A woman wears a mask in the Stamps Reading Room at Baker Library on the campus of Harvard Business School Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. The School requires face coverings and social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Is An MBA Worth It? More Harvard MBAs Weigh In

Earning an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS) is a phenomenal feat. With an average starting salary of $125,000 and an expected 10-year ROI of 320 percent, Harvard MBA grads get the full value of their prestigious degree. But an MBA education is a costly investment that shouldn’t be taken lightly. At HBS, the total cost of attendance for just one year of an MBA lands at $111,542.

In the second part of a Harvard “MBA Voices” blog, HBS alumni answer the central question: Is an MBA worth it?

REAL GROWTH

Many aspiring MBAs choose to pursue the degree as a means to advance their career or bump their salary. While those are valid reasons to earn the degree, many HBS alumni say that the real value of the MBA is the growth opportunity—both on a personal and professional level.

“The standard argument against getting an MBA is that you can progress in your field without one by spending those two years getting more experience,” Scott Robertson, a 2019 HBS grad and now Director of Government Commercialization at Solugen, says. “The problem is that most people who hear that argument have only experienced a tiny fraction of the universe of career possibilities. I believe that the key to a happy life (or a successful business) is constant reevaluation of your core principles—along with having the strength to update those principles when required—and an HBS MBA is the ultimate chance to do just that.”

Dilan Gomih, a 2019 HBS grad and now Senior Director of Digital Talent/Strategy and Instructor at Barry’s, says that she wouldn’t be where she is at today without HBS.

“From a personal standpoint, I’ve had the confidence to take risks and be the leader in the room because HBS prepared me to be,” Gomih says. “From students to faculty, I met some of the people who I am the closest to now and I could not imagine my life without them. From a professional standpoint, the HBS MBA opens doors that I never knew existed—but they opened because the HBS name speaks for itself.”

NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK

Another reason why the HBS MBA is so valuable is the network that it provides students.

Robertson says if it wasn’t for his HBS education, he wouldn’t have come close to reaching the goals that he set out to achieve.

“The HBS network and the credibility of the degree opened doors that I would never have even thought to knock on,” he says. “I have ended up working in some of the most exciting, cutting-edge life sciences companies in the world, and I never would have even considered the industry before coming to HBS.”

Others highlight the diversity and longevity of the HBS network as key indicators that the HBS MBA is indeed very valuable.

“I met so many interesting and accomplished people from varied backgrounds that I never would have otherwise met,” Adam Friedman, a 2020 HBS grad and Vice President at Linden Capital Partners, says. “The networks I built with these people are an invaluable resource as well as a source of great friends.”

Sources: Harvard Business School, Harvard Business School, The Princeton Review