MBAs. I can't speak for myself as I don't have one yet, but from what I've seen, both from family and people at work, the MBA is a very good tool within the corporate world. In some corporate positions, it is damn near a requirement to get your foot in the door, think hedge funds, private equity, quantitative finance etc. From what I've seen and read, although the actual MBA curriculum is about the same regardless of school, it's the name and network that really hold value. E.g. My dad went to Yale. One of my mentors went to Stanford, two went to Harvard, another to Georgetown and another to Goizueta. All top 25 MBAs.
If anyone tells you where you get your MBA doesn't matter RUN far away from that person. If you're gonna drop 150-160k on a degree, then there has to be a reputable name behind it. Someone here broke down the MBAs by prestige and ranking, but I'd like to take it a step further.
Crème de la crème: Harvard, UPenn-Wharton, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth, Northwestern Kellogg, Columbia, MIT Sloan. These are considered the M7. They're arguably the most recognized Business schools in America. Usually attending one of these schools is a good segue to a solid corporate position at a very solid firm. I'd even take it a step further to single out Harvard, Wharton and Stanford as probably being even a level above the rest. Harvard is Harvard. No two ways about it. Wharton is very good for folks looking to get into Finance, especially with more financial model based work. Stanford is the feeder school in Silicon Valley and the tech scene hands down. Another thing about these schools is their global appeal. As a Harvard grad, the corporate world, not just America, is wide open to you.
The Undisputed: Yale, UVA-Darden, Berkeley-Haas, Dartmouth-Tuck, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, NYU Stern. You will never go wrong with these ones here. They're not quite "elite" status, although you could make the case for Yale simply because of the name, but you will not not go wrong with these schools. The thing you start finding out about these schools is that their class sizes get smaller. Where as Harvard has like 950 MBAs per class, Yale has less than 400 or so. Job postings do get a tad bit more localized (partially do to network) as you move down the rungs. I live in the DC area and I encounter a lot of Darden MBAs being that DC is the closet major metro area to Charlottesville, VA. Chicago gets a lot of MBAs from Ross and Fuqua distributes people all throughout the south
Strong Local Value: UCLA Anderson, Texas McCombs,UNC Kenan-Flagler, Carnegie Mellon Tepper, Emory Goizueta, Cornell Johnson, Georgetown McDonough. These round out the last bit of the top MBAs. Very good schools with great value. The the job placement, however, tends to be much much more localized. Don't really got to McCombs if you plan on getting a job in Wall Street. Most of the companies hiring will likely be based in either Dallas, Houston or a neighboring state. Same can be said for Goizueta. If you plan on working in ATL or a top southern city then school is a no-brainer. However, if you'd like to work in London then look elsewhere (not to say it isn't possible).
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. If you're going for an MBA, shoot for the top 25 (unless you have a scholarship/getting it paid for). No need to drop 150k on a degree if you will not be assured/have hope of clearing at least 95k-100k post graduation.
I will say this: MBAs are becoming increasingly popular outside of America. I know in Nigeria a top MBA is very popular within the right circles. But understand this, not everyone needs and MBA and not every career will require it.
