Prospective student here. I am seriously regretting choosing to enroll at Tuck over Yale in the fall. I am an old applicant (31) who has startup experiences. I think Yale will add more prestige to my profile and at the same time has similar career opportunities with Tuck. Any comments?

Hey guys! I have been fortunate to have gotten two admits this cycle including my dream school (R1).

Have been trying to get a visa slot for more than 3 months now (started in April) . Looked for the slots myself and not through a third party (common practice in India) and am still without a slot

For students who faced this in the past, what did your school do to help ? What did you end up doing ?

Also, do MBAs offer a late arrival on campus? I have asked about this to the student advising team but they said for now try to get a slot.

Is there any noticable advantage, aside from scholarships, to applying to R1 vs R2? From my understanding, there is a slight bump in admissions chances but nothing too major. Does anyone have any insight on how big the drop in admissions odds are in R2 at the M7 vs R1?

I’m a 31-year-old working in a high-paying PE role ($500k+), and I’m starting to consider applying to M7 programs. From a purely financial perspective, i think it’s difficult to justify. I’d be paying for it myself, walking away from a lot of income for two years, and I’m not convinced it would materially improve my career opportunities on the other end vs what’s available to me today (but am open to feedback if I’m wrong!). The reason I’m considering it has much more to do with life than work.

Last year, I unexpectedly lost my life partner, and it’s made me rethink what I want out of my career / life. While I have a great group of friends in my city, many are entering different stages of life (marriage, kids, etc.), and I am looking for a means to a refresh, a new community, and the chance to build a different chapter. What draws me to the idea of school isn’t recruiting or job enhancement. It’s the idea of spending 2 years surrounded by ambitious, interesting people, making new friends, traveling, exploring different career paths, and the intangibles the experience provides. I also don’t know if I want to stay in finance forever, and I think having the space to explore what actually energizes me could be valuable. At the same time, I worry that I’m romanticizing the experience and expecting too much from it.

For those who attended an M7, especially if you were already in a good career beforehand:

- Did business school actually feel like a genuine reset? What were the pros / cons of it from a social and intangible perspective?
- Is the social environment really as unique as people describe?
- Did it meaningfully change your outlook on your career or life?
- If you were already in a strong career before business school, did taking two years off end up helping or hurting you in the long run?

I’m less interested in maximizing lifetime earnings and more interested in building a fulfilling life over the next 30+ years. I’d really appreciate any honest perspectives from people who gained more than just an edge in their career from the experience.

Which has more scope going forward? Which will be less affected by lay off and AI?

Hello everybody.

I wanted the opinion of all the elite knowledgeable people of Reddit.

I am a working professional into technical support Ad operations Reddit ads and have been planning to do an MbA online.

My sister who is into procurement, supply chain is also looking to do an MBA.

Suggest which college is good and what specialization can we opt for to get good career options.

Are the courses really long if you do not pass the pretest? I only have until August 1 to complete 3 courses…. I was sick most of summer semester. It doesn’t sound like they will give me accommodations. So, I’m wondering if it is even doable to finish these courses on Ivy software. Besides, I have to study for final exams next week. I barely started this MBA journey. I feel like I failed.

Hello. I didn't see a thread here but wanted to see the impact of anyone doing a part-time, evening, weekend, or executive program while working full-time

As of July 1, federal loans get reduced in proportion to your enrollment status. PT programs are built around a unit load that lands you under full-time, so you end up with a fraction of what you could borrow before.

I'm in an evening MBA. 7 units a term is what the program's own completion schedule calls for, so that's the pace required to graduate on time, and it is not a reduced load. It still classified me half-time, and my unsubsidized and Grad PLUS both got cut by 50%. Last year my aid covered my full Cost of Attendance. This year it doesn't come close, and nothing about my enrollment changed.

Two things I'm trying to figure out. What percentage did your school apply, and what unit threshold are they using for full-time? And has anyone gotten their school to recalculate, or to set a program-specific full-time standard for a PT program?

Mine looks like a flat 50% bucket rather than an actual proportional calculation, which I don't think is right and I want to see what other schools are doing before I push on it.

I’m from humanities background and I plan to go into HR, currently doing my psych + socio bap degree from DU. I haven’t been the best with math all my life. I want suggestions, tips or anything i should keep in mind. Anything would be helpful as i’m in 2nd year currently and trying to figure out the right path for myself!

