pivoting into PE Ops (there are a handful of PE firms that specifically hire operators with a product background for portfolio company work). VC is the dream on paper but I know that's relationship and network driven rather than something an MBA unlocks on its own, so I'm not banking on it
• I want to move to the US longer term. Does an MBA actually make that meaningfully easier, or is that overrated as an immigration strategy at this point?
• Should I even be looking at a full time MBA now, or would I be better off waiting a few years, building a longer clean track record, and going the EMBA route instead once the job hopping is further in the rearview mirror?

On schools, given the profile, I've been looking at Oxford, Cambridge and INSEAD but I have a feeling those might be a reach given the CV. Not really sure how to think about the US programs, whether M7 is realistic or whether I should be more realistic about targeting the next tier down.

Anyone been in a similar spot, choppy early career but strong reasons behind it? Brutal honesty welcome

I am a Mechanical Engineer based in Colorado. I'm contemplating using a MBA to pivot into Consulting. I'm a Professional Engineer with 6 Years of Work Experience; GPA: 3.65; GRE: 331.

I was initially thinking about overreaching - Yale, Booth, CBS

But I'm leaning towards adding more target schools such as UNC. Here is the thing. Will the ROI be the same? I'm not sure it will be worthwhile unless I get a scholarship of some sort.

Looking for an honest profile evaluation and school suggestions.

Academics

Tier 1 undergraduate institution in India GPA: 3.0/4.0 GRE: 339

Work Experience 3.5 years in Corporate Credit/ FRM at a global bank(JP/MS)

Currently exploring a job switch that would strengthen a post-MBA transition into IB. Post-MBA Goal: IB (primary)/consulting

How competitive is this profile for T15 programs like darden or ross? I considering R2 for applying, so will consider safe schools with some T10.

Appreciate any candid feedback, especially from applicants with similar backgrounds or current students. Thank you!

Hey everyone, I wanted to get some honest feedback on whether I should get an MBA. For context, I am 23F with a bachelors in psychology and a masters in counseling. I essentially speed ran all of my previous education and got into a job immediately post grad that left me severely burnt out and questioning whether I made the right choice for my career. I started working on building my own counseling business through a group practice as a 1099 earlier this year and have honestly loved the managerial and marketing side of it. That said, there are many things related to managing a business and marketing that my education did not prepare me for which has led to me feeling lost and overwhelmed trying to figure out those things in addition to providing mental health services.

My thought processes and why I am considering getting an MBA is if this is just a season of being burnt out and I decide to stay working in mental health, the knowledge I would get through an MBA could be very beneficial as I grow my business. If the career dread/burn out feelings persist and I decide to change paths, I have a degree that assists me in finding non mental health related careers.

My concern if I were to get the MBA and decide to change career paths is that my lack of experience outside of running my own business would limit me in the field. I'm not sure how much the experience of being 1099 and handling the ins and outs of marketing myself and manage the finances of my counseling business in would look to people outside of the mental health space.

I have done a fair amount of research on different programs, had an information call with a couple of programs last week, and looked at the outlook for careers. I think the thing holding me back is wondering if an MBA is worth it if I stay working in mental health, but also wondering if I were to leave the mental health space, would the experience I have be helpful to me or would I be limited by it? Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated!

Folks,

It's been a while, and it's great to be back!

In addition to pursuing my MBA at a T10 school, I reviewed, evaluated, and interviewed applicants for MBA admission. I continued in this role after graduation until I pivoted to MBA admissions consulting with Sam Weeks, where I helped applicants gain admission to M7 programs. Last year, 7 of my 8 clients who applied to HBS, Stanford GSB, or Wharton were admitted to at least one of those schools, including two who were admitted to all three.

You're welcome to ask any application-related questions! I'll prioritize those applying in Round 1. Expect a response from either Sam or me within 12 hours.

I'll be doing this for the next 72 hours. The mods have kindly verified my identity and background.

For a more private convo, you're welcome to DM me (expect a much longer delay) or schedule a free 30-minute intro chat through our website; the link is in my profile.

Link to my prior AMAs: (1) 2024 R1 Edition (2) 2023 R2 edition; (3) 2023 R1 edition; (4) 2022 edition.

NOTE: Please avoid deleting your question after I respond, as the discussion may be helpful to other applicants. Feel free to anonymize any identifying details before posting.

Especially those MBA grads getting 6 figure salaries in this economy (high interest rates, layoffs and AI)? Was the ROI worth it?

I know a lot of navy pilots go to m7 schools. Anyone know about marine officers succeeding in MBA admissions?

I’m 34, former military, with a bachelor’s in CS from UMD, a master’s in CS from Georgia Tech, and a master’s in computer engineering from Dartmouth. Currently work as a Sr. Eng Mgr in the DC area.

Most of my career has been in defense, government tech, and AI-enabled software. I’ve worked at major defense contractors, NASA, smaller startups, and contractor shops. My background is mainly in military, aerospace, maritime, defense, government systems, and applied AI.

Long term, I’d like to either move into venture capital, ideally focused on defense tech, dual-use, aerospace, AI, maritime, or govtech, or eventually reach the C-suite at a larger company.

Would a part-time or full-time MBA from a T15 school be worth it for those goals? I already have a strong technical background, so the main value for me would be the network, leadership development, business education, and access to recruiting opportunities.

At 34, would it make more sense to go full-time and make a stronger career pivot, or keep working and do a part-time MBA? I’m also wondering whether an MBA is really necessary for either path, or if I would be better off building more operating and leadership experience in AI, defense, and government technology.

Would appreciate hearing from people who have made a similar move from engineering, defense, AI, or government contracting into VC or senior leadership.

How do you achieve financial independence in a tech economy where you have to constantly operate with some amount of luck to move up the K-shape economy?

Curious if folks have considered starting a company, pivoting to a different industry or roles like corporate development.

Weighing ROI here. I am active duty E7 with 17 years in the military. My current role is operations manager over 300+ personnel. I have my AAS in Criminal Justice, BS in Environmental Science, MS in Environmental Policy and Management and PMP. Looking at EHS, Environmental Director, or CRO roles potentially with Oil and Gas. I dont have business experience outside of my personal part-time real estate sales. Wondering if the MBA would be worth it to at least get some traditional corporate knowledge.

GI Bill isn’t an option, giving that to my kids so I'd be looking at scholarships, grants, and loans. My other degrees are from a meh school so I would want to pursue MBA at an institution with some weight, if that truly matters to any significant extent.

I'm applying this upcoming cycle, and I'm looking for an MBA consultant.

I have an unorthodox profile, and I need someone who would be able to frame my story correctly. I prefer a consultant who used to be an admissions counselor, just so they have that insight. Please let me know who you recommend.

Hello,

A friend of mine got into Kellogg and he feels it is the best of all in the M7 category. I personally find the school to be a bit less academically inclined.

I understand people pursue an MBA for a bunch of different reasons, and I really want to too eventually, but I feel slightly confused if MBA really is a great value add to a resume, or is it a very expensive way to learn a bunch of buzzwords and meet accomplished people. An influencer I follow who just graduated from Kellogg says really vague things such as “leadership involves including different perspectives”, and I believe any 27yo can write that without a business degree. It did make me wonder if my expectation for a Kellogg grad to say something out of the ordinary is baseless. I was wondering if the school is a bit too highly rated by people who went there?

I need y'all to comment below in case you have been admitted to my target schools with similar GPA as me. In desperate need of some motivational stories.