What are you doing with your MBA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a top 5 (Ivy League) business school. Hugely worth it for me coming out of a liberal arts undergrad with 2 years of work experience. Have been in consulting my whole career, now on my own. Have been earning in the mid 6 figures the last decade. Currently work less than full time, have tons of flexbility, and still in that earnings range. Some/many of my classmates have done way better of course - but most ended up in NY post graduation and that wasn't a path I wanted to take. I don't regret the MBA for even a minute, and I paid for the degree myself.

Mid 6 as in 500,000? That's solid...

I would love to know for what expertise people pay that much? I know consultants in accounting and finance lucky to hit $150.

[Anonymous]

when I heard mid-6 figures, I think they mean between 100,000 and 200,000. PP, please tell us you are not making 500k and working part time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a top 5 (Ivy League) business school. Hugely worth it for me coming out of a liberal arts undergrad with 2 years of work experience. Have been in consulting my whole career, now on my own. Have been earning in the mid 6 figures the last decade. Currently work less than full time, have tons of flexbility, and still in that earnings range. Some/many of my classmates have done way better of course - but most ended up in NY post graduation and that wasn't a path I wanted to take. I don't regret the MBA for even a minute, and I paid for the degree myself.

Mid 6 as in 500,000? That's solid...

Yes - it's been between $400-600 the last few years, dropped to $300 in 2009 at the depth of the recession because we got no bonuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:when I heard mid-6 figures, I think they mean between 100,000 and 200,000. PP, please tell us you are not making 500k and working part time!

The mean starting salary for consulting for MBAs from top schools is $120-130k, not counting bonus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a top 5 (Ivy League) business school. Hugely worth it for me coming out of a liberal arts undergrad with 2 years of work experience. Have been in consulting my whole career, now on my own. Have been earning in the mid 6 figures the last decade. Currently work less than full time, have tons of flexbility, and still in that earnings range. Some/many of my classmates have done way better of course - but most ended up in NY post graduation and that wasn't a path I wanted to take. I don't regret the MBA for even a minute, and I paid for the degree myself.

Mid 6 as in 500,000? That's solid...

I would love to know what kind of consulting pays that much. A lot of finance and accounting consultants are lucky yo make $150k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a top 5 (Ivy League) business school. Hugely worth it for me coming out of a liberal arts undergrad with 2 years of work experience. Have been in consulting my whole career, now on my own. Have been earning in the mid 6 figures the last decade. Currently work less than full time, have tons of flexbility, and still in that earnings range. Some/many of my classmates have done way better of course - but most ended up in NY post graduation and that wasn't a path I wanted to take. I don't regret the MBA for even a minute, and I paid for the degree myself.

Mid 6 as in 500,000? That's solid...

I would love to know what kind of consulting pays that much. A lot of finance and accounting consultants are lucky yo make $150k.

Strategy/management. It's a tougher field these days to be sure, and demand is probably on the decline tong term, but it's still out there. It does tend to be dominated by people from the top schools and credentials do matter (in addition to results of course).

Think McKinsey, Bain, etc. Many of my classmates went that route. I went a more specialized route. I earn less than they do - but don't have the same work expectations either. It's a tough career for mothers because of the travel. In fact McKinsey currently has an initiative to try to lure back women who left the firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a top 5 (Ivy League) business school. Hugely worth it for me coming out of a liberal arts undergrad with 2 years of work experience. Have been in consulting my whole career, now on my own. Have been earning in the mid 6 figures the last decade. Currently work less than full time, have tons of flexbility, and still in that earnings range. Some/many of my classmates have done way better of course - but most ended up in NY post graduation and that wasn't a path I wanted to take. I don't regret the MBA for even a minute, and I paid for the degree myself.

Mid 6 as in 500,000? That's solid...

I would love to know what kind of consulting pays that much. A lot of finance and accounting consultants are lucky yo make $150k.

Strategy/management. It's a tougher field these days to be sure, and demand is probably on the decline tong term, but it's still out there. It does tend to be dominated by people from the top schools and credentials do matter (in addition to results of course).

