Advice on an MBA

Thundyrkatz

Hello denizens of H/A, I find myself in need of your wide and varied expertise.

I have an opportunity to pursue an MBA that my employer will pay 90% of. However I am not sure which MBA i should pursue.

Some facts about me...
I currently work in the financial industry and will most likely continue working in this industry for a long time.

I do not need a masters to maintain my current job and there are no immediate prospects that a masters degree would help me to obtain directly. however, it is a good opportunity so i want to take advantage while my life is stable and i am currently child free. (a situation that will not last forever hopefully)

My undergraduate degree is in social science ed. (money well spent)

My question...
Should i just go for a basic MBA which would have a wider application?

Should i go for a more specific Masters of Finance? will this restrict my options?

What is the deal with a Masters Certificate? I see a program that i can get the MBA with a finance cert. is this like a minor?

Thanks in advance for any insight that you all may have.

dlinfiniti

the biggest consideration when getting an mba is where you're getting it from and the networking/placement opportunities the school provides. Without an excellent placement track record, an MBA is worth less than the paper its printed on especially in this job market where mbas are a dime a dozen

adytum

Where do you live? Are you going to keep working while you study? Are you willing to travel to another city to study?

Also, beware of your work "paying 90%", with the cost of education. Only $5,250 per year is tax free, the rest is taxable income to you.

VeritasVR

I hate to bring the thread off-topic already, but I figure this is related. What is the difference between an MBA and an MEM (Master of Engineering Management) in terms of academics, job prospects, and credibility? I might be going into a specific role that requires me to basically understand both engineering and management, but I'm afraid that an MEM is less recognized or not as respected as an MBA.

EggyToast

The usefulness of an MBA is its breadth. It's understood that an MBA handles general business management topics. Other management or business-related masters degrees are, as their name implies, more specific.

Their use is dependent on your career goals. If you're in Finance and you really like Finance, then pursuing a Masters of Finance is likely more worthwhile -- especially if you have little interest in having people "under" you. Same with Engineering Management, which I believe handles a lot of project management. It's great if you know you want to stay within engineering and are aware of the types of jobs that you could get with the MEM.

I'm about to finish up an MBA myself, and the reason I selected it (with a General Business focus) was because I don't know what my future career path holds. I obviously have interests and my current job is related to those, but my big reason for acquiring an MBA is that I don't want to start at the bottom whenever I get my next job. My skills and usefulness are known by my current employer, but there is no path for advancement and I know I won't be here forever, so an MBA was a way for me to guarantee that I would be employable but also not have to start over as a peon.

If you're serious about starting a program, spend some time talking to academic advisors. They'll happily schedule to meet with you before you apply, and you can ask them what the specific degrees mean to those within the program. Different schools emphasize different elements, after all.