After graduated from a top UK university with a Bachelor and Master in Economics, I have spent 10 years working in investment bank in London, 7 years at Goldman Sachs and 3 years at a small bank as a Sales Trader. I'm currently earning over $200k a year.
I had some health issue recently (worked too hard!!), so I decided to take a break from work and resigned. I'm not sure what I want to do next, is getting an MBA a good way to re-charge myself and start a new career?
Hi @amywubing he first thing you should do is establish your 5yr to 10 yr career plan - otherwise it's ready-fire-aim and I feel that is far too risky when dealing with a student loan of $100K to $200K. My responses below:
My concerns are:
1) post MBA average salary is about $120k, not sure spending another $90k will do any better than my current rate?:
It depends. If you are a Wharton Finance grad, yes. I do think only thinking about this decision from the standpoint of money is ill-advised.
2) I seem to be a bit over qualified for MBA in terms of work experience and age, but under qualified for EMBA. :
You would be a good candidate for Sloan Fellows:
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/fellows/admissions/who-should-apply or possibly Stanford MSx
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/msx/admission which are both intended for mid-career professionals. However you are also in the EMBA territory if that holds more interest than an MBA, I've gotten clients as young as 30 into Wharton EMBA.
If you are looking to switch role/industry/geography then MBA is best and yes, you will start at the bottom. EMBA is possible, of course, but no on-campus recruiting.
If you are looking to get into an adjacent field or establish a high-powered network then EMBA is fine. You leverage alums to find jobs, mainly.
Many candidates in your situation (Amazonians, etc) look at their potential growth into upper management and decide to take the pay cut for that reason.
However it's important to think about other, less expensive ways to get where you want to go (and balance that with the time needed to get there.)
But strongly urge you and everyone to shell out a few shekels for career coaching before throwing the dice on $200K.
Establish your goal and make sure it lights you on fire.
3) I want to move back to HK therefore I'd like to do MBA in HK, would that help me to get local market knowledge and connection for a future career in Asia?
Would look at top brands: HBS, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Yale and maybe Columbia for US schools.
For European schools, the average age is around 30 and they like older more experienced candidates.
You might consider INSEAD and LBS to position you for a career in Hong Kong. Both are 97% international students are have an international focus.
However again, strongly urge you to d
o the research on yourself, the schools and your goals first. Then, contact the person/people/contacts/recruiters you plan to sell this degree to and ask them squarely!~ no reason to make it a $100K-$200K guessing game IMO.
4) most importantly, do I really need an MBA or shall I just go back to the job market to find a job after my break? I dont mind doing the same job again but after 10 years I'd like some change.
See above - answer is different if you want the same job again or change? Not sure what you mean here this seems contradictory.
Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome, thank you!