Applies to private US MBA programs too… Kellogg especially. Know way too many with mediocre prospects and debt up to their eyeballs

Why doesn't anyone think to look at job prospects and corresponding pay outcomes before agreeing to pay that much for a degree?? Don't go to Harvard for education and think you'll become secretary for education. Don't go to Columbia for film and think you'll become Steven Spielberg. Be realistic, use your money to invest in achievable outcomes and don't throw it away because you fell for a marketing scheme.

This is why I hate the student loan forgiveness crap...you're enabling people to continue to make poor financial decisions and get out of it with no consequences. DO SOME RESEARCH!! Don't assume the real world will offer you a way out of your own choices.

I know I'm going to get reamed out for that last comment. Turning off notifications 😜

Being from a foreign country, I was initially enrolled in a state university’s science PhD program. After realizing that even so-called non-profit universities are trying to maximize profit and revenue, I decided to leave science and graduated with my master’s.

Due to visa issues, it’s hard to transition from academic jobs to industry. Combined with my urge to “pivot to another career”, I decided to do an MBA. I did cost and ROI calculations, to see if it was worth going to MBA.

In addition to the modest scholarship, I paid $60K for 2-year full-time MBA tuition in a top 50 school. I paid $5K for additional expenses (online access, textbooks, case studies, global immersion). I paid $3,500 for my student loan interest. Let’s round it up to $70K.

I had living expenses of $30K per year, due to living in “modest” conditions in an affordable city. So my costs added up to about $130K.

Made $30K from internships. So, I ended the MBA with roughly -$100K compared to what I began with. (That’s an expensive investment but still let’s see the returns).

I got the consultant offer, $150K base + $20K signing bonus. I totally paid off all my student loan balance on my third month at my job.

My net worth before MBA was $30K. After my MBA 1.5 years into the consultant job, my net worth became $150K. And I am debt free.

I actually didn’t borrow too much. I borrowed $25K from the bank, $18K from parents (it’s a no-interest loan that I paid back). The rest has come out of my pocket. You need to put cash down, not to borrow recklessly.

I try to feel sympathy for those who borrow a fortune to study the fields that won’t pay nice salaries. I went to a state university master’s + a state university MBA. I can feel the pain of a person who went to a state university. Private, I am sorry. They should have done some “cost and potential return” calculations.

Why is it so hard for me to feel sympathy for somebody who took out $200K loan to study film?

Who is approving these loans?

Kellogg? No. M7 MBAs have great ROI on average, especially if you’re not one of those people who gets an MBA to work at a non-profit. If you do that, the debt is on you. Literally any other industry will easily pay you six figures post-Kellogg. I would agree with you about lower tier MBA schools though.

What’s that about kellogg? I nearly tripled my income after graduating 😇

Why the Kellogg assault? I went to a lower ranked program and literally everyone I know that went M7 made out very well. Outside T25 is where ROI gets tricky, depending on exit industry.

Dude has a film degree 🤡

A guy my year at Wharton did a joint degree and posted a screenshot of his $400k student debt balance online. Moved to one of the most expensive cities in the world after. Saw this article yesterday and thought of him - gives me secondhand anxiety

It’s predatory lending and these institutions should have to take the loss out of their endowments.

OP got dinged by Kellogg, so taking it out here…

Bro!! I’ve been saying this: Columbia has so many random masters programs that cost so much and let anyone in. Just scams tbh

I think you have to decide what is important to you. I decided to attend a T20 school instead of a T12 school for my MBA bc the T20 school offered me a full ride.

I knew coming in I would have to work a tad bit harder to get the interview but still most of the same companies came to campus, school has a great network, and liked being a bit of the underdog. At the end it worked out. But a “M7 or bust” and not take into account other costs then it will definitely hinder you!

I went to a non-target to avoid student debt all together. If student debt gets cancelled, then shame on me for being prudent.

Zero sympathy in this day and age for not doing literally 20 minutes of google research to see post grad school career opportunities and salary ranges

I don’t think it’s the schools’ fault. Blowing $300k on BA Film Studies and an MFA is stupid - unless you have personal connections to break you in.

My Asian parents frugality meant they were always thinking of RoI and steered me to STEM

Hot take: OP get rejected from Kellogg but got into another M7 program and is salty. 🤡

Not for everyone. Unless you go into consulting which isn’t “stable.”

If he wanted money he shouldn’t have done Filme in the first place… choose a career according to your goals jeez…

This is so gross but I’ve been noticing it the past 5 years or so. I know lots of people that went to my B10 undergrad that were thrilled about their Ivy League grad program acceptances and have since graduated, only to now be unemployed or making as much as they would have been if they hadn’t done the grad school, but with all the debt. It’s extra sad because a lot of them didn’t come from a lot of money and had some or all of their UG tuition covered by scholarships, and jumped at the opportunity to go to an Ivy League grad program and make their families proud.

Also, I’m not talking MBA programs here, but the public policy, public health, life science stuff, etc.