Really I think the title should be: "If you can't get in to a prestigious business school you're probably better off saving your money" The quality of MBA prog

Really I think the title should be: "If you can't get in to a prestigious business school you're probably better off saving your money" The quality of MBA programs vary drastically. An MBA from Phoenix (an online university) costs quite a lot and you will not be recruited into high paying positions. An MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management also costs quite a lot, but you will be heavily recruited by big companies and offered nice salaries. The difference starts in the quality of their admissions. Phoenix University lets in anyone who can pay. MIT only lets in the top folks (who can also pay or can figure out a way for someone else to pay for them). Because MIT starts out with higher quality people they run a more rigorous program and the top businesses recognize that MIT graduates are worth more than graduates from diploma mills. There are other great business schools other than MIT, I'm just using them as an example. This phenomenon is also seen in the financial world, a finance degree from an Ivy league school is literally worth tens of thousands of dollars more than a public university because that is all the big financial firms want to hire. This might be confusing to people in the software world where you rise based on merit, but in the business world a degree is not just a piece of paper but a pedigree; and your pedigree matters a lot.