Disclaimer: I have not been to B school but I did do all the prep & tests. Perspective: I’m an engineering grad from a presitigous university.

These are the reasons you should go to business school:

• Add a prestiguous uni to your resume

These are secondary reasons:

• More easily pivot into a different career

Reasons to NOT go to Business School

• You/Your family cannot weather financial drain for 2 years

Why YOU don’t need to go to Business School?

1. the intelligence of the students. So, when people do go to B school, it's common (and turned into memes) that they look for undergrad developers to build their products. Secondly, at CU you will find the smartest students in the world. People that live in your very dorm will not only have the passion for solving problems, but the intelligence to execute on startup ideas. (my friend who lived on my floor in Freshman year just raised $3.5mill for his startup)

2. Direct connection to other schools. CU is the place to connect. In addtion to my prev. note about the small physical footprint, there are an overwhelming number of events to connect clubs and students across school! I met loads of PhD, MBAs, etc etc in my time. Also crucial to mention that these school are the top in the world. CBS, Columbia Engineering, Politics, Economics, Columbia Law!!!, Columbia Journalism.

   There also exist multiple platforms to provide direct connection for thse interested in start up (look up Build Lab - I only heard about this in my final year!!! connects CU students to new CU startups. and helps connect those with ideas to those that have talent.

3. the location. The best place in the world to build a company. You have the offices of the biggest Venture Captical firms a short commute away. (VC firms provide money to startups). You have the HQs of every industry down the road. You have all the News attention.. opposite a Freshman dorm (Columbia Journalism School is #1) but also.. down the road. All the best and brightest students/people from around the world end up in NYC.

4. Youthfullness. Undergrad students tend to be at a point in their life that they can weather the structural downsides of builing a young company. Financial safety net, no kids and no responsibilties, etc.

What’s the value of Business School?

• I heard a lot, as well, that the value of B school is in the network. I have come to understand that this 'network' value exists in any academic experience. Networking is smply meeting/connecting with people, which can happen anywhere. It just depends what mindset you apply to your environment.
• The value of an education is more in the network than the actual academic coursework. It took me a long and hard journey to understand this. Any school can teach you mechanical engineering but not any school can associate you with the brightest minds on earth, for life.

Final Musings:

• With B school particularly, there are lots of weak reasons to go to Business School, but not many people talking about the strong reasons to not go to Business School. People just kind of do things because they seem like good ideas, not necessarily because they are very good ideas. That, and the fact that people want to be associated through prestige. So the fact that I have studied something extremely technical at one of the most prestigious universities in the globe means that it's not very worth it to attend B school.(Edited)