School me on MBA's.

Kyougu

So with 6 months having passed since graduating college with a Political Science degree and a 3.34 G.P, I think I'm ready to start looking into the prospect of higher education.

At first I had thought I would just pursue more graduate work in the Poli Science field, or even attempt Law School (even as frightening as some of the threads have made that prospect). Lately though I find my attention turning to an MBA.

I'm working at JP Morgan right now in their finance department,entry level position, and I'm finding everything dealing with property, loans, foreclosure, etc, extremely fascinating. Also I'm getting tons of encourgament from my manager that I could really advance here if I keep my current work ethic and drive. He was actually the one that suggested looking into an MBA, since JP will actually pay for some of my education if I go that route.

So basically, I'm looking for general information/advice in going that route. How do I prepare myself? How do I find out what a good school is? I just moved into Dallas, so I would hope to remain in the area. Thanks a bunch.

Reckless

Well, there's always the guidebooks like Fiske, USA Today, etc. They're not very personal, but they'll give you a good outline of what different schools have to offer.

I would figure out if your employer has any contacts with Graduate Schools in the area, and if your co-workers or higher-ups have received MBAs from local schools. Also, find out the details of JP's financing program, maybe they've got an in with certain Unis.

Evil_Reaver

I have two comments about this.

1. The Personal Anecdote

Having an MBA isn't going to guarantee you anything. The market has been flooded with hundreds of thousands of newly christened MBA graduates in the last few years, making the degree as useful as a high school diploma. I'm hesitant to recommend that anyone go out and get an MBA strictly because they think it'll help them make crazy awesome money (because it probably won't).

Again, that is my personal observation about the degree that is in no way based on statistics or facts.

2. The Useful Answer

I'd check and see if your employer offers tuition assistance. If your boss is pushing for you to get an MBA, why shouldn't the company help you pay for it, you know? You might be obligated to work for the company for a set amount of time after you graduate, but you'll have a degree for the fraction of the cost (or even free) plus a guaranteed job for the foreseeable future.

a5ehren

One thing you'll have to do is prepare for and take the GMAT. Sign-up is at mba.com and it costs $250 - your score is good for 5 years after you take it. I wouldn't necessarily take it very soon, but you'll need to do it within the next 3-6 months to make the deadlines for fall admission.

Pandion

Two of my coworkers applied to separate MBA programs for this fall and both were put on the wait list. In a normal year they would have been accepted but when the economy took a header alot of people decided to go back to school. If you apply for next year hopefully the comptetion won't be so fierce but one of the guys was told he needed more work experience if he planned on applying again and he's been working at my office for 3 years. It seems MBA programs are looking for people with more work experience prior to coming back to school.

Ardor

In my experiences (I'm not going for an MBA), the MBA doesn't guarantee you a job, but many employers use it to sort through the candidates for a job. In many cases, unless you have a large amount of experience to back it up, the MBA allows you to be considered for jobs when you apply for them and/or it allows you to advance farther up the corporate chain. It helps remove the glass ceiling per se.

My personal advice, since I'm going back to school for a Master's in a different field with company reimbursement, is to take advantage of aid programs your work can offer for a number of reasons.

- More useful the sooner you can get this and try to apply it
- Any reimbursement you get? Think of it as a raise for going back to school
- Many companies see people going back to school as 'having more potential' (could help if companies lay people off or considerations for future positions, headcount, etc)

Grundlestiltskin

Reimbursement would be good, though typically companies that do that either have you do a night program, or require you to commit to them for x years after you get your degree.

Also as far as programs go, some "require" several years of professional experience before applying. That would obviously depend on the programs you look at and how strict they are.

Kakodaimonos

A couple of things.

1. Find out where your coworkers who are getting their MBAs go.
2. Think long and hard about the time commitment. A part time MBA is probably 4-5 years of work and will take a good chunk out of your free time every week.

VeritasVR

Kakodaimonos wrote: »

2. Think long and hard about the time commitment. A part time MBA is probably 4-5 years of work and will take a good chunk out of your free time every week.

That's not exactly true.

The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business wrote:

You can complete your MBA in just over 2 years attending class just 2 evenings a week. source

Of course, that's not including study or lab time.

Kakodaimonos

VeritasVR wrote: »

Kakodaimonos wrote: »

2. Think long and hard about the time commitment. A part time MBA is probably 4-5 years of work and will take a good chunk out of your free time every week.

That's not exactly true.

The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business wrote:

You can complete your MBA in just over 2 years attending class just 2 evenings a week. source

Of course, that's not including study or lab time.

Yes, just remember that those are two 3-4 hour evenings a week.

VisionOfClarity

A full-time MBA should take no more than two years, you can do it part-time in 2 years by taking classes in the summer. I just finished my MPA in a year and a half working full-time and doing school full-time and know plenty of people in the MPA and MBA programs who work full-time and do class full-time to finish in the 2 years. I'm actually thinking about doing an MSA to get my CPA because I can do it in a year.

For what you're doing a MSF sounds like it would make more sense. Also, if you're not sure about grad school then don't bother. It's a big investment and won't work out is you're not fully committed to it.