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I got accepted to University of Maryland part time MBA and Loyola University Maryland part time MBA. University of Maryland is almost twice as expensive as Loyola, but is higher ranked nationally and has a bigger alumni base. Loyola still have a very good reputation in Baltimore and the immediate area though. I actually went to Loyola for undergrad (Electrical Engineering), so I am kind of wary in going back to the same school I graduate from originally. However, the massive cost associated with the University of Maryland is very prohibitive. This is especially true since I want to use the MBA as a managerial catalyst for project management, etc in the engineering field. I am not sure if shelling out the extra money for the additional prestige is a worthwhile endeavor. Therefore I am kind of torn with the issue of diversifying my degrees, cost, and actual benefit from either program. Any comments on this?
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Mar 25, 2010 17:19
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How committed are you to staying in Baltimore?
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Mar 25, 2010 22:32
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ultrafilter posted:How committed are you to staying in Baltimore? I own a house here, have a full time job here, so pretty committed, unfortunately.
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Mar 25, 2010 23:30
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Well I was put back on the waitlist at Georgetown. Frustrating. Now it will be another 2 months before I hear back. So even though I applied R1 I'll now be considered R3 so I'm guessing I won't get any/much money if I do get accepted.
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Mar 27, 2010 11:42
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Looking for any advice available. Thanks in advance! I graduated with an undergraduate GPA of just over 3.0 in chemical engineering from UT Austin, from which I graduated in 3 years and admittedly spent wasted a lot of time on other interests outside of chemical engineering. Primarily this was playing online poker semi-professionally, although I don't think that would be something I would ever bring up in an interview/resume. I was fortunate enough to get a job offer from a mid-cap international chemical manufacturing company without doing any co-ops or internships during my undergraduate degree. I've now been working at this company for a year, during which time I've been very successful and have a lot of visibility within the company, both at my plant, and at a senior management level. I'm currently working on a 6 month project in China. I speak fluent Chinese, but I'm unable to read/write, but am studying/learning very quickly. I don't think I'd really have any issues with the GMAT, as I'm very proficient at standardized tests in general. I don't think I am cut out to be a 'career engineer' and an MBA is always something I've considered, but haven't done much research on. I plan on applying for an MBA around the time I've worked 2 years, the bare minimum acceptable by most of the MBA programs I've looked at. From the looks of it, most of the higher ranked business schools are pretty far from Texas. My company will pay for an MBA if I'm working while taking classes. In Houston, my options are fairly limited, although UT Austin does offer weekend MBAs in Houston. Consensus seems to be that going to a top ranked school isn't the end all, but it is helpful. I think I could afford to move and go to a higher end school, but I'm not sure if it's necessarily worth it. Texas is by no means a bad school, usually somewhere between 10-20. If money is no object, how much more important is it to go to a higher ranked school? Am I going to have difficulty getting in to a top tier school? Thanks again!
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Apr 7, 2010 13:19
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Tyro posted:Well I was put back on the waitlist at Georgetown. Frustrating. Now it will be another 2 months before I hear back. So even though I applied R1 I'll now be considered R3 so I'm guessing I won't get any/much money if I do get accepted. When I applied last year, I was waitlisted a few times at Georgetown and a few more times at UNC. Eventually, I just had to tell them no. They're playing the yield game with you, hoping you'll just withdraw
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Apr 8, 2010 03:24
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Omne posted:When I applied last year, I was waitlisted a few times at Georgetown and a few more times at UNC. Eventually, I just had to tell them no. They're playing the yield game with you, hoping you'll just withdraw I assume they do this with a fair number of applicants as they're often used as a safety school by people who really want to go to a top 10. So I am forced to compete with a bunch of better qualified applicants who will probably withdraw, when I legitimately want to attend Georgetown.
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Apr 8, 2010 15:41
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Tyro posted:I assume they do this with a fair number of applicants as they're often used as a safety school by people who really want to go to a top 10. So I am forced to compete with a bunch of better qualified applicants who will probably withdraw, when I legitimately want to attend Georgetown. Yup. They worry about admitting people who probably won't attend, which would hurt their yield. So they use the waitlist as a purgatory to keep people around. I was on the waitlist from R1 to whenever for both UNC and Georgetown...I never got "rejected" but I had to withdraw as I had another deadline.
