Is an MBA worth the time, the cost, the commitment?
Rather than answer with statistics, the voices of those who’ve lived it may provide the most convincing case of all. Many graduates featured in our Real Humans: Alumni series joined the financial services industry and we take a close look at their accounts to assess the value of the MBA.
Across industries and institutions, recent business school graduates who joined some of the world’s most prestigious firms offer a remarkably consistent answer: Yes, the MBA is worth it, but perhaps not for the reasons you’d expect.
Read on for their insights.
More Than a Career Springboard
For many prospective students, the MBA is primarily a tool: get the degree, land the job, earn more money. But alumni are quick to transcend that transactional framing.
Anvesha Rai, The Ohio State Fisher MBA ’24 who became an Assistant Vice President in Bank of America’s Global Operations Program, says she initially enrolled for straightforward reasons: a fast track to upper management, more job opportunities, and better pay. But once inside, her perspective shifted entirely: “I realized it was more about the journey than the destination. I made my journey about self-development, understanding how to be more effective as a passionate and strong-willed female and minority leader, and determining the legacy I want to create for myself in the coming years.”
Her advice to future students captures the evolution of that thinking. “To not treat the MBA as a transaction, but rather an investment in myself and my future,” she says. “Once I started treating the MBA as an intrinsic and extrinsic journey, I created more value for me than just a post-grad job, bigger paycheck and change in name. I stepped off on a legacy voyage, to become the best version of myself.”
Sumedha Kamra, who came from a corporate law background and is now a Senior Manager in Enterprise Strategy at American Express after earning her IESE MBA ’24, echoes this longer view. “I wish I had truly internalized that everyone’s motivations for doing an MBA are different — and that the value of the experience goes far beyond just the immediate job outcome,” she reflects. “What will stay with me are the shifts in how I think, how I make decisions, and how I define what matters in a career. The job is one outcome (and a fantastic one!) — but the real takeaway is the perspective you carry forward.”
The MBA as Career Pivot
One of the clearest, most tangible values alumni cite is the MBA’s power to enable a meaningful career change — one that would have been nearly impossible without it.
Gabriel Rondon Ichikawa, HBS MBA ’24 and Chief of Staff at American Express, came from economics consulting and wanted to move into human resources to apply labor theory in practice rather than just theorize it. He explains that an unexpected benefit of HBS’s case method was the skill it gave him to “think quickly on my feet to tactfully push back on others’ ideas in a value creating way.” In his prior roles, he did as he was told. But now, as a Chief of Staff, he serves as a sounding board to senior leaders, a shift he credits directly to “debating my peers over hundreds of different cases,” which gave him the communication skills to “speak confidently to leaders, many levels above me.”
Kyle Zarosky, a former infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps who is now an investment banking associate at Barclays after completing his Rice Business MBA ’25, made perhaps the sharpest pivot of all: from military service to Wall Street. “Business school would not only position me for long-term success, but also provide access to opportunities and networks to accelerate my career,” he says. “An MBA offered a structured way to pivot into the civilian world, while building the technical and connective skills to succeed outside the military.”
His parting advice to fellow students distills the experience: “Bet on yourself. Too often, people disqualify themselves from a dream they once had as they begin to size up their surroundings.”
Ken Jackson, a fellow Army veteran who flew Black Hawk helicopters before completing his Rice Business MBA ’23 and landing at Goldman Sachs as a private wealth advisor, found that the program installed a mindset that changed how he saw his entire career. “My MBA gave me an entrepreneurial mindset that made my career feel like I was launching a new venture. This perspective has been my secret weapon, helping me thrive and navigate the ever-evolving landscape of wealth management with confidence.”
Building Broad Business Foundations
Across industries and schools, alumni repeatedly emphasize that the MBA’s academic rigor pays direct professional dividends.
Jessie Zhao, Chicago Booth MBA ’24 and Finance Manager at American Express, came from economic consulting and used Booth’s flexible curriculum to build skills she hadn’t anticipated needing. “The Booth education helped me build a solid business foundation and equipped me with the tools and mindset to think analytically and strategically to solve any business problems,” she says. “I utilize a lot of soft skills I learned in business school on my day-to-day — how to deliver a clear, concise message; how to include your peers in conversations and let their voices be heard; and how to lead your workstreams and manage different work relationships.” She also notes an important lesson about keeping an open mind: “I went to business school thinking about pivoting into management consulting or tech. If I were to keep my tunnel vision, I would not end up where I am today.”
Sumedha Kamra found that IESE’s case-intensive pedagogy prepared her well: “IESE’s strong focus on the case method was a game-changer. While it sometimes felt like learning by fire, it pushed me to stretch beyond my comfort zone — not just to crack cases, but to see how people from completely different backgrounds approached the same problem.”
