MBA without managing experience?
 

I see a lot of people taking MBA right after their first degree...and the stats
out there says MBA holders get at least 70-80K per year. without experience,
how do these smarties survive?

they dont

MBA is never about the education, its the networking that comes with the course.

If you're not IVY League MBA, your MBA is worth as much as your BBA.

I remember Forbes doing an article regarding the MBA a few years back, the difference in salary is very noticable.

It's like avg starting salary for Ivy League is around 150K and as Asian posted above ~80k for regulars.

I think that's partially true. I hear the top 5-10% of the graduating class is heavily recruited. The rest are all at about equal terms.

That's an average or median salary. You should also look at % of graduating class who get employment. But generally speaking, MBA grads these days are getting younger and younger. Many entry level consulting and banking jobs (which pay very well) are going to young kids right out of undergrad or people who have earned the MBA quickly after undergrad. Experience is important but it's hard getting that experience if you did an undergrad in a field which there are not many employment opps. So the key is to rock the GMAT and take the MBA. The MBA (especially in the US) is now almost the entry price into the job market.

If you start researching, you will find that most MBA program websites are quite transparent with regards to class statistics and are willing to answer your questions (it is a business after all) and in many top programs (Top 25) there are a large faction of students in the mid to late 20's age bracket.

Selective memory is great especially when supporting an incredibly false statement such as this.

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoo...l-mba-rankings

If you sort by salary, you'll find dozens of schools with average salary over $100k USD. The top school is non ivy (Stanford) and many schools rank in the same ball park as IVY or better. (MIT, IMD, Chicago, NYU, INSEAD, Northwestern, Duke, LSB etc). Hell, the Indian school of management pays $148k USD. Ivy league is not the be all and end all.

In short, I would suggest doing some research and not soliciting advice from revscene which is generally uninformed, ignorant and negative about most things life.

That's a very bold statement to make...

Arent there different types of MBA programs also? So that should affect the pay also correct?

MBA is tempting, but I am not quite sure how it is going to help in my career (I am currently
in the life insurance field, doing business development). It's surely an expensive investment...
45,000usd for an above average MBA course + 1 to 2 years of my time.

BBA, JD (going to finish it within 2 yrs), FLMI, MBA (if I have the time)...I am just wondering
how much would I get paid after 4 yrs <--assume I can finish them all before I am 30...with
experience. Damn, life in tough these days or I just don't have luck?

the business world is all about networking, who you know, who you know, and who you know.

i have family in HK, Taipei, Shanghai, and Vancouver, who are all well known people in the business world so my eyes have witnessed and have been opened since i was very young.

i've seen and overheard so many things where it's all about who you know. I've also seen many people with a great skillset or knowledge in something just miss opportunities, cuz they have no social network, they have no "hookups", no "connections".

i'm not saying people with no networking skills wont get anywhere, they'll just have to work a lot fucking harder and shine like no apple has shined before. and even then, someone with hookups will probably have priority over someone who doesn't.

the world is not always fair so u gotta make the best of it
ivy vs non-ivy is the same as why do most ppl on the street consider a 5 series to be "better" than a g35, its about prestige even though it can be logically irrational

Sounds like you are not too sure what you want to do and hence so many degrees??

I am not too sure if I want to provide an input here, as I have my MBA and I did not graduate from an Ivy league. I did finish top 1% of my graduating class.

While the Ivy and some of those top tier non Ivys, you have to look at the locations too.

I.e. Fordham or Pace University MBA, while both are ranked maybe 100-150ish? (I dont know where they are ranked, but they're low is my point), the graduate I know there are often starting out $100K USD annually. Ok, not in this economic climate now, but 3-4 years ago, yes.

Why? Because both of them are located right in the NYC manhatten. Pace is very close to the financial district and Fordham is in upper /bronx area. The people you meet there are there because it is "close" to where they work, which means, they work in some type of business-related/management-type of job in manhatten, which would also mean, if they are managerial level at a major company in manhatten, they're likely be making at least 100-150K. So, yes, it is about the people you meet and the location.