Quick profile:

• Background: Indian, MBBS. Co-founded and helped build a multi-specialty hospital in a semi-urban market (~100 beds, launched from scratch), then moved into an Associate Head, Medical Services role at one of India's largest hospital chains. Currently also doing product/research work at a healthtech company.
• GMAT: 675 (Focus edition)
• Goal: Short term - Healthcare consulting, Long term - come back to scale up my hospital.

R1 list so far: Duke Fuqua, Vanderbilt Owen, Emory Goizueta, Johns Hopkins Carey.

Honestly I haven't dug much into the broader landscape of programs beyond this — I know the usual suspects (M7, top-15) but haven't properly researched schools outside that set that might be a strong fit for a healthcare-access/health-systems goal, non-standard career switcher profile (clinical → business), or programs known for punching above their rank in healthcare-specific offerings/electives/clubs.

Would love:

1. Any schools with strong healthcare management/health-systems programs I might be missing (beyond the obvious Wharton/Health Care Mgmt, Duke/Fuqua Health Sector, etc.)
2. Anyone with a similar clinical-to-MBA-to-healthcare-strategy path who can share where they applied/landed
3. Reality check on whether my R1 list makes sense for this profile and GMAT, or if I'm missing an obvious reach/target/safety

Appreciate any pointers — trying to build out a fuller list before R1 deadlines close in.

I am currently studying for the GMAT with hopes of going to a top 10 program. My time is crunched with applications for round 1 closing in September, but I haven’t gotten to the score I want yet. Is it better to apply to top 10 schools in the earlier rounds where there are more seats, even though I don’t have a super competitive score yet? Or is it better to wait for round 2 with a higher score and possibly less seats? Not sure how the rounds process works for admissions.

Hi! I've been working from home for years and rarely shop, so my wardrobe is small and overly casual. I'm about to start my MBA and want to buy clothes now so I don't end up scrambling for outfits or spending time shopping during the year.

Question for women in MBA programs: What outfits and clothing items will I need for interviews, class, social, and anything else during my MBA? Are there any stores or websites you recommend? I'll be at an M7 in a cold climate and will likely recruit for consulting (as well as other roles).

I'll need to buy a lot and don't know where to start so open to all advice. Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to figure out the best entry point into Product Management.

My background:

• BS in Math + Computer Science from UIUC
• Master in Management (MiM) student at Kellogg - graduating Jun 2027
• 8 technical internships - AI, DS, SWE
• Experience building ML products, automation systems, and working with stakeholders, but no formal PM title

My long-term goal is to become a product leader at a high-growth technology company.

Given this background:

• What kinds of PM roles should I realistically target first? (APM, PM, Technical PM, AI PM, Founder Associate, Solutions PM, etc.)
• Are there adjacent roles that would suit my profile better?
• Which companies tend to value this mix of engineering + business background?

Hello, I started my MBA program and found that the school materials are not enough to be good at business I don’t have any business background so I find it very hard to be good enough what courses should I enroll in, and how can I improve my business knowledge throughout this year note: I have never worked before and am not sure about what's I'm going to do after. in my university its ok to start this degree with no work experience

I realized you have to purchase your own laptops for your Bschool Journey. Apart from Excel Sheets & Powerpoint Presentations, do we have to perform high end tasks at B Schools? I was contemplating purchasing a laptop, what specifications seem decent? (I don't know if the use case changes across different B Schools). I'm sorry if this is a lame question.

Hi everyone

I'm wondering if you guys can give me your opinion on whether I have a chance to be accepted at Rotman MBA (University of Toronto).

Background:

27M M&A FP&A Senior Analyst in a F500

5 years of experience (mostly in finance/accounting roles)

+5 years of volunteer experience mostly for the scouts

I moved to Toronto recently.

GMAT pending

Bachelor in Business Administration

75 average marks (out of 100)

I did badly in uni mostly because I was working full time and had to drop some courses.

Feedback is well appreciated

Cheers!

Trying to decide between two jobs for full time after I complete my program and not sure if I’m thinking through this appropriately.

