Some advice

Question

Hello All,

I need some advice with my situation. I am 25 years old and I have an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from one of India's pioneer institutes. I have 3.5 years work experience with Motorola, India. GMAT score 720. Now, I have an admission offer from Carnegie Mellon University to pursue MS Computer Engineering. But over the past eight months my interest shifted towards management and like to posses MBA now. I am planning to attend Carnegie Mellon University this semester for MS, Computer Engineering and attend for two business school courses (one management and other finance course) and simultaneously write essays and try for MBA admission in other schools too for Cycle I. Does this make any sense ? How do, admission board see this path. 

Thanks,
Jay

aviroop · Answer

1. Confusion in career growth - MS in computer science and MBA are 2 vastly different paths. While you are not pursuing a dual degree, if you apply to MBA school now, you will leave an impression with the ad-com that you dont know what you want to do, and you are changing focus because of the said above.

2. What did you do in the last 8 months that made you change your plan to pursue MBA - back it up with some specifics.

3. Trying to attend CMU's MS program and writing essays and applying for an MBA is too fragmented and will leave you with no clear focus and NO TIME to do everything together. You just got admitted to the MS program, so either pursue it, or go back to your job, and apply to the MBA program in R2.

4. If you apply to MBA school, what will you do with the MS program? You have to quit that program and that means accounting for it in the MBA application essays. That won't leave a good impact on the ad-com officer's mind. The whole jumping from one program to another will make the ad-com officer think that you are switching over coz you cant decide what you are planning. So be prepared to back up your goals with some very convincing statements.

in my opinion, either apply for the MBA program, and dont get admitted to MS in CMU, or get admitted into CMU and try for an MBA a year after graduation.

rhyme · Answer

aviroop nailed it... but ill throw in 2 cents...

I'm going to go ahead and guess this has to do with work authorization issues.... that being that you are probably already in the US on an F1, can't quit without going back to India (unemployed presumably), and thus would like to pursue an MBA now, rather than later? Did I guess right? 

If not, you should consider skipping out on the MS degree altogether. I mean, after all, if you can apply to a program - and in six or seven months completely decide to do something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT (lets be clear, an MS in CE vs an MBA is very very different.... its not like you planned a Masters in Finance and now just want to pursue an MBA - where at least the material is related and somewhat overlapped)... why would an admissions officer think that your decision to come pursue an MBA is any more serious than your decision to pursue an MS degree in CE? 

Thats the biggest challenge for you - explaining how suddenly, you went from wanting a higher education and planned career in engineering to an MBA - and why, this time, you know for sure the MBA is right. 

The key here will be to explain what has made you "see the light" and choose an MBA...

However, explaining why you enrolled in a program you dont intend to complete cannot be done easily. I would strongly urge you to do one or the other.... trying to do both is a mess -- not only from the perspective of explaining your sudden interest in an MBA (in the adcoms mind, you've likely given this no more than 3-5 months of really serious thought) - but also in explaining your confusing and ethically dubious decision to pursue a degree you have no intention of completing.

jaycards · Answer

Thank you both for your advice, but here is some more light to the issue:-

I am in US on H4 visa and I do not have flexibility of going to work, untill my work authorization gets approved. It might take another 4 more months to get it. I would definately gone to take the path of job, if I had the option to work. Can I not mention this in essay?

I thought, I could go take a management course and finance course to get some business acumen during this time. Should I just quit MS @ Carnegie Mellon, if my interest is to pursue MBA. Please advise me.

Thanks,
Jay

riverripper · Answer

You need to decide what you want to do. If you want to stay in software or anything related to comp sci then an MS from CMU is a great thing to have in your backpocket...it is considered one of if not the best comp sci masters programs in the world. If your work experience before was not anything above and beyond the normal software engineer and any job you can get now will be just writing software with no leadership then getting the MS might really help. Coming out of CMU you are going to have a great chance at tops companies like google/microsoft.

Depending on what you have for past experience it may make sense to go straight for the MBA but you are in a very very tough demographic so you better have some solid credentials if you plan on applying right now. If you complete the MS and work for a few years afterwards in a leadership roll at a top company you really will improve your odds at the top schools.

If you are going to change careers then the MS probably wont help...but at the same time if you write an essay about how you want to be in finance while in school for your MS its going to show lack of direction. You would have to work hard to explain that away. If you are a career changer you may want to aim for a job in the field you hope to get into and do that for a year or two before applying.

Having a clear career path planned out is a key for schools so you need to make sure you KNOW what you want to do (or at least have a convincing tale about what you want to do) and go from there.

kryzak · Answer

everyone has given great advice, but here's something to ponder.

If you were fresh out of college, I would have recommended that you get the MS in CS, work at Google or Microsoft in a PRODUCT MANAGER capacity, learning how the BUSINESS works, and then apply to an MBA in 2-3 years. But with 3.5 years of experience, if you got your MS, you would be 27, another 2-3 years of experience, you would be 30. While that's still an ok age (I'm 30), you might face some problems with being a bit old for some schools.

With that said, I would suggest two things:

1. Hunker down, DECIDE if you really want an MBA, and apply for an MBA program using your 3.5 years of experience. Focus on the essays and telling your own unique story, as you are in a very popular demographic.

2. If you're worried about your chances or your visa (I'm not too clear on those things), maybe get an MS in CS, take some classes in management, make sure you work for a top company like Google or Microsoft, and do a product manager or product marketing position that both companies offer. I have a friend who got a CS PhD from STanford, but took all his electives in the engineering management area and now is working as a product manager at Google, doing very "business-y" stuff. 

#2 will take longer, but it'll give you very SOLID business/leadership background, while showing that you did think about pursuing a technical career, but realized that you liked business more while doing the PM job. Then you can talk about every detailed aspect of the PM job at Google or Microsoft that made you understand you like business more than CS. That should differentiate you a bit from the other IITs.

Hope that helps!

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