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Apr 9, 2010 02:09
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Responding to Stup: I think you have an excellent shot at a top-tier school. I am lucky enough to be attending one and your background sounds like it fits right in here. Interests outside of your major, visibility/promotion at work, and the China connection all help a lot. If you've done any work in clean/green technology, that might add bonus points. ("green tech" is a big fad here, but few of my classmates have actual backgrounds in the area). Whether or not you should move and pay big $$$ for a top-tier school is indeed a big question. Even if you are not totally sure yet about which direction you want to go after school, it might be useful to consider a few possibilities and imagine how the school you go to will affect your options. For example, the kinds of companies that you'll be exposed to for recruiting will vary a lot depending on the school (multinationals vs regional firms, finance/consulting vs manufacturing, etc). Also you should consider to what extent the brand of your MBA will affect how potential employers will see you.
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Apr 11, 2010 02:35
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CaptainEO posted:Responding to Stup: I think you have an excellent shot at a top-tier school. I am lucky enough to be attending one and your background sounds like it fits right in here. Interests outside of your major, visibility/promotion at work, and the China connection all help a lot. If you've done any work in clean/green technology, that might add bonus points. ("green tech" is a big fad here, but few of my classmates have actual backgrounds in the area). Thanks for the response! Unfortunately I haven't done much on clean/green technology aside from interpreting and trying to meet environmental regulations. We have a couple of 'greener' plants, but the green culture is spreading slowly and hasn't gotten to most of the Southern plants (nevermind China). I don't really know what industries support the Northeast where it seems a lot of the top-tier MBA schools are. My impression is that there's a lot more finance/consulting type jobs and significantly less manufacturing. Are there any generalities about what schools in different regions have in terms of recruitment post-MBA? I'd assume that areas that have a lot of international travel (LA/NY/Chicago/Houston) will be areas that have the most international travel and the further from these hubs you are, the more regional it becomes. Is that true? Not sure if this is relevant or not, I recently read Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics and these books were extremely interesting to me. I don't really know how you'd describe this kind of research or how it could be commercially viable other than selling interesting books, but I can't imagine this is a very big field. Any advice on books I could check out to gauge my interest in different MBA specialties? I'm pretty inexperienced in business/economics in general aside from investing in a couple of stocks after reading some basic stuff about growth valuations (P/E, PEG ratio, cash flow, etc.). Thanks again!
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Apr 11, 2010 10:30
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The top-tier schools aren't very regional in terms of recruiting. At least as far as traditional MBA employers like consulting firms, banks, private equity, and VC firms, the top companies recruit at all the top schools regardless of which coast they are on. Less well-known schools get more regional, which could be an advantage if you are more interested in finding a job closer to home or getting plugged into a regional business community. (e.g. if you plan to work at an energy company in Texas, you might be better off going to school in Texas since you'll be in closer contact with the industry there than you could be at a brand-name coastal school). "Freakonomics" is basically economics or econometrics; we have a few courses that use econometric techniques (e.g. for evaluating HR practices or investment portfolio allocation), but they are definitely "softball" compared to what you'd learn getting a degree in economics or econometrics. You might find it interesting to look at management consulting cases, most of which have some quantitative elements; for an introduction try the book "Case in Point" by Mark Cosentino.
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Apr 12, 2010 04:03
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Hmm k. Your replies have been really helpful and make a lot of sense. I still have a bit of time to do research before I have any sort of decision and will definitely check out this book. Thanks a lot for your help!
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Apr 12, 2010 05:10
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What's the consensus on getting an MBA when you already have a BBA? Are the programs similar enough that it wouldn't be worth it? Would it be better to try and get something else that's more technical, or is my liberal arts gen ed background going to make that too difficult?
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May 11, 2010 17:30
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Killmaster posted:What's the consensus on getting an MBA when you already have a BBA? Are the programs similar enough that it wouldn't be worth it? If your degree was quant (eg Econ or Stat) they might let you take some refresher courses and do an engineering masters If not, an MBA is probably your best bet, though you should wait until you've been out of school a few years.
