riverripper wrote:
How much do you owe now...will your wife be working while you are in school. If you owe 100k and your wife wont be working then you are talking 250k work of loans which is A LOT.
Without stating publicly exactly how much I owe, lets say it will be in the A LOT category. I have no problem living on next to nothing. We're essentially doing that now. It's tough, but it's not unbearable. We don't (or want to) dine at Cut. The Hollywood club scene is not enticing. I'm a simple grill my own steak kind of guy. I have no doubt that with an IB job, I could have zero school debt after 2 -3 years. Even if after 2 years I did have some debt, it would ne so small that I wouldn't think twice about it. I've done the math and if I can make $120k a year, even in a large city with higher cost of living, I'll be able to pay all bills and live comfortably. Not much margin for error, but comfortably.
riverripper wrote:
GM and Marketing areas hours are going to be more like lawyer hours (judging by people I know on both sides)....There are a lot more options than you probably realize, many of them just are very uncommon on a few percent of students choose to go for them a year.
In a prior thread pelihu stated that he liked the idea of working mad hours, but at least being in the same city each night and in his own bed (when not working all night). I like that too. I don't like the idea of just not being at home like MC would require. If the work like crazy options works out, then I would have to kill myself to get an IB job. Scary thing is, what will the economy be like in 2 years? There are many things that must go well to get an IB internship, then an offer. 1) Get accepted to great school with good IB placement. 2) Network like crazy to get IB internship 3) Impress the IB so I get a job offer 4) If no job offer, network like crazy 2nd year to get job with IB post-MBA. 5) Handle the stress and all that goes with an IB job for 2 -3 years. 6) Leave IB for a more family-friendly job and reintroduce myself to my family.
I am not scared to do the work, I just don't want to be debt free and single with Child Support payments.
riverripper wrote:
You will make more friends than you can imagine as soon as you arrive at school. I have been here for only two weeks and trust me we have met more great people than we thought we would during the two whole years. Talking to alums everyone says they made their closest friends during their MBA, much more so than even undergrad. Based on my immediate experiences, your wife will also find her fit and if you go to the right school for the two you, she will love it as much as you. I actually think my wife is having more fun than I am at this point.
I think this too. And it's not like my friends here in Oklahoma are going to never speak to us again.
riverripper wrote:
Dont be so sure about not needing a top tier MBA in some of the GM level positions. Judging by what I am looking at the top companies in their fields hire relatively few new fulltime MBAs compared to medium size banks and consulting companies. Outside of some mega companies like GE they dont bring many in. If you look at where they recruit and hire its they still only at top schools and top regional schools (McCombs, UNC, Emory etc.)
What I mean by GM and the regional MBA is not for a huge company. I"m talking about Devon Energy here in OKC, or Chesapeake Energy also in OKC. Or
OG&E (power company for Oklahoma), or any number of other smaller energy/oil companies here. If I go regional here, I would even love to work for the new NBA team. Some would say I would have to set my sights lower, and I agree with that to a certain extent, but I characterize it more as setting my sights differently rather than lower. Sure, I wouldn't know if I could get the IB jobs, or MC or all the other very highly competitive jobs, but in the end it would have been my choice to not try for them. I have to decide if telling myself it was my choice will keep me from resenting the fact that I never did actually try.
riverripper wrote:
In my opinion only a few things would really work for you. 1. FT to a top school. 2. FT to a top 10-20 but full or significant ride 3. PT especially if your company pays...maybe moving towards one of the big name programs like Chicago or Kellogg either doing weekends or getting a job in that area.
A full ride from Ross or Duke might make more sense to you than paying your way to Kellogg or Wharton.
I agree a full-ride to a top 10-20 would certainly make it easier. My wife will not be working. She's a teacher with 3 years of experience and now designs, sews, and sells girls clothing from newborn to about 7 years old. We've looked at her potential income as a teacher and it hardly offsets the price we'd pay for quality childcare in a big city. There is a lot of value in her being the one to raise our kids with our values. Especially considering the income would be very small after we took out childcare expenses. We've thought about homeschooling until like 3rd or 4th grade since she is a teacher. Better than most public schools, but cheaper than quality private.
riverripper wrote:
If you look at what some of the big name GM companies pay its in the low 100s, vs 120ish for consulting so its not the hugest of difference. Yes the sign on bonuses may not be as large and year end bonuses at both GM and consulting will be far less than IB...depending on who you work for GM and MC bonuses could be similar. However, GM and marketing jobs are commonly located in areas where the cost of living is far far less. So a 100k salary in a medium sized city in the midwest is definitely going to go a lot further than 120k+ in NYC, Boston, SF, Chicago, LA etc.
Just make sure you lay your cards on the table with your wife and let her have her vote. Remember its not just about making tons of money its about enjoying what you do...if you hate what you do now then that will cause just as many problems as money being a little tight because you went to school and started a job that you absolutely love.
We are definitely doing that. It's not been an easy process, but it's been one that has helped us grow as a couple. I discussed with her terp26's idea of doing I-banking out of school for a few years and living like paupers in order to be debt free with a 5-year plan. She liked the idea of debt-free, she didn't like the idea of 80-90 hour weeks.
As for cost of living, I've found some online calculators. I found that Boston compared to Oklahoma City is about 55% higher (meaning $100k in OKC = $155k in Boston). I'm sure NYC, Chicago, LA, SF are not going to be far off.
What we'd do for GM is live on the salary using it to pay all bills + monthly loan debt and use bonuses to pay down debt. We woudn't need to be debt free, just make it where it was more manageable and I could take a lower pay job if necessary.
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17 Aug 2008, 19:53
). However, I have a hard time believing that an MBA grad, even when he's working in GM (which is supposedly the lightest option in terms of hours), will be working less than 60 hours per week. I might be completely wrong (please correct me if I am), but I don't see a company paying you an MBA salary for a 9 to 5 job. Therefore you have to have a clear vision on the amount of time you are willing to spend at work (more of that below).
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