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A77777
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Confused; Would love to get feedback 24 May 2020, 05:01
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I got accepted to Questrom (FT MBA) and waitlisted at Jones. Note: Applied to round 3.
Question: Should I accept Questrom (with a 10K / year scholarship) or reapply in round 1?
Issue: Financial burden imposed from having to take a 140K loan and time to pay off.

My profile: Female, 40+ yrs old
BS, MS, PhD in Life sciences; MS, PHD: from top 10 US school in the specific area (Not overall)
GRE: have yet to take (due to the crisis); (planning to take at home)
GMAT: took once, 530 (had technical issues during test), decided to prep for GRE instead bc believe it will showcase my abilities better.

What would you do? I am very stressed about the huge loan I will need to take out and the length of time (approximate 10yrs) to pay off.
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Confused; Would love to get feedback 24 May 2020, 06:05
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Hey,

It seems like you are really stressed out about the loan you would have to take, and rightly so. I would never suggest going ahead with an option that makes you uncomfortable and adds to your financial burden in a huge way.
That was a personal suggestion.

Considering your specs:
1. You are about 40 yrs old, so you def do not need a liability IMO.
2. You are a phd! I am sure you are capable of scoring much high and getting a much better offer from any B-school.
3. Since you have done your Masters and PhD, have you considered doing an exec-MBA? I think it has a lot of benefits in your case - shorter time frame, that means lower cost + quicker return to the job market. Also, at this score, I am pretty sure you would get much better schools/offers if you aimed for exec-MBA. You could get higher scholarships and reduce the financial burden multifold.


Best,

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JohnJohnJ
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Confused; Would love to get feedback 24 May 2020, 21:10
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I think EMBA would be great for you. Some schools ask for GMAT and some don’t need your GMAT for EMBA. And those who ask for it are known to be extremely flexible (you can ask them for a waiver).
Right now some are even giving a significant scholarship for EMBAs. MIT has the 1 year Sloan fellow in Boston - you could save time doing the 1 year program.

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Confused; Would love to get feedback 24 May 2020, 23:05
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I'm actively looking into an EMBA or OMBA.

With 10+ years of experience, most schools will waive all test requirements.

Know that, at some schools, what limited funds they've got for EMBA / OMBA students are directed towards those with high GMAT / GRE (think 700+).

If you're coming into business school with only a little business experience (i.e., maybe you've been a high school administrator?), pick a program that's more about the technical aspects of accounting / finance / operations (like Wharton) than those Rhoads leadership development (like Ross).

Besides, you should be able to get a better brand name going the EMBA / OMBA route.

PS - If $ is big issue Indiana (Kelley) has a very affordable path to an OMBA (potentially pairing it with a MS in a specific discipline (days analytics, finance, strategy, marketing, etc.) at the same time.

PPS - There are some very targeted MS degrees that might be a better bang for the buck in your career. What have you been doing? What do you want to do (where / what / why)?

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Confused; Would love to get feedback 03 Jun 2020, 19:42
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why on earth do you need an mba if you're 40+
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JohnJohnJ
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Confused; Would love to get feedback Updated on: 03 Jun 2020, 20:43
Originally posted by JohnJohnJ on 03 Jun 2020, 20:30.
Last edited by JohnJohnJ on 03 Jun 2020, 20:43, edited 1 time in total.
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ANALysis
why on earth do you need an mba if you're 40+
Show more
Anal, this is a free form, you can pass any judgement or comment without sharing your identity. An MBA is helpful at all ages, I encourage taking business courses at all ages.

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Confused; Would love to get feedback 03 Jun 2020, 20:38
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Hi. I missed this message. It seems an EMBA would be more fitting for you.

I would not take such a loan for BU. Sorry. You should have a much better shot at other top EMBA programs with about an equal cost profile but quite a bit more benefits.

Hope it is not something you did not want to hear. Obviously everyone has reasons to do an MBA but you are worth more! ?


A77777
I got accepted to Questrom (FT MBA) and waitlisted at Jones. Note: Applied to round 3.
Question: Should I accept Questrom (with a 10K / year scholarship) or reapply in round 1?
Issue: Financial burden imposed from having to take a 140K loan and time to pay off.

My profile: Female, 40+ yrs old
BS, MS, PhD in Life sciences; MS, PHD: from top 10 US school in the specific area (Not overall)
GRE: have yet to take (due to the crisis); (planning to take at home)
GMAT: took once, 530 (had technical issues during test), decided to prep for GRE instead bc believe it will showcase my abilities better.

What would you do? I am very stressed about the huge loan I will need to take out and the length of time (approximate 10yrs) to pay off.
Show more

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Confused; Would love to get feedback 03 Jun 2020, 20:47
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... also ... Fuqua has an interesting 19 month long degree program in MS Quantitative Management that includes quite a bit of traditional MBA-sorts of classwork ... and ... some gearing towards a career in data analytics. With your PhD background, that may be a way to get into a more conventional business environment ... then ... if you need / want to ... and career opportunities can present themselves, you can get either very targeted certificate programs at uber-top-end programs (Harvard, MIT, Booth, etc.) or a PT MBA if you still think you need it.

PS -- NYU also has a MS program (I believe it's also called MS QM, like the one at Duke), but it is very (!!) different than the one at Duke (it's more geared towards young professionals with very limited business background ... so, there may be some applicability for you, depending on how much business background you've had in your recent roles).

PPS -- IMO, Carnegie Mellon has the gold standard MS Business Analytics program if you want to get into hard-core data modelling, coding, etc. to be the one who's actually doing the work wading through gigantic mounds of data, to try to figure out how to extract actionable information from the chaos.

... and ... all of these MS programs are far less expensive than an EMBA ... food for thought ... but, I like all of these options better than the two options you've listed above.