Part time, Booth (w/ commute) v Stern
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16 Jan 2012, 19:52
Hey all. In a slightly confused spot, and would appreciate your advice.
I've got a job offer that will pay for a part-time MBA while I work. As I'm just graduating from a two-year master's program (focused mostly on microecon and stats, with most of my second year at the PhD level), I don't want to take more time fully off. I have two years of WE, a couple of internships totaling an extra year or so, and 3.9 in a softie major for UG. (Both UG and masters at ivies).
Let's say I get into into Booth and Stern for their part time MBA programs, but I'll be working in the greater NYC area. I'm considering a Friday-night commute over to Chicago. Is this nuts? It comes out to about $40,000 extra over the life of the program ($350/flight+hotel, 11 times / quarter, 10 quarters), and also transit time (2.5 hours / flight). The cost of the MBA itself would be $0, per my benevolent employers. But I want to stay in the NYC area, and would be a bit stretched with these flights every week.
I'm particularly interested in analytic management tools and applied statistics. I love this stuff and am pretty good at it -- although I'll probably never be a super math quant type. My sense is that NYU is sub-par compared to UChicago in these areas -- although NYU does offer some pretty cool classes in the Business Analytics and Quant Finance majors (the latter being a bit out of scope for me, but intellectually interesting), and, obviously, has a great alumni network in NYC.
I'm also concerned about being taken seriously in terms of my business credentials, as my background is mostly government-related.
My career goals: probably want to get into consulting eventually, on issues like supply chain management, risk management, and operations. Eventually, I'd love to run my own company manufacturing things.
My job is in management in the industrial supply industry, and pays ~130k. I'm also about that much in debt. Yay master's degree!
Theoretically, I could also wait a few years and apply full time somewhere, but I really don't want that much more debt, nor do I really want to be edging past 30 and still in school.
Is the difference between Booth and Stern worth the time / distance / cost? Thanks for your advice.