Would it look bad to quit work to go for a master's before MBA?

Question

Hey guys. So I have an otherwise strong profile - 3.5 years of sales/marketing experience at Oracle, one promotion, 740 GMAT, graduated UC Berkeley with a 3.80 GPA in Philosophy. I have decent ECs. However, I was just offered admission into Harvard's Graduate School of Education in its Technology, Innovation, and Education program, with a hefty scholarship to boot.

I want to go into education technology, creating my own startup in that arena. My plan originally was to straight go into a t15 or M7 MBA with my profile. However, would it hurt me to quit work and do this Harvard education master's (1 year long), and then apply to MBA programs while I'm at my masters? Or should I just go directly to applying to MBA programs, as continued WE looks better?

Thanks!!

MBAPrepCoach · Answer

If you're very clear on your goals then I see no reason not to do this. Is the MBA more important to you than this program? It seems so perfect for what you are trying to get done, I'm a little curious as to why you're worried about how it would look. I think to HBS it would look great, if you continue with the same narrative in your MBA application. But if you're planning to get back into a corporate career then they might have some questions about that decision. But those who have a fallback plan fall back. Sounds like a major opportunity to me if you're clear on your goals. Sounds like a specialized program that would give you specific knowledge what would help you reach your goal, and the scholarship thing is fantastic, a real endorsement of you. Congrats! ☆☆☆☆☆

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MBAPrepCoach · Answer

By the way I'd love for you to include information about your handle here in any response. I hope it isn't literal. https://MBAPrepCoach.COM

MBADecoder · Answer

I am feeling excited about this program for several reasons:
1. This course sounds tailormade, from the perspective of your desire to move into education tech. You get academic learning and networking opportunities in your area of interest.
2. The course can likely land you a great job and you may decide a few months into the program that you'd rather get more work exp. before an MBA- so your plans can change. At this point if transferring from IT to education tech is what matters to you and the Harvard course gets you closer to that goal, then that's the way to go.

3. You add the Harvard brand name to your resume and that will always be valuable. And this comes at some fraction of the program cost due to the scholarship.

Continued work experience is better than quitting your job for arbit reasons. But you wish to join this program for a specific reason, and that's perfectly legit. Later, when you apply for an MBA, use the program as a part of your story to tell how it was instrumental in building a career path. You'll be a stronger candidate then.

99Colleges · Answer

Hi donkeylicker44,

If your short to medium term goal is a startup in EdTech, an MBA is likely to be a spanner in your plan for two reasons: financial burden of loan will make you risk averse and those two years will delay the project, which can be critical. And in today’s world (it wasn’t so true, say, 10 years back), you can learn almost everything on entrepreneurship outside an MBA program. However, if you aren’t sure about your goals, then it’s a different thing.

If you pursue only the Education program, you won’t be financially burdened (because of hefty scholarship) and, second, it’s only a year long. This option will be much better if you want to pursue entrepreneurship.

I came across the story of this guy yesterday who went to Wharton with a goal to be an entrepreneur, which he thinks was a bad decision. He has written a   book on the topic   (the e-copy is free), which may give you one of the perspectives. (I haven’t read it yet, but I broadly hold the same opinion on efficacy of B-schools for someone with entrepreneurial goal.)

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

This sounds like an interesting opportunity, from an MBA ad comm perspective I think what they will be assessing the alignment between your pre-MBA life and your future career goals and the ability of the school to help you achieve this. You check all of the boxes above. Also, if HBS is on your radar this may also be a great front and center way to explore the opportunities up in Cambridge and ultimately decide if an MBA makes sense given your goals of EdTech entrepreneurship

Would it look bad to quit work to go for a master's before MBA?

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