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Should I even get an MBA?

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chestud13
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Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   27 Dec 2012, 20:40
I have a B.S. (UT Austin) and M.S. (Georgia Tech) in Chemical Engineering. I graduated with a 3.52 from UT Austin and a 3.8 from GA Tech. I took some courses at UT Austin (mainly marketing, management, and finance) that aligned with the business foundations program sponsored by Halliburton. I have been working for a top oil company for 3-4 years in Houston and I am looking to get out of my technical role and move on up to a management role. Eventually I want to do management consulting in the future for sure. Would getting an MBA help me in this matter? Would getting an MBA from Rice give me opportunities in the future to get into management consulting? I am having a hard time deciding whether I should do MBA from Rice or quit my job and do an MBA out of state (Duke, Stanford, UCLA). If I do stay in Houston, my company will pay approximately 50-75% of the tuition and I would have to pay the rest. If I do my MBA at Duke/Stanford/UCLA, I am banking on a scholarship to help me pay for at least some. I feel that getting an MBA from Duke/Stanford/UCLA will give me better opportunities with companies such as BCG, Deloitte, and McKinsey. Any insight would be helpful.
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kingfalcon
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   27 Dec 2012, 21:02
Ultimately, you're the only one who can make that determination. However, if your goal is to move into strategy consulting, I think it would be wise for you to pursue a full-time MBA at one of the top 10/15 schools. For example, based on Rice's most recent employment report (https://business.rice.edu/uploadedFiles/ ... Report.pdf), only 1 and 2 students got consulting jobs at McKinsey and Deloitte, respectively. Plus, there were no hires for Bain/BCG.
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 28 Dec 2012, 00:12
chestud13 wrote:
I have a B.S. (UT Austin) and M.S. (Georgia Tech) in Chemical Engineering. I graduated with a 3.52 from UT Austin and a 3.8 from GA Tech. I took some courses at UT Austin (mainly marketing, management, and finance) that aligned with the business foundations program sponsored by Halliburton. I have been working for a top oil company for 3-4 years in Houston and I am looking to get out of my technical role and move on up to a management role. Eventually I want to do management consulting in the future for sure. Would getting an MBA help me in this matter? Would getting an MBA from Rice give me opportunities in the future to get into management consulting? I am having a hard time deciding whether I should do MBA from Rice or quit my job and do an MBA out of state (Duke, Stanford, UCLA). If I do stay in Houston, my company will pay approximately 50-75% of the tuition and I would have to pay the rest. If I do my MBA at Duke/Stanford/UCLA, I am banking on a scholarship to help me pay for at least some. I feel that getting an MBA from Duke/Stanford/UCLA will give me better opportunities with companies such as BCG, Deloitte, and McKinsey. Any insight would be helpful.

McCombs is an amazing program(In my opinion, better than Rice), and looks like ~27% went into consulting for class of 2012.
https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/MBA/Full ... stics.aspx

That way its still in-state and you get to go to a great program.

Originally posted by ss87 on 27 Dec 2012, 23:59.
Last edited by ss87 on 28 Dec 2012, 00:12, edited 1 time in total.
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futurembaapplicant
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   28 Dec 2012, 00:06
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No, do it part-time or get your company to pay. I doubt you will get much in scholarships from B-schools.

Do you really want to owe 150K? Having that kind of debt hanging over your head just to go into "management consulting" which you will probably get sick of after 2-3 years.
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   28 Dec 2012, 04:21
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Well, you have a lot of options in front of you. Rice is not such a top program for consulting, as kingflacon pointed out. McCombs is better, but it's far enough away that you might as well apply to top 10 programs. the point about getting sponsored for an MBA and saving on the costs is a good one, and you can consider that option. But you could also apply to a few programs, see how things pan out and allow life to decide for you (I mean say you get into Stanford... is that worth it?? methinks so)
:)
I would say - do things step by step - you're in no rush.. so take your GMAT see how that goes. Are you getting the score you need for top 10 schools? Great! then visit them? do you like what you see? great! then apply!
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   28 Dec 2012, 17:53
Part-time and full-time programs are a different beast. If you want to move up in your company to a management role, getting your MBA part-time from Rice makes sense. Management consulting sounds like a career change for you, and I think it's worth the time and $$ for a full-time program to launch your new career. The best parts of a full-time program is being able to do a summer internship in the field you're interested in and the on-campus recruiting. Finishing your MBA part-time at your company and trying to parlay that into management consulting will be a tough sell.
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chestud13
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   28 Dec 2012, 18:54
CobraKai wrote:
Part-time and full-time programs are a different beast. If you want to move up in your company to a management role, getting your MBA part-time from Rice makes sense. Management consulting sounds like a career change for you, and I think it's worth the time and $$ for a full-time program to launch your new career. The best parts of a full-time program is being able to do a summer internship in the field you're interested in and the on-campus recruiting. Finishing your MBA part-time at your company and trying to parlay that into management consulting will be a tough sell.


Thanks for the replies. Just curious, my management professor back at UT Austin told me about the McCombs Houston program. Anyone know if this is just as good as the MBA program from Austin? How does it work exactly?
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   28 Dec 2012, 20:20
That sounds like an executive MBA program which is yet another flavor of MBA. Yes after the program you will have an MBA, but its more like a part-time program than a full-time one. Again, good for advancing in your company and having the McCombs brand attached to your degree, but difficult to leverage that into a career-switch to a top tier management consulting firm.
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steven8669
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2012, 20:19
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I am a student at the McCombs DFW program, which is exactly like the Houston program, and it is great. You will be able to network with the guys in your class that already have jobs, and still be able to recruit on-campus, all without giving up your job. According to career services, there are many recruiters that actually prefer the working professional program and I know Deloitte hires a lot of students from the professional program, unsure about the other top firms.
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Re: Should I even get an MBA? [#permalink]
30 Dec 2012, 20:19

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