Lasner, An MBA will help you in your career in ways you never expected. It will help you grow and mature as a person and drastically improve your ability to write and communicate and your ability to communicate will do more for your career than any other class you could take at an MBA program. If you think about it, success in business depends largely on your ability to develop long lasting business relationships and doing that comes down to how you communicate. Definitely pursue Wharton is that is your dream but realize you can be successful no matter where you go if you focus on communication. I know many millionaires who barely made it out of high school so even a Tier 2 or 3 school can lead to a highly successful career. The dream on Wharton.....here's what you should do. Go back to school at night and take highly quantitative courses like Stats, Finance, Calculus, and so on. Study you butt off and nail the GMAT. While you're doing that try your hand at some sort of business to show the admissions committee you have an entreprenuerial spirit. Since you're an ET sponsor you're probably already doing that. There are many ways to get into a Tier 1 school. You just have to be creative and do something to stand out. Don't listen to people who tell you an MBA isn't worth your while. It absolutely is worth your while and will propel your career faster than you could ever imagine. Good luck and hit the books. You can do it!
Absolutely right. Networking is just another form of communication. Have you ever heard the most successful people in business are the most charasmatic? It always comes down to your ability to communicate. It's all about the presentation.
This is a complete cop-out. Agreed. Just like a 4 year degree can open doors closed to people w/ only a HS diploma, some companies will screen by requiring an MBA and others will screen further by only recruiting specific-name MBA's. However, once you're in the door (no matter how you got there), progressing upward is due to a myriad of factors that vary somewhat depending on the specific workplace but rarely have much to do with the degree. Many losers like to think their degree provides them a free ride. Their primary means of mobility involves regular job changes. I've promoted a number of high-performing non-degreed people over their degreed peers - and rarely regretted it. R
I agree with you and I disagree with you. I have friends that dropped out of college that work in banking now and never get promoted. I've worked in banking and seen it. They make it to a certain level and then never advance. I think hard work gets rewarded but only to a certain level. An MBA from Wharton I can only imagine must open a great amount of doors.....the question is it worth the sacrifice....that's what I'm trying to figure out.
That's how all of life is. We always question whether something is worth it (relationships, education, friendship, job, etc., etc.) but only have the anwser at the end of the journey, whil paying close attention to what is happening in the middle of it. Go ahead and pursue your degree if you want to ... the fact that you are qauestioning it tells me that your issues (like everyone else's) are all internal and you must resolve them for yourself. Just don't come out of the MBA program (if you do it) expecting to have everything given to you on a silver platter ... expect to up the level and bust your ass even more. That is what Tudor Jones was saying to you, and that really is what life is all about for many people (not everyone, but many people) ... he made some really good points there. GL
Forget the MBA. Don't waste the time and money. Working for someone else sucks. Start your own business and you will then realize true freedom.
Agree completely Vinny! This raises the question, does a Tier 1 education prepare you better to start your own business or not? This is a difficult question actually. It really depends on the type of business. If you want to start a construction business Ivy League doesn't help you much but if you want to start a Hedge Fund it probably will. But, this doesn't mean you can't start a hedge fund w/o Wharton. An Ivy League education can only help you. It can't hurt you so if you get accepted into one of these schools you have to go.
You spend a lot of time intensely focused on an MBA... from Wharton... top 10 school... You have spent very little time discussing WHAT EXACTLY GOING TO DO WITH IT??? Why blow out your brains pursuing this path, before you spend a lot of time intensely tracing out your plans for the next 5-10 years. Do you know precisely what job you plan to get? You mentioned Wall Street trader. Have you talked to Wharton MBA graduates, who are traders? more than 1? Do you know institutional traders are disappearing rapidly, in favor of algorithmic trading? Do you know the trading floors are disappearing rapidly, like what ICE did to the softs? Are you chasing a job as a buggy whip maker? You need to do some intensive study and research to plan a career path. If a CFA, then go talk to 5 CFAs, and find out what you REALLY need to achieve that job. But don't just wander through life, guided by random, unresearched thoughts that go through your head. Before shelling out tens of thousands and years of your life, talk to people in the industry and find out some areas that you can do without an MBA, with a U of D MBA, and only with Wharton MBA... Right now, you are: READY!!! FIRE!!! AIM!!!
Go to UVa, that's where I got my MBA from. And where the greatest financial speculator/trader/money machine went to undergrad for. Walking around the business school, I have to honestly say that my trading itself have improved tremendously. I got my MBA because I was trading futures/stocks full time, and I needed some access to money. My parents I knew would pay for my edumication, thus.. I let them pay for my education and I took boat loads of cheap student loans to add to my account.. which evolved into my hedge fund. I missed a lot of classes, did horribly on some exams and doesn't have all that great of a GPA.. then again, who gives a shit because I obviously dont. It was just a WIN/WIN/WIN situation for me. I got a degree, I mastered my trading skills, I got funded etc etc... has some great memories, made some good friends and connections etc..