Think McKinsey, Bain, etc. Many of my classmates went that route. I went a more specialized route. I earn less than they do - but don't have the same work expectations either. It's a tough career for mothers because of the travel. In fact McKinsey currently has an initiative to try to lure back women who left the firm.

God help us. Everytime McKinsey comes into a place where I have worked, people get fired and the company loses money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a top 5 (Ivy League) business school. Hugely worth it for me coming out of a liberal arts undergrad with 2 years of work experience. Have been in consulting my whole career, now on my own. Have been earning in the mid 6 figures the last decade. Currently work less than full time, have tons of flexbility, and still in that earnings range. Some/many of my classmates have done way better of course - but most ended up in NY post graduation and that wasn't a path I wanted to take. I don't regret the MBA for even a minute, and I paid for the degree myself.

Mid 6 as in 500,000? That's solid...

I would love to know what kind of consulting pays that much. A lot of finance and accounting consultants are lucky yo make $150k.

Big name strategy consulting for sure-

Bain
BCG
McKinsey

Or even the mid-tier can pay like that-

Deloitte
Prophet
PRTM
Charles River Associates
etc

Just for example:

First year Bain consultant (post MBA associate level) will make $130K base + bonus, which will be north of $150 already. Plus sign on bonus of about $40K.
A Manager (cast team leader) at Bain (or McKinsey or BCG) will make $240 to $270 on average. Hitting $300K+ just means you are management... even at the A "principal" at CRA or Prophet is in the $250 to $300K range....

Bottom line, consulting pays well, if you dont mind the travel, Russian roulette projects, and clients that generally like working you to death.

[Anonymous]

I went the corporate route. My MBA has gotten me good connections for switching jobs. For the most part, it doesn't matter which graduate degree I have, as long as it's either MBA or MS in a quant field (econ, finance, stats). Since I'm in a pretty quant heavy field, having a MBA helps distinguish me from my co-workers with less than stellar communication and interpersonal skills. I wouldn't say the MBA helped me get ahead, but kept my career from stalling out. However, I'd say for many students, an MBA is a waste of time. But I could say that about many graduate degrees since people often don't have a plan or know how the degree will fit into their career story.

[Anonymous]

I have an MBA from a top 10 worldwide school (so not US school.. ranks 3-10 worldwide depending on the year). My bachelor's is in IT from a top 5 US engineering school. I'm an entrepreneur and make $400k+ per year from my own busines. The MBA helped tremendously in rounding out my skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an MBA from a top 10 worldwide school (so not US school.. ranks 3-10 worldwide depending on the year). My bachelor's is in IT from a top 5 US engineering school. I'm an entrepreneur and make $400k+ per year from my own busines. The MBA helped tremendously in rounding out my skills.

Out of curiosity whats the business?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an MBA from a top 10 worldwide school (so not US school.. ranks 3-10 worldwide depending on the year). My bachelor's is in IT from a top 5 US engineering school. I'm an entrepreneur and make $400k+ per year from my own busines. The MBA helped tremendously in rounding out my skills.

Out of curiosity whats the business?

Software. I see it a lot in this industry. Smart tech people but lack the business mind. The MBA really helped with that deficiency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an MBA from a top 10 worldwide school (so not US school.. ranks 3-10 worldwide depending on the year). My bachelor's is in IT from a top 5 US engineering school. I'm an entrepreneur and make $400k+ per year from my own busines. The MBA helped tremendously in rounding out my skills.

Out of curiosity whats the business?

Software. I see it a lot in this industry. Smart tech people but lack the business mind. The MBA really helped with that deficiency.

I figured software. I was curious as to what kind, but I get that you probably can't say. A friend of mine clears $1M a year with some educational research software, I make a small amount ( $10k/year) with a small website I wish I had time to market properly.

[Anonymous]

Banking, then PE, then top MBA, the hedge fund, then asset mgmt. now doing my own thing. It's great.
At some point, unless your bosses are doing the apprentice model with you, you are spinning your wheels. And must branch out, I was suffocating under an inept boss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Banking, then PE, then top MBA, the hedge fund, then asset mgmt. now doing my own thing. It's great.
At some point, unless your bosses are doing the apprentice model with you, you are spinning your wheels. And must branch out, I was suffocating under an inept boss.

Now that's a career arc. Impressed.