the future with debt?

I'm interested in microfinance as it relates to the US food industry (I am not honestly sure what job function to identify as my goal...), and eventually would like to own my own business. Not necessarily immediately lucrative (or ever lucrative...) career paths! Although I suppose I could manage a couple years in a debt-repaying position before setting out on my own.

Ross has loan forgiveness programs for non-profit/public positions, but not necessarily social enterprise. It's a possibility but not something I'm prepared to count on.

The way I'm looking at it is this: the "lesser" school might make life easier upon graduation, but Ross will continuously open doors for me for the rest of my life. It's a trade-off, but I think it will be worth it. *Cue hyperventilating, sweating, and heart pumping wildly at the thought of the size of my loans...

conmisdosmanos - I'm in the same boat with an elite and a lower ranked school. Terrifying but I hope we're right and it's worth it in the end.

dcdevil & SBbound - I sent you guys a PM. It looks like all my recent PMs are just sitting in my outbox (anybody know why?). Let me know if you receive it?

It stays in your outbox until the recipient reads it. After they read it, your PM box will show it as "sent."

Thank you!

I think you're absolutely right, and in my gut I know I've already made my decision and it's the right one (the expensive one). It's nice to know, however, that I'm not the only one who has the jitters...

Thanks for all the encouragement, everybody, on this thread and across this forum!

Well add me to the club of jittery thinkers.

I got my loan approved this afternoon and the money won't cover it, so I'll be scraping by and applying for every scholarship in existence I qualify for.

This step has kinda turned the excited factor towards nerves. It's like when you're in line to go on a roller coaster, and when they're giving the safety instruction you keep thinking how much you wanna get off the thing.

I'm so scared about the debt, the life transition, and whether this is the right decision for me - am I sure I wasn't meant for med or law school?

A very interesting topic..and no right answer.

Two other things to consider:
1. if you did not get an MBA, would your current career path be secure? It may be a mistake to think that your current job/path will stay at status quo (think all the folks in the dot com industry in 2000s or financial services in 2008s). On the other hand, if you work at a small-to-med size business and have a strong trajectory, maybe the MBA is not needed right now and/or can be done in a part time basis.

2. if you know what industry you would like to land in, compare MBA & non-MBA routes there -- there will be individuals that have succeeded via both channels. If a non-MBA alternative appears plausible, it is worth considering.

One variable here -- the MBA does give you flexibility not just coming out of grad school but beyond into your 2nd or 3rd job. While experience matters more at that juncture, the MBA is still sometimes a 'minimum' bar that employers look to.

Good luck!
Aveek Guha, President, www.mbadaycamp.com

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