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May 14, 2010 02:07
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Well, I was finally accepted at Georgetown's MBA program.  No mention of any bling dollas though so I'm not sure I can afford to matriculate. I can do my local "second tier/considered for ranking" MBA program part time and with employer reimbursement it would save me approximately $200K compared to doing the full time Georgetown program, and I could likely finish it with no student loans. The down side would be living in a lame city for 3 more years and being stressed and busy the entire time. Decisions, decisions... 
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May 14, 2010 22:01
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anonexpedient posted:I recently worked under a graduate of one of the top-3 MBA programs -- I believe he graduated somewhere around the early to mid '80s. I have a friend who is like this about her Harvard degree. People can have some weird expectations about what kind of person you are based on the school you went to, and the degree you got there. In a world that likes to rail against Ivy League intellectuals, having a Masters Degree from Harvard can sound like bragging to some ears. You boss sounds like someone who has come to automatically downplay his accomplishment.
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May 19, 2010 03:02
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Anyone else doing summer courses? I started my part-time MBA right when this thread was born and I'll finish this time next year. 
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May 21, 2010 01:41
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Modern Life Is War posted:Anyone else doing summer courses? I started my part-time MBA right when this thread was born and I'll finish this time next year. I am, start up this week. It'll be my first MBA class (had to delay my start by a year because of work related travel that just ended) so I'm excited but a little nervous about it.
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May 24, 2010 16:47
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I'm doing summer classes too. I'm in some weird accelerated program (http://foster.washington.edu/tmmba/) so I don't have a choice. Though I'll be done by next summer!
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May 26, 2010 03:09
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BlessedBullet posted:I'm doing summer classes too. I'm in some weird accelerated program (http://foster.washington.edu/tmmba/) so I don't have a choice. Though I'll be done by next summer! How's the program over at Foster? I'm currently looking into enrolling in a dual MBA degree program from there and Yonsei School of Business (Korea), so any opinions or observations about the place and the faculty would be greatly appreciated. Also, how does Foster compare to Kelly School of Business at Indiana University? I'm interested in both schools because they both offer dual MBA's from Korean universities, and they also offer great Korean studies courses (Indiana moreso). I'm looking into specializing in marketing or product management with an emphasis in the Korean market. This is of course assuming the place doesn't become an obsidian desert in the near future...
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May 26, 2010 03:54
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The Foster program has been alright so far. My specific program (Technology Management MBA) is very different in terms of structure but we get the same professors that the normal programs get. The majority of professors I've had seemed genuinely enthusiastic about teaching, although there have been a couple of outliers. In general, they all seem to know their stuff. Studying on the main campus sucks because the business school is hosted in an old, ugly, gross building. However, it will be soon replaced with a shiny new building in a year or two. In terms of ranking, Foster is not top 10 (it's no Sloan or Wharton) but it's generally considered top tier. It's rankings in magazines are usually around 20 - 50 and it was recently ranked No 4 by The Economist for best public school - Foster is actively seeking the title of "Best Public Business School". Kelly in somewhere in the top tier too. Because neither school is Top 10, I think decision should boil down to location and local opportunities. If you want to work for some high tech companies, come to Seattle. I don't know what Bloomington has for its local economy. Also, if you are Korean and like Koreans, there are more Koreans in Seattle than there are Koreans in Bloomington.
