I think OP succumbed to the problem of shifting baselines. The brain adapts and sets the base to whatever your situation is, eventually. You live in a huge house? After a few months you stop noticing it and instead start seeing the small little issues. The rich guy and the poor guy are going to complain equally. Satisfaction and contentment go back to their equilibrium value. Having the Harvard MBA becomes the new normal, life seems equally hard, because you compare with your own new baseline, not with that of other people. Doesn't mean OP can't objectively be correct in his assessment that this MBA did nothing for his employability, because that depends on what he wants to do. But did his goals shift (upwards) too, setting a higher baseline? Seems very possible.

"Salary" and "organizational breadth" are pretty objectively measurable things, and are what I'm using as a measuring stick.

Also: "her"

> "Salary" and "organizational breadth" are pretty objectively measurable things, and are what I'm using as a measuring stick.

That is such a narrow world view. Nor does it change anything I wrote. Nor does you reply make sense, you wrote

> My MBA has had virtually no effect on my opportunities or employability.

That is inconsistent with what you just wrote, something completely different. I'm sure you are aware that humans come up with explanations after decisions? Shown in fMRI scan experiments. I'm not saying this explains what you just did, but it does seem to me that your brain came up with this "explanation" only after discovering my post.