ngould wrote:
Ok, I have two questions on this topic.
1. Say I want to get a corporate job (general management, finance, or leadership development program). Is it worth the high tuition costs to go to an elite business school (Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, etc.)? Or would I be better off going to a 25th to 50th ranked program where I could save roughly $80,000 from scholarships?
2. Same question but for 10th-15th ranked schools schools (Duke, Michigan, etc.). Is it worth the money?
Short answer is yes - the top schools are worth it. If you can get into a top B-school, you should go. Now the debate starts to heat up if you get into a top 5, i.e. Booth, Kellogg with no scholarship money and a 10-15 school like Ross with a full ride, then you need to examine the situation. In this case, if you find that the same companies you want to work for recruit at both schools and at the end of the day going to a top five would just get you a few more "oohs" and "ahhs" at cocktail parties when you tell people where you went to school, the Ross-type school would be the better choice.
The thing to take away from this is that there is a wide chasm between the top 15 and the 25-50. The 25-50 schools may give you a scholarship, but if you can't get hired by the company you want to work for, it probably wasn't worth forgoing two years of salary.