kavet83 wrote:
I'm not entirely sure if I'll start my business directly after graduating or if I should wait a few years to pay off my debt and get some experience. Advice I'm getting is that the latter would be smarter.
I would tend to agree. In my personal opinion - and its just that - there is a lot of value in a top MBA education over a relative unknown. From the perspective of securing a quality job, a top mba will do that for you. Wharton, GSB, Kellogg, HBS, Stanford, Stern, etc - all, if you so choose, can set you up with $100,000 a year base salaries, $10,000 sign on bonuses (or more), and bonuses that can easily match (or even exceed) your entire salary if you go into certain industries. Not all jobs pay that high - but a top MBA education can pretty much guarantee you $120K total compensation first year in almost any industry (with maybe the exception of marketing and non profit).
So its a question of risk.... a lesser name MBA might open doors for you, it might not. A name brand MBA will. From an educational perspective, I agree - there isnt much difference. From a network and perceived (whether its warranted or not) prestige, there is a difference. If I was looking to be an entrepreneur (and I am) I would personally choose to go to a top school and spend a little money doing it - for two key reasons - the powerful network of peers in a variety of industries I will establish and 2 - the fact that I can mitigate a lot of risk by ensuring I have a good job lined up when I leave.
That said, this is a very personal choice. A "lesser" (I use the quotation marks just to indicate I'm not saying it is lesser) school will likely gobble up a 710 score, and offer you a nice scholarship. Then again, so might a top school.... I know people with nearly full scholarships at the GSB and scores around 720-750. I also know people with 780's with no scholarship at all.
There's only one way to find out....