Denise Liu, who earned a dual MBA/MPH from Berkeley Haas ’23 and became an investment banking associate at JPMorgan Chase, credits her program’s technical preparation and community equally. “More than anything, Haas introduced me to an incredible network of peers and mentors who played a crucial role in my recruiting process and continue to provide guidance in my career. From a technical standpoint, the MBA program offered a diverse range of finance and healthcare-focused courses, including financial modeling classes, that were particularly valuable in preparing me for investment banking.”
The Network Is Real
Perhaps no theme is more universally validated than the MBA’s networking value. Alumni suggest the network works in both directions, offering support during the job search and continuing to pay dividends long after graduation.
Liu is emphatic on this point: “Make the most of your network and resources at Haas. Your classmates, alumni, and professors are some of the best resources you have. Talking to people who had been in my shoes helped me gain clarity on what I wanted — and just as importantly, what I didn’t want.”
Lucie Holliday, NYU Stern MBA ’22 and ESG Associate at The Carlyle Group, points to the lasting professional community her program created. “It set me up with a fantastic network of peers with similar career paths who are now working in sustainability-focused roles ranging from fashion and food to renewable energy and ESG consulting.” She also offers a candid reflection on how to optimize the job search: “I would spend more time networking than applying to jobs I didn’t necessarily want — sometimes it feels easier to fill out an application than to put yourself out there for a coffee chat, and I would flip those time allocations.”
Ichikawa from HBS highlights an underutilized dimension of the network: faculty. “Your professors are just as invested in your success as you are or anyone at career services,” he says. “They have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of students, just like you, and observed how these students navigated their careers and the impacts of the career decisions that these students have made. The meetings I had with my professors really changed my perspective on my career and helped me navigate difficult career choices.”
Internships as Proof of Concept
One structural element alumni consistently praise is the MBA internship: a chance to test a career hypothesis before fully committing to it.
For Ichikawa, his summer at American Express did two things at once: it “confirmed that HR is in fact what I want to do for the rest of my career” and revealed “how complex HR was,” opening up career paths in compensation, learning and development, and talent acquisition that he hadn’t initially imagined.
Liu‘s dual degree gave her two internships, each sharpening her direction. “Both were incredible experiences that reinforced my decision to stay in healthcare. I loved that they gave me exposure beyond just biotech and pharma, allowing me to explore different subverticals within the industry.”
Holliday‘s sustainability fellowship at King Arthur Baking Company confirmed something even more fundamental. “This experience validated for me that building more sustainable businesses is challenging, but important work, and I wanted to find a way to support more companies along this type of path.”
Career Influence
Perhaps most strikingly, several alumni describe the MBA not just as a professional credential, but as a moment of genuine self-discovery — one reshapes how they think, what they value, and how they define success.
A Carnegie Mellon Tepper MBA and investment banking associates at Morgan Stanley, Eric Tinnell, frames the MBA’s transformative power in the most direct terms possible. “Attending business school is an opportunity to professionally rebrand yourself,” he says. “It is a bit surreal that new career doors opened the moment I stepped foot on campus at Carnegie Mellon when those same doors seemed to be closed just days before!”
Out of Duke Fuqua, Mike You, who graduated in 2023, describes how Fuqua reshaped not just his skills, but his entire orientation toward challenges–a useful skillset as an investment banking associate at J.P. Morgan. “Fuqua also shaped how I approach challenges. Instead of viewing them as purely disruptive, I focus on what I can control and how to turn situations into opportunities — a mindset that has been invaluable in fast-paced environments.”
Thomas De Clercq, Michigan Ross MBA ’23 and Analytics Solutions Associate at JPMorgan Chase, offers perhaps the most vivid metaphor for what the MBA is really asking of you. “Think of an MBA as a visit to the grocery store,” he says. “You have a specific meal in mind and already have some ingredients at home, but your reason for being in that place at that time is to find the other ingredients for the meal that you are cooking. Everyone around you has similar goals, but different ones, so focus on the ingredients that you’re looking for and don’t pay too much attention to the things other people are loading into their carts.” His own journey — discovering a role at JPMorgan he never knew existed, then launching a side project into a real tool — is proof of his philosophy: “I now think of careers as very non-linear, and every role should be a step closer to filling the gap between your current skills and the skills you want to develop to achieve your goals.”
Taken together, these alumni, spanning law, the military, economic consulting, pharma, shipping, fashion retail, and more, paint a consistent picture: The MBA is most valuable not as a credential, but as a crucible. It builds analytical rigor, expands networks, validates career hypotheses, and, for those who engage fully, reshapes how you see yourself and what you’re capable of.
