Chicago MBA Schools (Harvard, Stanford, Mark: how much, university, live) - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

and1playa2007 · 02-05-2011, 10:23 PM

Hi everyone,

What is everyone's opinion on Chicago MBA Schools? What are the greatest and what are a waste of time? Is it worth forking out tons of money to get a prestigious MBA vs a "middle of the road" MBA?

What are some respectable MBA Schools in the Chicagoland area that carry some weight yet don't cost a fortune?

chikid · 02-05-2011, 10:39 PM

From what I have heard the only ones that have a good recognition are UC, Northwestern, DePaul, UIC, and I think Loyola. Other than not really sure if the other ones are worth it. I could be wrong though.

chikid · 02-05-2011, 10:41 PM

BTW all MBA's will cost you a fortune, so expect to pay a lot, unless you go to a uber uber crappy MBA program or your employer is paying the bill. I don't think you will find one that is cheaper than 20k a year, even with public institutions like UIC.

smallvillejane · 02-05-2011, 11:06 PM

BOOTH and KELLOGG
Others are a waste of time

Quote:

Originally Posted by and1playa2007

Hi everyone,

What is everyone's opinion on Chicago MBA Schools? What are the greatest and what are a waste of time? Is it worth forking out tons of money to get a prestigious MBA vs a "middle of the road" MBA?

What are some respectable MBA Schools in the Chicagoland area that carry some weight yet don't cost a fortune?

and1playa2007 · 02-05-2011, 11:11 PM

I am clearly willing to fork up 20K/yr for MBA school......My undergrad costs more - but, I read online that an exec MBA from Kellogg runs north of 130K - not sure if this is true or not, but that seems pretty high for an MBA!

chikid · 02-05-2011, 11:18 PM

smallvillejane, I disagree. Yes those two are the best, but the rest are not a waste of time or money. I am sure that 90% of the population could not get into those MBA programs. I am also sure that 50% of the people who have MBA's and are very successful didn't go to a top 25 MBA program.

20k is on the lower end and I believe UIC is the cheapest and it's something like 24k a year. MBA's do pay off though.

smallvillejane · 02-05-2011, 11:21 PM

if it's such a fabulous ROI thing, why mark zuckerberg did not go for an MBA, or finish college at all?

Quote:

Originally Posted by chikid

smallvillejane, I disagree. Yes those two are the best, but the rest are not a waste of time or money. I am sure that 90% of the population could not get into those MBA programs. I am also sure that 50% of the people who have MBA's and are very successful didn't go to a top 25 MBA program.

20k is on the lower end and I believe UIC is the cheapest and it's something like 24k a year. MBA's do pay off though.

emathias · 02-06-2011, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallvillejane

if it's such a fabulous ROI thing, why mark zuckerberg did not go for an MBA, or finish college at all?

Oh, perfect example that we all should base our lives around and we can all achieve if we put our minds to it ...

Whether it's worth the money depends on a lot of factors, the first of being how much money you already earn and what an MBA will cost you. If you have an employer paying for at least half of the cost, it's almost certainly worth it because you're getting a nice discount, your employer will want a return on their investment that will include making sure your career advances, and you will make a lot of contacts around Chicago (assuming part-time status if the employer is paying, and the part-time programs don't have nearly as many people who don't already live here).

The second thing to consider is that the MBA, while the most famous of masters degrees, isn't the only degree you may want to consider. Depending on your own career or your desire for future career, there are many other masters degrees to choose from. The MBA is really only the clear winner if you want to go into investment banking or management consulting.

I would say that in almost every case, a more specialized masters degree would suit people better than a middling MBA and in a not small number of cases, better even than an MBA from a good school.

But, if you're dead-set on an MBA, the University of Chicago and Northwestern are the best in Chicagoland and among the best in the world. By a wide margin, the U of C is best if you want to specialize in the financial or economics aspect of the degree, Northwestern is better for marketing work and a little better for consulting emphasis. Both offer both part-time and full-time programs. If you're looking to make a career change, going full-time is the much better choice. If you're looking to continue in your current career and you're local, part-time is probably better.

After the big two ranking gets more varied, depending on what you want to do and what you personally place value on, but I think the next tier of schools includes Depaul, Loyola, UIC and maybe IIT (IIT's specialized trading and MFin masters programs are very well regarded, too).

After that, unless you have a specific reason to get the degree from some other specific school, it's probably not worth it and your time would be better spent simply upping your hours at work gunning for promotions or getting a different, more specific masters degree.

soulful · 02-06-2011, 11:01 AM

OP. As some of the other posters have indicated, Northwestern and University of Chicago are our top tier schools. If you are one of the lucky folks who can get into one of those schools I would absolutely go for it.

grapico · 02-06-2011, 11:22 AM

There is another option. Notre Dame has a weekend MBA program and Exec MBA program that is very good as well. I have known a few people to drive over there on the weekends and do it.

Booth and Kellogg are 2 of the top 5 in the country. Tuition is also 50K a year.

lol @ Mark Zuckerberg. If the OP had millions in angel funds coming in, he wouldn't be posting. Why do people mention that? Do they think other entrepreneurs aren't working on side projects? They are. Oh, Sergey was a Stanford PhD dropout... Zuckerberg was at Harvard... Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard. You know what? All these people were attempting at going to school and just happened to hit it big. If you aren't hitting it big, you should go to school. You can do both you know...then if you don't hit it big (most likely you won't no matter how good your ideas are) you at least have a financial security blanket in your education.

If I see another person telling somebody to drop out of school and "just start a business" I'm going to reach across my computer and punch them in the face.