Strangely, there are quite a significant number people who are intelligent, but did not manage to excel well in the career aspects. When I compare myself to all my ex-classmates who graduated with 1st class honors, many of them did not do as well as we all expected them to do (when we graduated). I am not sure if it is largely due to the Singapore educational system or the working environment.

One of my friends is a very intelligent girl, got a scholarship to study in NUS in mathematics followed by Masters. Unfortunately, she is not a very confident person, in spite of her intelligence. At 33, she is doing reasonably well (earning $7K/month), but when she compared herself to her classmates who didn't get any scholarship, she felt that many of them did better than her. She kinda feel that she has wasted so much time studying.

Personally, I came from polytechnic and took a part time degree. None of them have good results (all Bs & Cs), because I was spending more time "living" my life more than studying. Yet, at the same time, I am doing significantly better than my peers, career wise.

It is not clear how ambitious you are, but, in my opinion, MBA is really meant for networking. It is not meant to spend a significant amount of time/money to get a piece of paper. If you are too young, an MBA might not add too much value or move your career in a significant level. I have a friend who did a MBA from Insead (not cheap) when he was much younger. Now, in his 40s, he is working as a PMO and living in a HDB. There is nothing wrong with living in a HDB, but in my view, if you spend 6-figures to get a MBA, you should have uplift your career a lot more significantly. On paper, his educational profile is extremely impressive, with all the top grades. But in real life, his job is not as impressive.

Up to now, I only hold a degree from RMIT, and I would only go for a MBA, if I want to move to a C-class level position. Otherwise, I don't think I would waste my money / time to study for a MBA. I have managed to be reasonably successful (earning $300K/annum) without having a prestigious degree. You would also realized that there are a lot of successful individuals or individuals earning reasonably good money, do not always have the best education/prestigious education. Grades are completely unimportant and irrelevant, once you are on the right track.

If you are ambitious, instead of spending money on a MBA, why don't you look for enrichment courses to improve your social skills, presentation skills, networking or practical aspects that will help you to deal with senior management in your organization? All career paths eventually leads towards being a senior management or C-class position in a large organizations. Having the knowledge, will only ensure that you get a job. Having the skills, will help improve your chances to move to the next level.