So let me summarize: MBA holders make lots of money You need GMAT scores to get into business school There are several ways to study for the GMAT You can use USNWR to determine which business schools are ranked well I don't mean to attack you or Shawn (are you the same person?), but isn't this all pretty common knowledge? Then again, it's probably wrong to assume that everyone out there has the level of knowledge of the people who regularly read here. Woah! Those are the people who *really* make money with MBAs...
I can't imagine paying $4600 for a GMAT prep class. I just bought a couple of books, studied unitll I could ace all the practice tests I could find and then did fine on the GMAT. I didn't think it was that tough. Actually, I thought the MSAT (to get a teaching credential) was tougher. However, I don't think an MBA will triple most people's salary.
Since the salary info is pre-depression, I'd be wary of using it as a guideline. So much has changed in the past 5 years and not necessarily to the better.
The average salary statistic is inflated by the graduates from top schools who earn six-figure salaries right out of school. I know plenty of MBA holders from lower tier schools that are only making $45-$60k. I think a better way to gauge your earning potential post-MBA is to look at the average salaries of students coming out of the schools you are considering attending. Career Services offices keep those statistics, if they aren't advertising them/don't want to divulge them I would be wary of attending.
I would be very wary of those statistics. I earned a six figure salary long before I even earned a BS degree. When I finish my MBA from TUI I could be used to skew the figures upward for their program. I think the current economic environment will make it very difficult, even for recent graduates of top tier schools, to command a six figure salary with little actual work experience. A graduate degree doesn’t guarantee a big pay check. If you really want to make big money the best way is to start your own business or become a very successful salesman. If you want to work in the corporate world and still command a six figures plus salary then you need to bring a lot more to the table than just a framed diploma, unless of course you have crazy connections (nepotism, old boy networks, etc. still rule in many cases).
I'd would agree with most of what you said, but it's still not difficult for students at HBS, Wharton, Stanford, Sloan or Tuck to command six-figures. If they aren't getting six-figures right out of school, it's by choice (in most cases) because they want to work in a field that pays less. I see it everyday at work. This year, students weren't bitching because they didn't have the six-figure offer, they were upset because they only had one and not 3 or 4 like the graduates of the classes before them.
Di Meglio is a reporter for Businessweek.com in Fort Lee, N.J. http://finance.yahoo.com/college-educat ... _education I don't know how this reflects on MBA, especially the top ranking.
