Million dollar question.

There are some who have graduated from top school and are still looking for job. It's a tough question since Duke is ranked #12 by USNEWS, that's a solid ranking. But is it worth leaving everything and going full time? If you are not satisfied with your current job and have a safety nest, I'd say go for it.

kiddo
How can you tell that people who graduated from top notch school are still looking for jobs. Don't you think the employers will come and look after the gradautes. What about ppl who graduate from harvard and princeton. They wont have name and tag associated with it.
Yes, i agree my wife will have burden, but its life we have to mutually agree on things.

Don't leave the job erin. Getting job is tough these days, however , having extra credentials is always better than having none, that too from duke , you have high chance of high profile networking. These school are the hub where great thinker come for talent hunt not just for study. Study , textbooks all are same everywhere, but networking, getting guided from think tank is other.

regarding  your wife getting working full time, i didnt understand what todo mean, do you mean to say she gonna support you and be bread and butter during school days. Its noraml for nepali guys...

 Depends.  Your age.  Your current income.  Your employment field.  I am sure you can do cost benefit analysis, given that you have been accepted to Fuqua.

 I know another guy who left his full time job to pursue his MBA degree at UNC Chapel Hill, he sounded happy and thinks he did a right choice. Looking at him you are heading towards the right direction Erin..

 MBA at Duke?! Sounds good! I'm not here to suggest you anything; just trying to get some info on a similar issue. Sorry for being a parasite. 

So, I'm curious how people doing MBA pay for college. Isn't MBA really expensive? Are there scholarships available or do you get loans? How does it work? Also, do MBA programs in the States accept 4 year BBA applicants from Nepal? Appreciate your help folks.

Welcome to Duke Erin.

Sparty

True story: male, around 30 years, of indian origin. Left a good consulting firm for full time Mba in Wharton. Graduated and was out of job for about 8 momths finally got similar job that he previously had.
This is not a common story, but it can happen. Look at the employment rate for your school, not all have 100%. These days financial firms arent hiring big time as they used to. Still, MBA froma prestigious uni is a good thing.
Plan for the best but prepare for worse. Can your family afford you not working for 2-3 years?

I think it depends on your current job, career goals, and your expectation of work life balance. I would set five or ten year career and personal goals and see if you can achieve them staying at your current job based on career progression, skills and experience you will gain as well as relationships you will build. If you can achieve your goals, then  you probably do not need to go to B-school. If you cannot achieve your goals, then ask the question if the Duke business school will help you get where you want to be in five or ten years. Also, ask yourself if you want to be in the same profession or industry or do you want to change them. If you want something different, then Duke business school is an excellent idea.

I was in the same boat five years ago. My wife wanted to go to grad school and I wanted to go to a business school. However, I was in a good company, loved the work, and was making good connections and moving up the ladder. On the other hand, my wife wanted to change her career. It would have been financially extremely difficult for both of us to go back to school. So we set the goals and did the cost benefit analsyis and decided that my wife will go back to school and I will keep on working and try to move myself up the company. In our case, It worked for both of us. We are now where we wanted to be in terms of our work and family.

Sometimes, I think if things would have been different, if I had decided to go back to business school. I do not know if I would have been better off than where I am now but it would not have hurt me by going to a top business school. Also, being married can be both a plus and a minus. On one hand, you get a financial support since your wife has a full time job. On the other hand, it can be tough since you will be so busy both in class and networking, and your wife will be working hard to pay for your school while you are not bringing anything home. We had challenges but now I'm glad about the decisions we made. So just do not think about business school from the career perspective but also look at it from a personal aspect and try to set everyone's expectation.

you need at least $40k - 45k for a semester to do MBA from top B-schools. If you have a saving and your wife is earning good money and If you do not have to send home money. Go for it. You will be done in 1.5 - 2 years. Full time MBA from top school is not a joke. Time and dedication is very important. Do not think about the job at this time before finishing MBA. First you have to survive the MBA assignments. You even have to go abroad to do business analysis of different companies business strategies.Top school MBA is harder than your full time job.
If you already got accepted, i think you will survive. Good luck.

Engineer with MBA degree
Lawer with MBA
Scienc with MBA is a plus. These people are already getting high salary jobs. But sometimes for promotion to be a director or VP they require MBA degree. 

on the other hand if a bachelor degree in any field with 1 month training in IT gives you $80k salary who will go for MBA?  After MBA your salary might be $120k.
 

erin
best thing i would suggest is to make a visit to duke and consult with students who are doing mba
or u can google duke mba website and ask some indian friend who are doing mba, how it is, difficulty, job prospect everything whtever u wanna ask.

seems to be a very good investment i would only chsoe if a have good funding