Career Help- Pursue an MBA or get a masters in some engineering degree?

[LegendKiller]

I'd do the MBA but only at a top school. That's where you will meet the people you should be meeting.

The myth of the top tier school is perpetuated by people who went to top tier schools or want to go to them. You can do damn fine by going to a Big10 MBA program and networking with people there and in the area. 3/4 of the people I know that have been very successful in finance never went to an ivy league or top tier school.

Hell, if you get into Notre Dame, a 29th ranked school, and network in the Chicago area, you are pretty well set for a job at Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, or another bulge bracket. Play LaCrosse and you could get into Barclays. You don't need a Northwestern MBA.

 

[poofyhairguy]

You don't need a Northwestern MBA.

Agreed, unless you want to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 one day.

AACSB accreditation matters and in-class matters (so you can meet people). Otherwise the 25th best program in the country is pretty much as good as the 100th on paper.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

The myth of the top tier school is perpetuated by people who went to top tier schools or want to go to them. You can do damn fine by going to a Big10 MBA program and networking with people there and in the area. 3/4 of the people I know that have been very successful in finance never went to an ivy league or top tier school.

Hell, if you get into Notre Dame, a 29th ranked school, and network in the Chicago area, you are pretty well set for a job at Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, or another bulge bracket. Play LaCrosse and you could get into Barclays. You don't need a Northwestern MBA.

What I meant by top school is like top 25. I wouldn't go to the rank 531 school that might be down the street from your house for an MBA.

 

[LegendKiller]

Agreed, unless you want to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 one day.

AACSB accreditation matters and in-class matters (so you can meet people). Otherwise the 25th best program in the country is pretty much as good as the 100th on paper.

That's not even required to be a CEO. Look at some of them out there, the amount of Ivy Leaguers are a lot less than you'd think. Look at Target's executive team, not a single Ivy there except a guy with a Princeton undergrad. CEO of Walmart got his MBA from University of Tulsa. CEO of Home Depot has an undergrad from MichState. CEO of Wells Fargo went to St. Cloud State(!) and UofMN.

 

[LegendKiller]

What I meant by top school is like top 25. I wouldn't go to the rank 531 school that might be down the street from your house for an MBA.

Top 25 doesn't mean dick. Any decent big university MBA will help get you into a larger local company.

I have seen hundreds of MBAs. I probably can walk through my hallways and pass 3 dozen of them in 20mins. A lot of them make well over 300k.

People like you get fixated on the school. It doesn't fucking matter. What matters is the type of people an MBA attracts, usually driven, outgoing, personable, and smart people. As long as you can be a combination of those an MBA will help you lever those attributes. Sure, it might be a little easier at a top-tier, and, statistically speaking they may make more over the long-run, but you don't need to go to one to be a <5%'er in your life.