Well, I’ve set the next date for the final showdown with my archenemy, the GMAT. I still need to get the date, 9/21, approved by my manager but that gives me a little over 4 weeks to study which is plenty of time. 9/21 is a Monday, which gives me a long weekend to rest and study (Friday is an off-Friday, YES!).
Last Sunday’s study session with Guy went well. Both of us were pretty lethargic because we were drinking the night before (my recap in separate post). We managed 4.5 hours of work. I found some tricky PS questions that highlighted some of my weak quant spots, ie ratios, so I’ll be working on that this week.
Guy and I also got to talking about what schools we’ll be applying to and what we want to do after school. One thing we touched on that I’ve been struggling to pin down is the “vision” as Guy calls it of why we want to go to bschool and what we want to do while we’re there and after we leave. Judging from Guy’s acknowledgments, I was able to coherently piece together my own motivations and goals for achieving an MBA and why McCombs in particular would help me get there. Then again, Guy could have just been nodding to stay awake. Regardless, it was good to spit those words out because they’ll eventually have to be polished and put on the essays.
Something else that popped into my mind over the weekend was the cost of an MBA. For a while I had wanted to only apply to part time programs, but then I changed my mind because I didn’t want to do the whole school + work thing again. Disregarding the opportunity cost of getting the degree for now, the cost of tuition plus living expenses is frighteningly high. My guess is that the average cost of a top 30 program is at least $130k. I can probably buy a village and make myself chief somewhere in the world for that! The thought of paying back a massive loan makes going to a part time program much more financially palatable. All that being said, the cost isn’t going to dissuade me at this point from applying, it’s just a matter of figuring out how to finance the cost.
I find the cold, hard numbers of tuition + living expenses to be more than slightly disconcerting. Perhaps you’re on to something with this buying a village notion… but only if my village can have running water and HBO hookup in the chief’s hut.
I think you’re absolutely doing the right thing choosing full time over part time. According to a USC prof I know, full time students tend to be younger and brighter, while part time tend to be more experienced and more knowledgable. But more importantly, you’re not paying for an education, but you’re paying for an experience. I’d speculate that if you poll your friends who have pursued MBAs, you’ll find that those who attended full time have a more positive view of the time spent. In my opinion, the two best features of a full time degree are the opportunities to travel and your exposure to people with very specific interests. For example, a recent MBA grad I know from a full time program on the east coast traveled to the Dominican Republic with a Domincan girl who showed their group around the country. The school also had a separate wine club, beer club, and scotch club. Although a part time program will offer you exposure to all sorts of interesting people, I would imagine it to be hard to grow relationships with those people when you’re working. Again, it’s just my opinion, but I believe you’re definitely making the right decision by going full time.
That said, I’m curious about your stated $130K estimate, which I think is definitely low. But if you deduct living expenses (food, drinking, some entertainment, car, and apartment) which you’re probably going to be paying regardless of what you do in the next two years, perhaps it’ll bring your total closer to $100K? Also, I previously told you and others that I thought a degree like this should be treated with an analysis comparing the financial cost to the future additional revenue (aka higher salary). But after this summer I’d have to reverse that opinion and say that certain aspects of the degree simply can’t be quantified. Even if you never recover the cost, it may still be a great decision.
Agrees with what Sunil said. The education was great, but the experience of it all was by far the best aspect, hands down.
The various club meetings, class social gatherings, CEO/Executive lectures and chats, lunch and learns, team building events, etc all help to enhance the experience. It’s hard to make it these other aspects of an MBA when you’re already struggling to juggle work, classes, studying, etc. I know the costs are high and the current economy isn’t the most friendly, so it’s a tough choice… but I’d go with full time immersion.