Working Professional Program (UF) or The College of William & Mary(FT)
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19 Mar 2015, 21:43
I was hoping the forum could help me with a major dilemma I am having.
Background: I am currently 24 with three years of full-time work experience in the retail sector. I have worked with the same company for the past five years and have received four promotions in that time. I am pursuing an MBA to transition into a new career in consulting(Does not need to be MBB). I have an Undergraduate degree from George Mason University in Business Management and graduated with a 3.2 GPA (3.4 within my major). My GMAT is by far the weakest area of my profile.
As an aside, I was dinged by Georgetown, Kelley, UNC and Notre Dame, which I feel is in large part to my GMAT.
I recently received an admit to The College of William & Mary ( Mason) full-time MBA program with a small scholarship. I love the program and feel they can help me land a consulting role, but am not convinced it is the program for me. It is semi-local and has strong ties to the Washington DC area, which is where I currently live and can see myself living. My main worry is placement and if the program is truly great for a career changer?
I also applied to the University of Florida and was denied admissions to the Traditional programs. They did potentially offer me a seat in their working professional program, which would require me to fly out to Florida one weekend a month. I too love the program and am very enticed by the idea of earning an MBA and working/ not graduating with debt. I will be fully self-funding the degree and will be able to fully use the career services department. I do worry about transitioning careers this way. All research I have done clearly indicates attending a two-year program is the best for career changers as they can utilize an internship. Networking would also be more difficult as I would only be required to be on campus once a month.
I am not tied to my current organization and will be willing to leave at any time. I spoke with the Career Services at UF and they indicated that 40% of the class is actively seeking to change careers. I know I can apply for other jobs while attending and can hopefully utilize the fact I am working towards an MBA to get into the door. My main worry is if I forgo the typical route of a two year program, that I may get "stuck" with working in retail. I do not want to tie myself into this career and can see not attending a two year program as a downside.
My question for you is what should I do? Attend the two year program at William and Mary? Do the UF working professional program and not have to worry about debt but perhaps have a more difficult time in my job hunt?
All advice is greatly appreciated