Not nearly as relevant/helpful it's often made out to be.

Executives are more helpful than most give them credit for. If you're a credible contact with real experience, and authentically ask someone for input or advice, most are happy to chat.

The thing about the vaunted "HBS network" is that if you're qualified to get in to HBS, you're extremely likely to be otherwise credible; those who wish they had access to the alumni network also tend to not have enough meat on their CV to get access either way.

I personally suspect that the most important networking aspect of an HBS degree is just humanizing executives and learning how to communicate with them. If you've got those two things down, actually connecting is much easier.

Interesting how you put it. The "devaluation of higher education" bit of this column struck a chord in me back then. It sort of lays out a similar point in a slightly different way:

http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/BACKWRD2.html

Time will tell. :-)

> most important networking aspect of an HBS degree is just humanizing executives and learning how to communicate with them

So true! Probably this is the most important thing a good business degree provides.