While I dont disagree with the rankings, but I would really take them with a grain of salt, because I, at least personally, would be more concerned about my own attitude and work ethics, rather than what university I graduated from. Trust me, I know a few Ivy league grads that just act plain stupid at work. (not stupid per se, but just not actionable/too ideal)

Then again, I did not start with $150K salary too.... :( (but I'm happy where I am today, considering the econ environment)

Anyway, it is not the school that is important, it is what you learn and who you meet that is important. After all, 1 + 1 = 2 is at Yale, 1 + 1 = 2 is at Langara college too. Its "what" you learn.

my 2 cents.

I agreed with the 3 posts above.

Networking: It's tough for someone to emigrate from Vancouver to HK
with almost zero network here and not familiar with the work environment. If I
chose to stay in Vancouver few year ago, I would have got myself a decent job
post. Response to ulic' post, social network doesn't appear within a matter or
second, and here is HK, social life almost can't exist in working class, that's why
I am trying to back up myself with education instead. Hopefully, something
miracle will happen.

Actually its not. I'm sure there must be some people who earn strong incomes from lower tier B-schools, but the vast majority of MBAs from top tier schools do garner very high salaries.

As for the networking, this is most definitely true. The reality is that many people at top tier MBAs are the most interesting and accomplished people anywhere in the world.

I currently have a friend doing his MBA at the London Business School (top ranked in the world or 2nd, compared with Wharton UPenn), as well as another at Harvard.

Both have sent me some of the CVs of their classmates, and I have to say their credentials are impossibly insane. One of the most impressive was a Harvard computer science grad who was on the Google team right before they IPO'd. He left to form 3 IT companies of his own, and by age 27 had 2000 employees with offices in Bangalore, St Petersburg, and San Jose. According to his business report, his firm returned 10x investor capital in 2 years.
The dude is now 29 but has started his own venture capital fund in London.

Along with the career stuff, he's also an avid mountain climber, marathon runner, and was captain of the Harvard Men's Rowing team. As well, he also scored a perfect 800 on the GMAT.

On the other side of the spectrum, I have plenty of friends doing MBAs through correspondence schools from Australia, etc. Top companies will know what a good MBA program is, and are unlikely to hire such graduates with a high salary - especially given that tier 1 B-schools are being swamped by MBA applications from investment bankers in London and NY, many of whom were already at the Director/VP level (I know of 3 myself in London).

If you're not aiming to land a high ranking job however, its still going to be a good investment though - you'll be able to utilize that knowledge for any future ventures.

no man, there are plenty of ways to network in HK. whenever I'm in HK (or anywhere in asia), i met a lot of people. most of them were actually ABC or CBC, but all work in HK/tw/shanghai now. A lot of them come from a good family background, and naturally they get hooked up with a lot of shit. but i realised, that if i were to go back to HK, or taipei, or shanghai or something, those same people i met in HK, can easily network me with people in other cities. they know so many fucking people it's not funny. anyone that you think you can get along with, befriend them. and you can easily keep connection with them through FB/msn or whatever you have nowadays.

but most of these people have similar childhood lives. lived or born in north america, moved back either for HS (but went back to the US or canada for university), or moved back after university. a lot of them live and work or hang in HK. they've spent usually a decade or less at a time living in different places for work or school, and they're all VERY sociable people.

all i gotta say is, there are a lot of people from van, that now live or work in HK, it's very easy to make friends, especially when you have common interests. and if you don't then ya better learn how to drink like a fish, smoke like a chimney stack, and party hard, cuz that's the only thing that connects most people in asia.

hah this may sound retarded, but i honestly think no one can make it as a "local" in tw/hk/china. like working with locals, being a local and submerging yourself in that lifestyle, well a very slim chance. you have to hang with the elite in asia. the ones with money, the ones with strong connections, the ones with power. it sounds snobbish but hey, you gotta put food on your own table, and if that's the way, that's the way man.

but seriously, once you find someone with connections/power/money that you get along with, start going partying with them. those kinds of people usually hang together or in similar environments, you'll quickly meet a lot of people if you've got any social skills at all.


eh wait this brings us to this question, why did you go back to HK if you coulda gotten a better job here in van instead?

Its totally true. And these families almost always send their kids abroad to school (e.g. Vancouver).

This is exactly what I am worrying about as well. I am graduating from my BBA this Fall and I will be moving back, but I have zero network in HK I don't even know how I am gonna get anything.

:thumbsup: