It is because everyone's kids -- even working class proles -- have a bachelor's degree, so parents want to signal their kid isn't some average midwit with JUST a lowly bachelor's (even if they are). And if your employer is picking up the tab, it is lazy not to take advantage of it. MBA admissions and coursework is a joke.

My oldest is only in high school. Parents talk about kids’ sports and miscellaneous extracurricular activities. I imagine parents will talk about college in a few years and jobs and grad schools including mba, med and law schools.

I’m seeing this a lot of LinkedIn. Family friends’ mid 20s kids only a year or two out of undergrad already enrolled in MBA programs. I think they might be in online programs because their location often isn’t near said campus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I decided not to get one. I didn’t see the ROI happening.

Most of those are paid by employers, either fully or a significant portion.

How does it work if it’s fully paid for? These young professionals have really generous tuition reimbursement? I’ve never used it but I think my tuition reimbursement at work is only $5K a year. Or maybe it’s $10K. But certainly nowhere near enough for a program that costs $50K or more per year. I work for a Fortune 500 company.

Yes, this happens. My employer has since changed their program, but when they paid for my MS in 2010, there was no tuition limit. My total cost was close to $70k over two years, and they never batted an eye.

Is this common? Are you describing 100% tuition WHILE you continue to work full-time ie an online or executive night/weekend MBA program?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I decided not to get one. I didn’t see the ROI happening.

Most of those are paid by employers, either fully or a significant portion.

How does it work if it’s fully paid for? These young professionals have really generous tuition reimbursement? I’ve never used it but I think my tuition reimbursement at work is only $5K a year. Or maybe it’s $10K. But certainly nowhere near enough for a program that costs $50K or more per year. I work for a Fortune 500 company.

Yes, this happens. My employer has since changed their program, but when they paid for my MS in 2010, there was no tuition limit. My total cost was close to $70k over two years, and they never batted an eye.

Employers pay. No big deal.

Anonymous wrote:Stanford GSB’s admissions rate is about 1/2 the next most selective program (HBS). There was a Business Insider article several years ago that claimed ~90% dual admits to those two programs chose the GSB over HBS.

-GSB grad

An offer of admission to Stanford is tough to turn down in any discipline, but especially for law & MBA programs.

(Unfortunately, the only one that appears able to turn down Stanford is the Big Ten Conference. Let's hope that changes soon.)

Stanford GSB’s admissions rate is about 1/2 the next most selective program (HBS). There was a Business Insider article several years ago that claimed ~90% dual admits to those two programs chose the GSB over HBS.

-GSB grad

It’s a way to make a lot of money.

People with similar interests cluster together.

I knew thirty years ago how much value an mba would have and went to school after work to accomplish it. Both of my twenty something’s have their mba paid for by their place off employment.. For now they travel extensively for their companies as a pay back of sorts. One of my dc is pursuing his phd, just loves learning. They are both making well above 250,000. I’d say it is well worth it.

How many UMC parents are paying or helping to pay for MBAs? They are so expensive…

Where one earns an MBA is most important IF looking to change careers OR change employers after just a few years of post undergraduate degree work experience.

Ignore anyone who tries to tell you that Harvard, Stanford, & UPenn-Wharton are better than Northwestern-Kellogg or Chicago-Booth.

In certain situations a program may be best suited for one's chosen career path; for example, NYU, UPenn-Wharton, Columbia, and Chicago are great for finance;

Northwestern-Kellogg is, and has been for many decades, the best for marketing;

Supply Chain Management top MBA programs are MIT, Michigan State, Penn State, and ASU (Arizona State).

Production/Operations types should consider MIT-Sloan & Carnegie Mellon-Tepper and a few others.

For an MBA in accounting: the University of Texas at Austin & Univ. of Illinois are outstanding.

However, most of us think of an MBA as a Management degree. The best MBA programs for Management are Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern-Kellogg, and UPenn-Wharton. Dartmouth-Tuck MBAs do extremeley well in this area also.

There are other concentrations such as non-profit and international.

The younger the student, the more important it is to have a name brand MBA because young MBA students lack in real world post undergraduate work experience.

The old rule was to get an MBA at an M-7 program: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Northwestern-Kellogg, Chicago-Booth, Columbia, or MIT. Things are changing a bit as employers want MBA who are tech-savvy.

Harvard & Stanford & Wharton stay a bit above the rest of the elite MBA programs in part because none of these 3 offer a part-time MBA option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I decided not to get one. I didn’t see the ROI happening.

Most of those are paid by employers, either fully or a significant portion.

How does it work if it’s fully paid for? These young professionals have really generous tuition reimbursement? I’ve never used it but I think my tuition reimbursement at work is only $5K a year. Or maybe it’s $10K. But certainly nowhere near enough for a program that costs $50K or more per year. I work for a Fortune 500 company.

Mine was fully paid for, books included, by a large investment bank. I was obligated to stay for one year or I would have to pay it back. (Not the full cost - just whatever they had spent on it in the previous year.) My husband works for a different investment bank and they have the same policy. It's not a degree that I would have pursued if I'd had to invest my own money on it, but it has been nice to have.

Meh - many schools are having to retool them to keep their relevance - or try. Ask them in 5 years if it was a good idea