At what ranking is it not worth it to get an MBA?

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Hello,

I am interested in attending a top MBA program but I worry that my low GMAT score of 660 is not good enough to get into a top 10 business school. To combat the low score, I've been looking at other programs like Indiana, Illinois and Michigan State, where my score would be more competitive, but am wondering if it's even worth it to spend the money to attend a second tier school. At what point is the ROI to get an MBA not worth it as far as school rankings. Would a specialized masters be more appropriate for an individaul who might not be able to get into a top 10 business school? Any advice on this would be very helpful! Thank you!
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by Ashim88 » Sun May 27, 2012 8:53 am
Your ROI will be positive as long as you go to a ranked MBA school.

For example, the Cal State MBAs are about $30,000. With a Cal State MBA, I would guess graduates would make an average of 7-10K more per year. So after three years, the ROI would be positive

the ROI is really dependent on where you are at right now (salary-wise) and what jobs you think you can nab with a top 10/20/30 degree. Also, you'll get different starting jobs with a 3.8GPA than a 3.0GPA - so the ranking of the school isn't everything.

Speaking from experience, anything in the top 100 seems great. My sister went to Pepperdine University (ranked 87th), got a 3.0 GPA and is now making $175,000 at Sketchers as a mrkting mgr, though she started at Myspace at 110K (just two years prior)

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by vikram4689 » Sat Jun 02, 2012 4:32 pm
now making $175,000 at Sketchers as a mrkting mgr, though she started at Myspace at 110K (just two years prior)
Thats interesting... so a 2nd tier is still good then and this statistic debunks that 2nd tier graduates might not get job in current scenario. is it normal in US to have such increments in a 2 year timeframe, i dont see that in india :)
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