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Ask HN: Is there anyone with a top school MBA that regrets it?

6 points by paolomaffei ↗ HN
Everyone is always talking about how it's not worth it to spend a lot of cash on an MBA.

But what is your take if you actually have a degree with a top school?

Do you regret it or would you do it all over again?

7 comments

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guynamedloren
I can't comment, but I can tell you that I currently regret having spent the last 3.5 years of my life in one of the top engineering programs in the world (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). If this is considered "education" these days, count me out. I can honestly learn more on Wikipedia and Hacker News. What a waste of $100,000.
basugasubaku
That's kind of sad. UIUC is reputed to have one of the best CS programs in the world. Are you in CS?
guynamedloren
No, they have a unique hybrid program in the College of Engineering that combines engineering and business. Stupidly, they call it general engineering (I have no idea why), but they tout it within the University as the engineering program for entrepreneurs. Unfortunately I never met any other entrepreneurial minded students in the program, which is kind of odd. In retrospect, I wish I went with computer science, but you would assume that any program within UIUC College of Engineering would be world class.
blizzy
It depends what you are trying to do - if you want to build stuff and create businesses, it's probably better to spend those two years doing just that. My B School was totally paid for through scholarships, but it still meant that I didn't make any money for two years. I would have been better off not making money for those two years, getting a cheap apartment and building stuff.

That said, things I am glad I have from the B School experience: 1) A network and some great friends I wouldn't have otherwise met; 2) Efficiency of thinking - I can get to answers very quickly; 3) Job opportunities - but, again, if that's not what you are looking for (wasn't what I was), then this isn't much of an advantage.

On balance, I would say it's better to just go build than go to B School, but that's probably too general off a response.

Happy to answer more.

curt
Was offered a spot out of undergrad and I don't for a second regret going (though I had a fellowship and scholarship that covered nearly all my expenses). As an engineer, I looked at problems from an engineering standpoint and not 'how do I build a business', the MBA changed that. The key to getting the most out of it is to not follow everyone else. I asked the second years what professors and classes were worthwhile, made up my own major and took only those classes. Also never forget the primary purpose of an MBA, networking.
damoncali
In my class of 400 or so at a top 20ish school, I think two dropped out. B school was two of the best years of my life, and I learned a ton. I traveled to 5 or 6 countries, met tons of great people (and a heck of a lot of assholes - they're even more fun), drank myself silly quite frequently, and played Rugby with schools from around the world, sometimes while drinking. No matter what they say on hacker news, a good MBA is a solid education at a very rapid pace if you want it to be.

The catch is that it was way cheaper when I went, which wasn't that long ago ('05 grad). Paying the $40-60k/year that the top schools charge today is on the border of being reckless. You had better have it worked out financially, and I don't mean "I'll get a cushy MBA job that pays $150k/year and pay it off in 9 months", because that is a fantasy for most people. You never wind up making what you expect to, and there's always some lifestyle creep that keeps you from paying it off as fast as you wanted to.

But yeah, it's worth it. Even though I don't (and probably never will) have one of those big company middle management jobs it prepared me for.