very top school. It is a similar issue with law school. MBA grads will tell you that the network is the most valuable part of the MBA, with a few exceptions which could include an employer you plan to stay with long term that is gatekeeping your advancement within the company by asking you to get an MBA from somewhere, anywhere.

Otherwise, by far the best advice for the most career impact people can give for prospective MBA students if you want to maximize your ROI is to not bother unless you are going to a top notch school. How you define top notch is subjective, but certainly any of the top 10-25 schools or so would be of value.

Source: I'm an engineer that nearly did an MBA, work with a lot of MBAs from various schools, wife specializes in law school admissions for a career, have family that has done MBA and law degrees at top notch schools. Just so you know where my limited viewpoint comes from.