My friend is targeting1.) MBA from U North Carolina Charlotte2.) MBA from Duke3.) PhD in Finance from UIUCHis aim is to achieve an enterpreneurial career in finance in the long term and a job in I Bank / Asset Management / in the short term.Cost wise all options are the same as loan for MBA needs to be repaid.

MBA, MBA, MBA, MBA, MBA, MBA... Whoop, Whoop. MBA, MBA, MBA... One thing... Since when can a PhD cost the same as an MBA. The problem with degrees is this if you are paying a lot for a PhD it probably isn't worthwhile, and if you aren't paying enough (modulo scholarships of course) for an MBA it isn't worth it..

Is that for 2010? I did not know that you could get admitted so soon.I would choose PhD finance from UIUC if I were your friend. It is a good school and would get your friend good publications. MBA is a waste if he wants to be a quant. Also the backup for PhD is a teaching job.

If I were him I would definitely take MBA from Duke.

I agree with cryptic26. Skip 1-2. There are just too many MBAs around these days. Besides China/India are mass producing them in millions.Usually a BS is more than enough specially if you want to have an entrepreneurial career. Anything you need to learn to do your job can be done while working. A PhD is good only if you want to stay in academia and for your own satisfaction and/or low self esteem.Having said that UIUC is a good school. And in this economy PhD is a safe bet. Your friend will be paid around 25K/yr as an RA which isnt bad for a single person in Urbana. Since your friend will have plenty of time for other things he should take good courses from engg (they have a fairly good CS/EE program).

MBA from Duke

QuoteOriginally posted by: staliI agree with cryptic26. Skip 1-2. There are just too many MBAs around these days. Besides China/India are mass producing them in millions.Usually a BS is more than enough specially if you want to have an entrepreneurial career. Anything you need to learn to do your job can be done while working. A PhD is good only if you want to stay in academia and for your own satisfaction and/or low self esteem.Having said that UIUC is a good school. And in this economy PhD is a safe bet. Your friend will be paid around 25K/yr as an RA which isnt bad for a single person in Urbana. Since your friend will have plenty of time for other things he should take good courses from engg (they have a fairly good CS/EE program).Its always good to take courses but the focus of Phd is always on research. While taking stochastic calculus and signal processing might stretch your intellect to another level, it would be more advantageous to learn some more economics in addition to finance/asset pricing. Most Finance professors find it hard to digest some fancy mathematics without sound economics to back it up.

MBA from yale.

QuoteOriginally posted by: deepvalueMBA from yale.Have seen plenty of MBAs from Yale and Chicago who found it rather difficult to do any real job except making power point presentations even in 2005. In this market, they would most likely not get hired at all. MBA does not offer much functional knowledge when compared to a PhD in Finance. Most likely the latter would offer more opportunities down the line and that too for just 2 more years of education (hopefully). The fact that MBA would be self funded and PhD would be fully funded would make the NPV of the two investments roughly the same.That being said, PhD would take substantial mental strength and courage.

That being said, PhD would take substantial mental strength and courage.Agree