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Comment by kaiwen1 | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if this scam also applies to executive MBA programs? For example, the Kellogg-HKSTU program cost US$220,000 for about 18 long weekends of on-site classroom time. This is exorbitant, but the Financial Times has ranked the program as the best EMBA program in the world 10 times, primarily due to the large increase in salary after graduation, up 67% to $528,057 in 2020. [1]. In fact, the reported salary increases on all of the top EMBA programs imply that these programs are legitimately worth their costs. They're priced like scams, but (if accurate) the salary increases suggest they aren't. I wonder if there are any master's programs that outperform the best EMBAs in terms of salary increase?

[0] https://emba.hkust.edu.hk [1] https://rankings.ft.com/home/masters-in-business-administrat... [1]

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One of the admission requirements is that your company sponsors you as outstanding with potential within the organization. Another requirement is that you are already or will soon be an executive. This makes me assume the salary increase is due to the fact that they only accept people that are positioned to get big salary increases.

Also the fees page suggests that it costs at minimum, 550k, and if I'm reading it correctly, 1.5m.

https://emba.hkust.edu.hk/admissions/fees/

> Also the fees page suggests that it costs at minimum, 550k, and if I'm reading it correctly, 1.5m.

Fwiw, those are HK$, so about $193k USD.

Typically, in my experience, companies are paying for these. In my experience from decades ago, these sort of programs were oriented towards e.g. people who had come up through the engineering ranks, didn't have an MBA, and were being groomed for more senior management.

Of course, that was from a time when MBAs were probably more of a requirement even in tech for senior exec roles than they are today. These programs obviously still exist but I'm not personally aware of anyone who has gone to one any time recently.

MBA are mostly for connections and maybe an advanced degree (in some countries it's considered as equivalent to a Master's degree and salaries adjust for that especially for government positions). Occasionally, if not sponsored by companies, they serve as a convenient place to find a proper mating partner.

1. These students are almost always sponsored by the their companies.

2. In addition to technical knowledge, the students are also exposed to other future executives in other industries. This network can be very powerful.

It's actually just a double-scam.

Scam #1 is the level of executive compensation, particularly in the US.

Scam #2, the EMBA, rides on the back of #1. Cost is "justified" by what #1 makes possible, but nothing else.

Is it maybe a self powered thing where companies are reimbursing tuition for specific hand selected people they intend to promote?

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