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May 31, 2010 16:27
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Apologies in advance for the long-winded question: My friend and I are in extremely similar situations so I was hoping to get some answers for both of us, but there are some small differentiating factors, so I'm not totally sure how to even approach this... We both went to American universities for the first 2 years of undergrad. They were decent enough but not exactly Harvard/Yale/etc. However, both of us made the decision to study abroad and subsequently transfer to a great UK university, not Oxbridge unfortunately. Now this is we both kinda screwed up and could not manage to get a first, and now we're both looking at a upper second (2:1), which translates to about a 3.5-ish GPA I believe. Our courses of study were finance/economics, so that's probably fine. We were both really hoping to have a real shot at one of the top 3, but the 2:1 has pretty much squarely put us in the "average" pile for grades, even if the admissions would be willing to average in our old uni's grades (which are higher). Given the 10-15% acceptance rates we have no illusions about the competition involved. Both of us will start in a 2-year analyst track in finance. They are not Goldman or MS (or even close), so we can't really count on work prestige to get in. The difference between us is that I wish to go to MBA to eventually one day transition into entrepreneurship/consulting, whereas my friend wishes to go into PE. Our current plan is to just bust our asses extra hard and rock our analyst years and the GMAT (hopefully), and obviously do whatever volunteer work/public service that our work schedule will allow. It's not the most creative plan, but it's the best that we can think up. I know it's extremely petty to worry about MBA's so early at this stage, but we are concerned that our grades will hold us back. I'm currently theorizing that, if we can put more time (i.e. work experience) between our undergrad and MBA years then our undergrad GPA would seem less important. This would involve us spending 2 extra years in finance (in addition to the 2 analyst years) to buff our resume before trying for Harvard/etc. Of course ideally we'll get our dream (long term) job without an MBA, but I think an MBA still serves as a rather important screening criterion, not to mention the network opportunities... So my question is, would 2 years of extra work experience make any difference in "compensating" for our undergrad grades? Either way (2 extra years or MBA) would be a huge commitment, so we're hoping to have some sort of idea before being forced to make the decision. (To clarify, we are not some crazy kids dead set on "HBS or nothing else," but it's just a goal we'd like to achieve, even if it involves inordinate amount of time and effort)
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Jun 3, 2010 22:55
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Grades won't matter if you can do very well on the GMAT and gain work experience.
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Jun 4, 2010 02:59
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I just got accepted to the Johns Hopkins Carey Global MBA (full time) with a 50% tuition scholarship. Now I have to decide if I'm actually going to go or not. Part of the reason I applied is because I'm already in Baltimore, and this seemed like a good way to give a much needed boost to my career without having to disrupt my family's life. From what I have been able to learn about the program, it sounds amazing, but it's hard to tell what's real and what's hype because this is the inaugural year for JHU's full time MBA. Even with the scholarship I'm having trouble deciding if the program is worth it or not, as it is unranked. The inaugural class is only 80 people, and the program is supposed to have the full support of Hopkins most illustrious alumni, but there is literally no one to talk to who has already been through the program before. I'm really curios what other people who have MBAs think about this opportunity. It has top 10 entrance requirements, and top 10 pricing, but is trying hard to sell its brand name in place of a ranking and program alumni.
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Jun 11, 2010 03:57
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It's not AACSB accredited (yet). Have you applied to any other schools? What about UMD?
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Jun 11, 2010 14:38
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AndrewP posted:It's not AACSB accredited (yet). Have you applied to any other schools? What about UMD? It will be acreddited this fall once the full time program starts. I haven't applied to UMD, I kind of applied to this on a whim extremely late into the season. If I didn't do Hopkins, I would cast a much wider net of applications next year.. xanthig fucked around with this message at 14:46 on Jun 11, 2010 |
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Jun 11, 2010 14:42
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Just out of curiosity, what are you planning on doing with the MBA? Is this just to move up in your company, or to change jobs or what?
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Jun 11, 2010 14:54
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AndrewP posted:Just out of curiosity, what are you planning on doing with the MBA? Is this just to move up in your company, or to change jobs or what? I'm a serial entrepreneur. Since college, I have either been working for or running small businesses. My last business was doing quite well before the recession crushed it like a bug. Unfortunately, to move into the corporate world and hold a position that uses my skills and experience I really need some credentials. Also, when running a startup I found that complex problems arise that get dealt with using instinct rather than expertise. This does not always lead to optimal outcomes, and I have grown tired of watching myself, and the other small business owners around me, guess.
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Jun 11, 2010 17:43
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xanthig posted:I'm a serial entrepreneur. Since college, I have either been working for or running small businesses. My last business was doing quite well before the recession crushed it like a bug. Unfortunately, to move into the corporate world and hold a position that uses my skills and experience I really need some credentials. Also, when running a startup I found that complex problems arise that get dealt with using instinct rather than expertise. This does not always lead to optimal outcomes, and I have grown tired of watching myself, and the other small business owners around me, guess. This sounds really cool. Good luck, hope you find what you're looking for. In a way, you'll be working at an 80-person startup, so your instinct might still serve you well...the lack of connections at a new MBA program sounds like a serious downside though.
