Seeking Advice - Former Reporter Career Change

Hey everyone,

After browsing these topics for a few weeks I decided to see if I might be able to garner some insight or opinions as I am taking the GMAT tomorrow in hopes of getting my MBA and making a career change.

A little about me. I'm 32 and spent the last 9 years working as a TV news anchor and reporter. I was good at it, but was tired of the bad pay and worse schedule. I started working at a large state university in the Northeast six months ago in a marketing and communications role. One perk is I can get a free MBA, minus the cost of books. It's a solid program, top 100, but certainly not an elite business school by any means and I will be doing the program part-time rather than full-time. The chance to do this for free and continue to receive a full-time salary is too much for me to pass up to go elsewhere full-time from a financial standpoint.

My question is, how realistic is a career change into either marketing or consulting given my background? I actually interviewed with a boutique management consulting firm in the Philadelphia area prior to taking this university job, for a role as a presentation and communications consultant given my TV background. It got me very interested in the field, but I felt an MBA would serve me well were I to make the switch. I've seen a few instances of journalists making successful transitions into consulting, can a part-time MBA help me do that?

I'm open to any and all opinions and happy to answer any additional questions about my background to provide context. Thanks in advance for taking the time!