Letters to the Editor
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Some Rambling thoughts on the value of the MBA
I have concluded after being in the business world for more than thirty years that there are about 10-15 universities in the US where the prestige of graduating will stay with you for the rest of your life. Your resume will always float to the top of the pile and the hiring manager will have to justify in his/her own mind why you are not being immediately called in for an interview. Furthermore, the alumni of these universities tend to take of each other. My list would include Harvard, Princeton, Army, Navy, Notre Dame, Yale, Stanford, Penn, Cornell, MIT, Columbia, Kellogg, Chicago. If you are from one of these places(not all have B-schools but most do), stay there and graduate and you will have doors open that are tightly shut to the rest of us.
The flip-side of this contract "with the devil" is that much more will be demanded from you for the rest of your business life because you will always be viewed in a different light than the rest of us. Spare time will be in short supply.
I have an MBA from a 2nd tier school on the East coast and I have worked in small to medium sized companies for most of my career. The MBA on my resume is a big "yawn" because most companies want a professional certification and could care less about an advanced degree. In other words, companies expect value. Only you can decide if your MBA program prepares you for the day when you will have to deliver that value.