CAbschoolapplicant wrote:
Hi everyone,
I have 4 years of work experience in Corporate Strategy (F500 company) and I know I want to stay in California. I currently work in the Bay Area and for undergrad I went to Berkeley.
After my MBA, I want to continue to work in Strategy, though potentially in a different industry.
I have a big scholarship to the UCLA full-time program and am on the waitlist for the Berkeley full-time program. After talking with my boss, I now am seriously interested in applying to the Haas Evening/Weekend program (I feel I have a solid chance to get in given I'm on the waitlist to the FT program), although my company will not pay for it. Factoring for in-state tuition, Berkeley will cost ~$90K more than UCLA. However, I will nearly be able to pay off the Haas part time degree with my savings and the income I would earn over the next 3 years from my job.
So my decision is UCLA full-time ($$) vs. Haas Part-Time (no $). What do you think?
Thanks!
I picked Haas for a couple reasons. Since you don't want to change functions, I would think there's more value in having an additional 3 years of work experience and an MBA from a higher ranked school. Also, would the $$ from UCLA be enough to offset the loss in salary for 2 years? That's something to carefully consider.
Basically there's two ways to think about it. In 3 years, you'll graduate debt free (or relatively close). Would you rather have your degree from UCLA, or would you rather have your degree from Berkeley with 3 years exp/additional promotion or two/etc.?