<prompt> Human: Currently working for a large consulting firm pulling in 98kyear. I have a systems engineering degree and focus mainly on IT consulting. Most of my peers in business school have economicsfinance backgrounds and are convinced it was a good move for them. However, the folks at my firm who work in technology have their doubts about the value of going off to school. Would love to hear some opinions on the matter.Edit: Thanks everyone for all the feedback! I am hearing a lot of great arguments from both sides and I am leaning towards pulling the trigger and going for it. First round applications are due in the next week, so hopefully something in the Top 15 pans out soon.  <response>: Personal bias alert: I went through the B school process a few years ago, got into a top 15 program, and decided not to go. I made about what youre making, with a different background econ.Here are some of the things I thought about when I made this decision: The debt. Yes, theres opportunity cost from 2 years of lost income, but the debt is serious. Unless you have rich parents or crazy savings that youre ready to spend all of, youll leave b school with a condo worth of debt. 150-200k. My MBA friends pay 1400month on MBA loans. I found an article that discussed how B school costs have been rising even as post-MBA starter salaries have stayed constant, which has interesting ROI implications. What do you want to do post-MBA? Is it radically different? For example, while applying, I met people who worked as speech writers and wanted to go into ibanking, or MDs who wanted to go into consulting. Those kinds of career moves are hardimpossible without an MBA. After thinking it over, I realized that my desired career switch was achievable on my own. Dont think about it in terms of what folks at your current company think- what do folks in your desired career path think? Something that comes up in every B school info session but often gets ignored: B school will not give you a sense of direction. It will open doors and give you the timeopportunity to try new things, but it will not tell you what you want to be when you grow up. Recruiting for internships starts your second month there. This is something I heard a lot from friends who got MBAs: they secretly expected B school to sort this out for them, and it didnt. The age thing. For years, I thought MBA students at top places were well into their careers. Nope. 25-28, without much variation. Harvard and Stanford have maybe a handful of students over 30. Applying at 27-28, your admissions process will be a bit tougher, and youll be a few years older than most of your peers. There are a lot of benefits: the ease of switching careers, the network, the big recruiting push, that B school polish, getting to take a 2 year vacation, getting to have more of a student schedule again. Its a very personal decision, which depends a lot on what youve done and what you want to do. Im trying not to write a book here- its a topic Ive thought a lot about. 