Would it also be worth it after the opportunity cost? I have to imagine that most people who go to a top B-school were probably already making near $100k even before attending.
Also aren't the majority of jobs available to top B-school grads going to be in NYC? If you're coming from a low cost of living area, that $100k in NYC may not be nearly as much as you think it is.
These are serious questions for anyone who cares to reply. I'm actually interested in possibly going to B school myself someday, and these are questions I need to figure out first.
The stats at U of M (where I went) have the median (or average, can't remember) salary at 71K prior to attending. Most of the jobs are not in NYC (mostly banking is in NYC, where you make way way
way above 100k) and are all over the US.
After banking the most lucrative is consulting which has about a 120k base with 20-50k signing bonus and ~20k annual bonus. After 2 years or so you jump into a manager spot and are around 200k after bonus etc each year. Alternately, many people jump out of consulting (because burn out happens very easily) after 2-3 years and take a mid/senior level management position.
Third, you can take a normal general management/finance/marketing job at a large firm where you get about 100k with 20k in signing and 10-20k in annual bonus. Most of these programs are designated to train the person for a leadership position after 2-4 years at the company.
Finally, you can go the startup route.
In any event, your future success does not matter where you went to school, but the school does set the duck up for you. The bottom line is you will not be successful if you suck, and there is no cure for that.