Study in an Expensive B-School: Good Investment Decision

andheri,mumbai,400016,maharashtra,India, February 18, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Earning an MBA from a top-ranked institute may cost someone deep in one’s purse. There are certain factors which decide the price of a B-school. Also, this cost varies from institute to institute. As an applicant one needs to understand that though every school will have the same three letters degree but the worth of the same will be different depending on their brand status.

Unlike supermarkets MBA institutes operate on a different analogy. Business schools have a unique way to treat their cost. They tend to make one think this cost as an ‘investment’ for future career prospect and not as a ‘cost’ to their students.

The value of a business school comes when an MBA graduates the program and rejoins the workplace, and finds employers that are willing to match their salary expectations and to provide a good working environment.

This is why it’s essential that candidates realize that all MBA degrees are not the same; and nor is the cost of the varying MBA degrees on offer.

The question still persists why a student would end up spending a fortune to earn an MBA degree from an Ivy-league school rather than earning it from a school with moderate pricing.

Lisa Bevill, IE’s director of admissions, has the answer: “The first is high-caliber classmates; a key part of your learning will come from your classmates, so it’s important who is in the classroom with you. They turn into a high quality alumni network, which has a huge impact on future job opportunities and business partnerships.

“Top ranked schools will also be audited by rankings and are more likely to be recognized by world leading accreditation bodies – meaning that the MBA programs at these schools guarantee a certain level of academic standard.”

Some experts believe that looking at business schools and applying the kind of financial models that MBA programs encourage is an advantageous way of working out whether an MBA degree at a certain business school makes a reasonable investment. Moreover, according to these experts a ‘cheap’ MBA can be a much worse investment decision than an ‘expensive’ one.

Most importantly it is imperative for MBA aspirants to take a look at their career goals and find out which program will suit their objective. Also, candidates need to take into account the resources and networking opportunity the school is offering before enrolling and paying a hefty tuition fee.

According to Liz Wagoner, assistant director of admissions at Boston University's School of Management, “Any top-ranked university should allow students some incredible opportunities as far as both resources and networking. At the end of the day, though finances and rankings should be part of the conversation, ultimately it should be about fit and finding the best program for the candidate.”

The greatest benefit to study in an expensive B-school is that some of them may have superior financial aid available. This can bring their net cost much closer to the lower-priced schools. The reason to include financial aid in these colleges is that they do not want to turn down the applicant of a brilliant mind and give an opportunity on a fair ground. One challenging theory says, “Get into the best and most expensive B-school you can.” Financial aid is the reason. The more expensive schools usually have more money to give in financial aid, thus making their true cost much lower for families who really need the help.

But enrolling to an expensive college does not mean that you will go blindly; as it was mentioned earlier that the suitability to one’s career objective should decide which program to select.