If you can't get into a Top 5, don't even bother!

Although I agree that the value of an MBA declines precipitously as you go down the rankings, a top 5 or bust mentality is insane for 99% of people. Vast majority of applicants need an MBA for a career switch into industries that recruit heavily from b-schools: consulting, general mangement, corporate strategy, marketing, i-banking, tech product management. For those people there's a decent number of b-schools that will do the trick. Of course, you should go to the best school you get into, but depending on your career goals and work ethic, you can go to a #15 program and still get the job you were aiming for. And of course, it also depends on how much money you're currently making, level of professional and personal satisfaction, career mobility prospects, etc.

There are some people for whom it may not make sense to go unless it's HSW, such as a portfolio manager at an elite hedge fund already making $500K+ including bonus. But as I said, those people are in the minority.

Finally, his cutoff at hsw/mit/kellogg is pretty ridiculous. Is he really saying that booth/columbia/tuck/haas are not worth it? Or for someone dying to break into nyc banking, stern is a waste of time and money? Or for someone wanting to work in healthcare in the South, fuqua is also not worth it? It's fine for him to say that you should be careful which b-school you go to, but he provides no evidence that only those 5 programs are "worth" it. In my opinion, it's a very shallow article with little meaningful analysis or insights.