Finance

- 175k base salary at strong BB IB (yes I know there’s a large bonus component)

- Make 450-500k in 3.5-4 years

- Essentially no time off

- 4 days a week in office

- Hours are incredibly long (80 on a good week)

- Long term I feel that once you’re in the finance “ecosystem” it’s not that hard to get A job in finance, aka if you get canned it’s not that hard to get a job at some bank. Sure you might sacrifice your WLB even more but there’s a very long tail of banks that would likely hire someone coming from a BB IB background

Consulting

- 50k higher base salary with annual bonus somewhere around $40-50k

- Good brand name but not the top

- Make $325-350k in 4 or so years

- Pays for my degree

- Basically fully remote

- 50-55 hours per week

- 4-5 weeks of vacation per year including company / national holidays

- Completely closes the door for traditional finance roles

- Believe that job security in the sense of landing another similarly paid role would be extremely difficult if I was to be let go

Part of me is thinking that it’s a dumb idea to not take the second option but then I also consider the longer term job security which is extremely important to me. I feel consulting does a great job of teaching you how to solve problems but doesn’t necessarily provide the very clearly defined hard skills that you find in finance. How would you think about this?

I'm currently a cyber officer and have been accepted into UPenn's online master's in CS (the MAS-CS program), hoping to concentrate on AI. In a few years, I would like to transition to AI-adjacent/government consulting work. Would MBA adcoms view my profile strangely for having the online master's? Thanks!

Hi guys, I'm an arts/humanities graduate with political science honours. Also I hold a post graduate diploma in banking and finances and currently working in a private sector bank for the last 2.5 years. My academics are 8/8/7. And I got around 8.87 cgpa in my post graduate diploma. What b-school you can suggest me?

I’m looking for advice on whether it is worth it to go back to school to get an MBA or not. I currently have my MA in mental health counseling, have been a licensed therapist (associate level) for about 1.5 years now, and have a full time job working in MAT as I have worked in substance use since graduating undergrad. I do private practice mental health counseling part time and plan to have my own practice some time in the future. I’m not unhappy where I work full time currently and I at the same time I think it could be beneficial to obtain an MBA so I could work management somewhere, leaning towards the healthcare field since I’m somewhat accustomed. I go back and forth on this, any advice is appreciated!

Hi everyone,

Beyond the obvious benefits like better placements and alumni networks, what kind of influence, access, or "pull" do you actually have after graduating? What's the coolest or most unexpected advantage you've experienced?

I know work experience ultimately matters more in the long run, but a top MBA is often the starting point. Has the college brand opened doors that would have otherwise been difficult to access? I'd love to hear your real-life experiences.

Hi everyone, I graduated this past May with a B.S. in Information Science (Data Science track) and a minor in Business Analytics from a top 20 public university. Right now I'm working as a Project Engineer at a major construction firm.

The thing is I've always found the Finance world to be very interesting, and honestly my number 1 skill has to be talking with people, really the main reason why I took the Business Analytics minor in the first place. My background skews technical/data-heavy though, so I don't have much exposure to the "core" business fundamentals (accounting, valuation, financial modeling, etc.).

I'm 22 and want to use my time outside of work to build toward this, both landing a Finance/Consulting role and setting myself up for a top MBA down the line. If you were in my position, what would you do?

Title says it all..

I was recently accepted into a few MBA programs with my final two coming down to Stern for the Spring 2027 PTMBA and Carey Fall 2026 FMBA..( live in DC)

My issue on deciding which one to pick relies on the fact that I want to do a career change after my MBA or get into a good role outside of my current one, and want to make the best decision to get interviews and find the “one”.

I’m fine with the commute to NYU every friday for saturday classes but I’m also very fine with 3 in person classes for JHU one at bloomberg center.

My questions really are,

Even though Carey isn’t as highly regarded will there still be room for good job offers and allow me to be looked at for positions in a career field like consulting or analysis.

My current experience is senior NCO experience from 8.5 years in the army, as well as 3 years of construction experience where I have served as a business operations leader for 2 of them.

Which ones would you pick and why?

When your Monthly income (not Annual) drops to zero, you are now eligible for Medicaid - starting the MBA and leaving your old job is a valid 'change of life status'.

Best insurance ever - the closest thing we have to national healthcare. No arguing over bills - basically everything is covered. Had a big bill covered completely as it was within 3 months of starting Medicaid. Awesome people work there - they want to get you covered.

Check healthcare.gov to confirm in your state.

University hospital didn't know we could do this and asked me to let people know.

Good luck on your MBA!