Choosing Higher Rank vs. More Money for MBA

For me, region is highly important once I hit the 20-30 range. I'd go for the 10-15 with no questions asked.

Now, if it were, 10-15 out of the region, and 20-30 in the region I wish to live, I'd have a harder decision.

The constant preening over rank on this forum is nauseating. An MBA is a business proposition and everything about it can be quantified in terms of your future salary. Better networks, more personalized attention, etc. is worthless if it doesn't translate to higher earnings.

You have access to the recruitment and salary data from the schools you're considering. You know what career field you're interested in and you have a rough idea of the career path (if not, research and talk to some alumni). Calculate the NPV of attending each school. Rank does not even factor into the decision, per se. There is a lot of uncertainty of course, but you can come up with some pretty good estimates if you really research. An investment of this magnitude requires some due diligence.

There are definite advantages to top tier schools, but the advantages are different for different people, so a blanket answer to a question like this is impossible. You just have to do the work and figure it out. You may decide not to get an MBA at all.

Aside: You might be wondering how to choose an appropriate discount rate for the NPV analysis. Create several career path scenarios for each school, assign a probability to each, take the weighted average and discount at the risk free rate. It's easier to think about it that way, just try to be as comprehensive as possible in thinking of scenarios.

Ummm, do you even need an MBA? You lost me at weighted average and risk free rate. Impressive.

Flattery! I guess my hours spent suffering over the CFA curriculum weren't totally wasted!

ultra-elite does play a HUGE factor.

I would say for Harvard, Stanford, & Wharton....go even at a higher cost. For others such as Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, MIT, Yale, maybe you can make an argument, but hopefully they give you at least a 25-50% scholarship. Anything lower than that, probably better to just take a full scholarship at a top 30 school than pay full price at a top 10-15.

Just my two cents.

I've seen several people take the money at school 20-30 in lieu of higher tuition at school 10-15 and come out of school with no debt, but also without an MBA level job (or a job in the industry they desire).
I really think it depends on what the OP wants to do post MBA. Evigirl's situation is also complicated by the fact that she's an international student so no debt is safer in case she cannot work in the US after graduation. But in terms of immediate post MBA opportunities, I would say that there are more opportunities in the top 15 than there are below it. I am not saying that the opportunities are different. There will be marketing, consulting, finance, etc. jobs coming out of each tier. There are just MORE of these jobs (and also more blue chip companies) at top tier schools.

It's two very different gambles and both are risky. Some people bet on the school's pedigree, others bet on the "no debt" freedom. I just caution people to understand that while you may gain the freedom of less debt you might lose the freedom of more career options. Tough call.

I think evaluating the options would help to arrive at a decision. What are the options for an international candidate like Evigirl if she does not get visa for job in US.

SCENARIO: she took huge amount of loans to go to top bschool but now mba is over and loans come into life. she has no visa for work and since she is in developing country it would take her too many years to repay loans(rate of interest is around 14%) if she goes back to work in her country and try to pay loans while working there.

Also can alums/bschool help in any possible in such cases