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Jun 11, 2010 19:11
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Anyone have any advice about GMAT preparation? Any estimates of how well the practice test scores correlated to your actual test scores? I just registered for a test in a couple weeks. I've never felt like I needed prep classes, as I felt like doing a practice test and reviewing the test and identifying the error and the reasoning behind the error was sufficient. Anyone have any positive anecdotes to relate about GMAT preparation?
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Jun 12, 2010 15:14
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My actual score was very very close to my practice score. I just did a lot of practice tests for preparation. Make sure you are timing yourself - speed was an important factor for me on the math part.
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Jun 12, 2010 16:47
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I just finished my Junior year of Undergrad and I am seriously considering going for an MBA. Besides the GMAT and the admission deadline, is there anything else I need to expect? Also, when is an ideal time to take the GMAT? I'm concerned because time is flying so fast and I can't believe I only have a year left to graduate. I'm going to safely assume that people start applying the first semester / quarter of Senior year. Is that the case? Also, I don't know the test prep market that well so what are the books I should look for? Busy Bee fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Jun 12, 2010 |
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Jun 12, 2010 17:43
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Hard to believe that I first started posting in this thread when I got accepted, and now I've graduated. Time flies!Busy Bee posted:I just finished my Junior year of Undergrad and I am seriously considering going for an MBA. Besides the GMAT and the admission deadline, is there anything else I need to expect? Also, when is an ideal time to take the GMAT? If you live in the US, unlike most grad schools, the MBA is not applied for from undergrad. You typically need 4-5 years work experience before getting into an MBA program; the average age is 28-29. Of our class of 721 students at Columbia, there were only two who got in direct from undergrad, and they were the sons of CEOs. There are some programs like Harvard's 2+2 but these are exceptions. Carfax Report fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Jun 12, 2010 |
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Jun 12, 2010 20:32
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Yes, definitely get some work experience first. Also, I would think about the "story" you are going to tell the admissions committee - what are your interests/passions/dreams, how do they connect with your planned jobs before and after the MBA, and how does the MBA play an essential part in your future. I decided to attend business school rather late (10 years post-undergrad and without much prior planning) - it was difficult to assemble all the pieces from my background into an attractive admissions package. (for instance, I was always doing highly technical jobs, and had I planned things better around the MBA, I would have sought more group leadership opportunities so that I'd have more "management"-type stuff to talk about in my application). The good news is, if you know you want to get an MBA from the start, then you can orient your short-term work plans in a way that will set you up to write a superb application later on.
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Jun 12, 2010 22:11
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CaptainEO posted:My actual score was very very close to my practice score. I just did a lot of practice tests for preparation. Make sure you are timing yourself - speed was an important factor for me on the math part. Same here. I forget the actual scores, but the +/- was something like 10 points. Carfax Report posted:Hard to believe that I first started posting in this thread when I got accepted, and now I've graduated. Time flies! Congrats man. I feel the same way: I was accepted in Sept 2008 and I'll finish in May 2011 (part-time at a state school though).
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Jun 14, 2010 00:29
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Which practice test are you guys saying was fairly accurate? The ones given by the GMAC?
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Jun 14, 2010 08:18
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It usually takes a few years to get into Ohio State's MBA program (they want several years of work experience). My work pays for tuition, so would it be beneficial for me to work towards a second bachelor's while I keep trying to admittance into the MBA program?
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Jun 14, 2010 15:19
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Bigass Moth posted:It usually takes a few years to get into Ohio State's MBA program (they want several years of work experience). My work pays for tuition, so would it be beneficial for me to work towards a second bachelor's while I keep trying to admittance into the MBA program? What's your current degree in, what would the next one be in, and why do you want to do it?
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Jun 14, 2010 15:33
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ultrafilter posted:What's your current degree in, what would the next one be in, and why do you want to do it? Current: Telecommunications Future: Finance Want an MBA to increase career potential and move into a field that interests me.
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Jun 14, 2010 15:50
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Stup posted:Which practice test are you guys saying was fairly accurate? The ones given by the GMAC? The ones on the GMAT website are actual old tests, so they are a very accurate representation of what you'll see when you take the GMAT. I got a 710 and a 750 on those two practice tests, then a 730 when I took it for real, so it perfectly averaged my real score.
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Jun 14, 2010 20:10
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