Paul Bodine Interviewed in Wall Street Journal on M.B.A. Student Debt

Paul Bodine, Admitify’s founder and president, was quoted in a November 7^th Wall Street Journal article examining how much M.B.A. debt students should take on. WSJ’s Patrick Thomas spoke with several admissions experts including Bodine to get their take on the difficult calculation that M.B.A. applicants must make: balancing how much debt they can take on to pay for their M.B.A. against their expected earnings once they have their M.B.A. WSJ reports that graduates from U.S. business schools are more likely to be in a position to pay off their federal student loans in a few years, but it depends on the M.B.A. program.

WSJ cites Harvard Business School and the Wharton School as programs that tend to deliver salaries of $150,000+ within one year after graduating with an M.B.A. But if the M.B.A. is not from a name-brand program, graduates probably will not have the same opportunities to make their investment back in the immediate future. Factors to consider when determining how much to borrow and from where:

• Your age and job experience, where you currently live vs. where the business school you’re applying to is located.
• Your family situation: do you have an employed partner? Children? A mortgage?

Thomas noted that Admitify’s Paul Bodine advises that “Midcareer professionals who aren’t comfortable with a debt-to-salary range of 50% to 75% for an M.B.A. program outside the top 100 rankings still have options.” For example, more affordable alternatives to full-time, two-year M.B.A.s include one-year master’s programs tailored to high-demand skills such as data analytics, as well as all-online M.B.A.s for working executives.”

If you’d like to read the article in full, follow this link. Contact us to speak with one of our expert coaches and get started on your business school applications!