MBA, a Positive NPV?

A question that many people have been talking and writing about lately is whether or not an MBA provides a positive net present value for the person. Well, I'll answer that question right up front. It depends.

Why such a vague answer you ask yourself? Because there truly is no single answer to this question. It depends upon: your age, the industry you want to go into, whether or not you plan to start your own business, how much you were earning prior to graduate school (and project to earn after graduate school), the opportunity cost of lost promotions that you could have attained while not in graduate school, are you even paying for graduate school, and the list goes on-and-on...

I could go through a simple example calculation of the financial benefit (or loss) for graduate business school; however, it would be exactly that - a simple calculation. As detailed above, many variables exist in the decision process. One can only hope that you weigh the benefits vs. the costs for graduate business school prior to applying and taking on such an endeavor as a MBA program. Certainly, as with many graduate programs, a person will only get out of the program what they put in. If you are not truly committed to graduate business school, ask yourself whether or not it is what you actually want in life.