Re: Student/Alumni experience - Top Regional Schools?
[#permalink]
29 Dec 2007, 14:50
Not much interest in this topic so far. Perhaps thats because most of the posters on this site appear to be well qualified for elite schools, or attending one of the elite schools. No matter the reason, I though I would add a little something to get this conversation going:
I recently spoke with my uncle concerning my school selection dilema. He has been in business for 40+ years recently retiring as CEO of a publicly traded company with over $10 Billion in gross revenues. He still serves on the Board of Directors of several other companies, including one Fortune 500 company. His son is a graduate of Wharton (undergrad) and currently works as a portfolio manager at a fund of hedge funds.
His input to me was essentially that the value of an MBA is essentially the number of doors it opens for you. In his opinion, pedigree is what opens those doors. I have an undergraduate engineering degree from Cornell University. In his opinion, the pedegree associated with that degree, combined with my engineering background, would open more doors for me if I wished to pursue a career in finance (I am interested in the various "buy-side" finance career paths) than an MBA from a top regional school. From a strictly economic prospective he said the best decision would be to simply start sending out resumes if I chose not attend an elite school. When I asked him what constituted an elite school he handed me a print out of the first 10 US News ranked business schools.
In my uncles opinion grades, degrees, certifications, etc... are not important. What is important in his mind is pedegree and connections. He sites my cousin's (his son's) career as an example. My cousin graduated with a sub-3.0 GPA from Wharton, has no CFA, CPA, etc..., has a sub-1400 SAT, and has never taken the GMAT. He is currently a very rich portfolio manager. I actually find this notion (pedegree and connections trumping actual achievement) somewhat repulsive.
My uncle held up my career as a contrast to my cousin's. 3.0+ GPA from a difficult engineering school, Professional Engineer's license, 1500+ SATs, 700+ GMAT. While I have had a pretty sucessful career as an engineer, rich engineers are few and far between.
His final piece of advice was only to pursue an MBA at a top regional school if I was doing it for the intrinsic value of the education (I generally believe education does have a high intrinsic value).
I am hoping that there is someone out there who has been through an MBA at a top regional school and has also suceeded in thier career based on thier achievements rather than their pedegree or family connections. Please restore my faith that life is actually a meritocracy.