The following is based on an actual study commissioned by The Wharton School in 2002. The report researched the status of both Wharton MBA's and undergraduates who had been out of school for 5, 10, and 15 years.
Although the MBA's claim the 2nd floor Au Bon Pain as their own and whole-heartedly believe Huntsman Hall is their personal stomping ground, every fellow undergrad should be willing to bear arms and take back what is rightfully theirs (half kidding). Basically, this study uncovered that Wharton undergraduates will earn more on average than their MBA counterparts (and are better).
Now to the meat and potatoes... according to the survey:
- Most undergrads had not returned to school for an MBA.
- Those undergrads who had gone back to school at some point were making less, on average, than those who had not.
- The undergrads were making more on average than the MBA's.
While some will certainly disagree, this can't seem all that surprising. While I am in no place to talk, from what I gather the MBA program provides little curriculum beyond what you're currently getting in both your undergraduate education and the workplace. To me, an MBA is little more than a platform that certain people succeed at reaching. In other words, getting accepted into the program in the first place is 95% of the battle. Maybe the smart thing to do would be to simply get accepted into a top MBA program, and instead of "wasting" two years, just give your acceptance letter to your prospective employer. Yes, I understand that there are advantages to actually attending an MBA program and few employers would find this reasonable, but I nonetheless don't see the full value, and I think this study backs it up to some degree.
DISCLAIMER: I have several friends who are MBA's, and I mean no disrespect to them or anyone else who may be offended by me discussing this report.
On a different note, for a good read check out my friend Ravi's recent post about entrepreneurship at Wharton. This is something most entrepreneurial undergrads at Penn will most certainly agree with, and something Ravi described well.
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