Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't finish college either. Does that make the college degree obsolete? The obvious fact is that they are brilliant (Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard) and are the exceptions and not the rule. And you can't sensibly manage your career planning on being the exception.

The fact is, all else being equal, and MBA from a TOP SCHOOL, is going to be offered more opportunities than an MBA from a no name school or someone without an MBA at all. If you need been able to be extremely successful in a business career, early in your career, without the degree more power to you. But recognize these folks are lucky outliers.

"People go to business school for the wrong reasons… if you're not a star performer before you graduate you won't be afterwards"

There is some truth to this. The M in MBA does not stand for magic. However, the degree, assuming it is from a top school, gives the holder access to higher level opportunities than they would have otherwise. And as Malcolm Gladwell explains in Outliers, much of achieving success in life is a function of simply being given the opportunity. To deny that an MBA does not confer greater opportunities on the degree holder is to deny reality.

Here's some reasonable advice. One needs to examine the return on investment that the degree would bring to you. Return on investment can be compare what you are currently making against what what you expect to make coming out of the MBA program. In order to get the latter figure, you can take a look at the placement statistics of the school you are admitted into. Reputable schools have extensive placement statistics, but fly by night programs most do not. This differential must be forecast over the course of your career. These future benefit dollars need to be discounted to present using a discount factor to account for the risk in these cash flows materializing. The benefit, is today's dollars need's to be compared against the costs of attending the program, including foregone salary. If the benefit is larger than the cost, get the degree. If not, don't. If you are one of the lucky investment banking analysis promoted into the post-MBA position, or already in a senior management position, the costs will outweigh the benefits. For most of the rest of the 25-30 year olds in business or technical careers, the benefits will likely outweigh the costs. But the fact is you need to do the math. Incidentally, this an approach to making decisions you will learn in business school.

I say this as a current MBA student by the way. I have a BA degree in liberal arts, and I do not work in a professional capacity (I am an administrative assistant). Many people out there would say I am foolish for spending money on an MBA. However I feel that my return on my investment will be worth it. I am in an AACSB accredited program paying in-state tuition; so my entire program will be less than $17,000. In addition, although my Bachelor's degree was in liberal studies, I have work experience as a bookkeeper, an assistant to a CPA and an attorney, and an insurance professional. I feel that the 'MBA' on my resume will help potential employers feel more comfortable with my skills as a business professional than my work experience and liberal arts degree can on their own.

But most importantly, I am looking towards the MBA program to challenge me and help me gain or hone my professional skills. I am a little less than halfway through my program, but I already have had valuable experiences and exposures to areas of business that I have not previously encountered, or knew very little about (i.e. management information systems). I actually emerged from that course with a new awareness and fluency in these areas of business operations to the point where I could help the VP with IT with his strategic plan!

Since I am a part-time, distance-learning student, I admit, I am missing out on the valuable 'MBA professional network' a bit. However at the end of the day, the classes that I am taking to earn my MBA are enhancing my professional skills. Skills that I am responsible for maintaining and promoting to future hiring managers. Can you get these skills and experiences outside of the MBA program? Absolutely. Is the MBA network a bit overrated? I do tend to think so. Even some of the graduates of Harvard's Business School are graduating without job offers. They probably invested $100K+ in their degrees. Me, much less. Therefore any gains from my MBA will be felt much more.

To revisit what I said in my 1st paragraph, it is sad to see the quality of MBA programs running the gamut. It cheapens the entire term 'MBA'. A sharp graduate from a quality MBA program is an asset to any company. However the quality programs are in the minority. MBAs have to be very conscious of the perceived value of their degrees; and stay focused on marketing themselves holistically, and not just by their MBA.