760 in GMAT with 5.5 in AWA - Still not sure about MBA!!!

Hello to everyone,

I know this question has been raised many times, but I don't know if an MBA would be adequate for my profile and my career goals.

I am an actuary (I studied actuarial science), and have been working mostly in insurance and reinsurance as a treaty underwriter, where I have had constant contact with clients, but which is mostly a middle-office job (2 years full time at a reinsurance company). I have a 4.0 GPA (95%) and was top of my class at the most reputable business school in Mexico (ITAM).

My GMAT scores are as follows:
Overall: 760
Quantitative: 50
Verbal: 41
AWA: 5.5

Not knowing where to take my career (but knowing I don't want to spend my whole life in insurance), I took the GMAT to apply for an MSc Finance in Europe. However, after speaking with some friends and family, I realized that might not be the correct choice, especially if I'm not sure what I want to do in the future.

I like finance a lot, but I'm more inclined towards the capital markets side of finance, I'm not really attracted by IB (money and proffesional success are not my first goals in life). I know I want to have my own company, but I'm not sure if this is the right time yet. I feel I need/want to study further (I really like studying), but I don't know if an MBA is right for me. Even though I believe and MBA could help me strengthen my non-technical (e.g. social) skills, I'm not sure if it would be too non-technical for me.

I don't want to bore you any more, so the questions I have are the following:

1) If I want to change my career, but not really knowing where I want to go, would you believe an MBA could help me redirect my career? I would be applying to enter in September 2013.

2) If I want to eventually start my own company (maybe a couple of years after graduating from an MBA), do you think an MBA would be helpful?

3) Do you think my profile would fit the MBA profile? If so, which MBA's do you think would be right for me? I already lived for 1.5 years in NY, and I don't quite like the northeast USA (except for Boston). I'm more inclined towards the Texas - California region, or even the Chicago region.

I know I was somehow vague, but thank you in advance for any advice you could give me.

Yes, you're in the right place! Career change and entrepreneurship are both great reasons to get the MBA. Your profile will fit right in (you'll find out somewhat quickly that there is no standard profile, people come from all over the place!)

This is an assumption based on your undergrad, but are you Hispanic?

In terms of fit and selection, you have no ceiling. HBS, Stanford, Booth, and MIT sound like good schools based on your geographic preferences. If you can deal with the east coast for two more years, add Wharton and Columbia.

I also know that a PhD in Finance may be a good route. I just met an Alabama finance PhD who started his own PE firm that JV'd with Blackstone and sourced $120 million every month, leveraged it to close $400 million in business every month. Blackstone eventually bought the firm. He did this while working as a professor full-time. Now he's on to some other big idea, sounds like a pretty nice lifestyle!

Yes PhD finance may be a good route.

Thank you both for your replies. Indeed the PhD route doesn't sound bad at all. I will take a look at some programs.

I have one additional question. What do you think about the MBA at University of Texas, Austin (McCombs)? It seems that it is not top-tier in the US, but it is well known in Mexico, especially because there are many Mexicans studying there and the networking opportunities are excellent.