Having established that going to business school represents a pretty serious financial burden, let's see what you're actually getting for all those dollars your laying out. What are the "frills" schools are using to attract students, and the impact that the program can have on your ability to attract employment and your earning potential once you've found the job you've been seeking.
Facilities:
Talk about plush. Be prepared to work extremely hard when you get to business school, but if your at one of the better ones, take solace in the fact that you'll be doing it in style. The fact is that many of the schools (and not just the powerhouses) are investing heavily in infrastructure to woo you. Remember, there's a definite element of reciprocity in the relationship between schools and applicants. To put it simply, they want you to like them just as much as you want them to like you. As a result a significant proportion of a business school's dean's time is spent fundraising. Many schools are building brand new buildings, with brand new classrooms, libraries, conference rooms, cafeterias and students lounges all supplied and state-of-the-art technology. Just as one example, Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management has built a simulated trading floor with the exact same technology being used by real analysts.
Connections:
The business world is ALL about connections. We're not going to feed you the line that "it's who you know not what you know" but rather that it's "who you know AND what you know". For that reason, an MBA program has become incredibly important for young people trying to get their foot in the door. At business school you're going to educated in the "what" and immersed in the "who." Without even realizing it, you're going to be spending two full years networking. Whether it's faculty who have pivotal roles in major corporations, corporations who've formed alliances with the school, or fellow students, over the course of the program you're going to be in close contact with individuals who are currently, or will be in the future, extremely influential in the business community. Imagine your new best friend happens to be the next Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, David Filo, or Jerry Yang just waiting to surface. Well that's the kind of relationship that fortunes are built on.
Jobs:
The following excerpts come directly from the Business Week Guide to the Best Business Schools (6 th ed.). It summarizes the relationship between MBAs and corporate hiring so well that felt we should pass it straight on to you completely unadulterated. We further recommend that you find the complete article from which this excerpt was taken (available on the web) for supplementary reading and that you use the guide as one of your resources for choosing the right business school for you (in our opinions it's one of the most informative).
As we approach the millennium, the MBA is unquestionably the hottest degree you can hold, particularly from an elite school. The stats prove it: At virtually all of the best schools, GMAT scores and starting pay packages are setting records. Applications are too, although a large part of the boom is coming from overseas...The 61 schools surveyed by business week for its 1998 rankings waded through 116,912 applications for the Class of 2000, and the average GMAT score was 667 for those attending the Top 25 schools, up from 649 just two years earlier.
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