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Ok here's the deal: I currently have a Master's In Engineering. I make good money (low six figures), am currently debt free besides a mortgage, and just started with a Fortune 500 company in a technical role in the Houston area. I took a practice GMAT a few months ago on a lark and I scored a very high 760. I've been tossing around the idea of getting my MBA for some time and just recently started looking into it again. I think I'd be able to get into a working professionals/executive MBA program at UT-McCombs or Rice. The problem? It's a 100k program. That's a ton of money. I have a good amount of cash on hand from a previous house sale and could expect my employer to pay ~30k of my tuition costs but some debt might happen. Is this a terrible idea? I'm afraid that I'll hit the dreaded "engineer salary plateau" in the coming years and an MBA seems like a great opportunity to remove limits on future earnings. Advice welcomed from those of you who know better than me
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Sep 10, 2015 00:25
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What's your goal with the MBA? Are you planning to start your own business or are there jobs that you're looking to get promoted into that require an MBA? I think there's an MBA thread around here that you might want to cross post to as well. Also, how long have you been in the workforce? Why haven't you saved up a year's worth of salary already?
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Sep 10, 2015 00:44
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Don't focus on the going in debt part, focus on the expected value of the MBA.
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Sep 10, 2015 00:51
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Savings/Retirement is set. I also have the cash to pay for the MBA outright if I so desired so I guess funding isn't really an issue. It's more of an opportunity cost type of thing. I'm 9 years post BA and 4.5 years post MS. The MS really launched my career. I paid for it out of pocket and worked full time. It was easily the best 24k I've ever spent. As far as goals? I'd like to be involved with deployment, construction and startup of capital projects. No interest in striking out on my own. An MBA would make me a more attractive candidate in house as well as in other companies in the broad "energy" sector. I guess I'm thinking of this as more of an investment. I have 100k in cash. I could invest it in index funds the next 30 years and have a rather large sum. Or I could take that cash and improve my career. I wouldn't consider a mid tier b-school. McCombs is tempting in particular because it's easily a top 15 school. I guess I just don't know what kind of salary I can really expect considering I'm already a fairly high earner. Or how much of a lock good jobs are with an MBA from a top school.
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Sep 10, 2015 01:05
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I heard a rumor that the main benefit of an MBA is the networking. Are you good at that poo poo and can capitalize on networking opportunities at a top 15 program?
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Sep 10, 2015 01:49
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oxsnard posted:I guess I'm thinking of this as more of an investment. I have 100k in cash. I could invest it in index funds the next 30 years and have a rather large sum. Or I could take that cash and improve my career. quote:I wouldn't consider a mid tier b-school. McCombs is tempting in particular because it's easily a top 15 school. I guess I just don't know what kind of salary I can really expect considering I'm already a fairly high earner. Or how much of a lock good jobs are with an MBA from a top school.
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Sep 10, 2015 01:49
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Oh snap I didn't see the mba thread. I'll move this over there. Thanks!
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Sep 10, 2015 03:23
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slap me silly posted:I heard a rumor that the main benefit of an MBA is the networking. Are you good at that poo poo and can capitalize on networking opportunities at a top 15 program? It is much harder to network at exec mba programs than traditional full time at least according to my mediocre but arrogant friends.
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Sep 10, 2015 04:08
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From many things I've heard from trustworthy people close to me and my personal observations, yeah, it's probably a stupid idea unless your company pays the MBA for you. It's best to skip it. Focus on your career.
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Sep 10, 2015 08:01
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A lot of F500s have some kind of reimbursement scheme, call HR and ask even if there's nothing published. You might have to be a high potential candidate. Assuming you aren't considering a major career switch: Look at job postings in your industry that you would want to have in 3-5 years. Do they require a MBA? Some engineering shops require chief engineers to have one but most don't. If you want to be a PM, not having a business background may hurt you. Consider the salary differences between the MBA required postings and the pure play engineering postings. The value in a top end MBA in my opinion is getting into industries that are status conscious (IB, consulting) or to make a major career switch. The return will be harder to justify without one of those two factors.
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Sep 10, 2015 16:14
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Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna hold off for a year or two regardless and talk to some people who have a similar background to me who've been through a program.
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Sep 13, 2015 04:06
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It seems the thread has a consensus, but: I go to school in the area at Concordia University, a lefty-liberal school in a nature preserve in northwest Austin. About halfway through now and I think it's pretty solid and rigorous, and the school has been in the city for almost a century so there is a huge emphasis on local hiring and networking toward the end of the program. I really like it here, and over two years the total cost of degree to my estimation (books, tuition, fees, free parking) will be $25,000. If you want to be in Austin but not bother with McCombs, this is a good place. My cohort is ten people.
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Sep 13, 2015 08:36
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Thanks but I'm living in Houston. Have two kids. Its pretty much part time/executive or nothing. McCombs offers a weekend program in Houston. I'm going to try to network with folks down here before I start something 
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Sep 14, 2015 01:00
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You may also want to look into something that would be a good alternative and cost you less in time/money. Is what you'd like to do something that could benefit from a certification in Project Management? PM is hugely valuable here in SF with all of the tech/biotech companies. UC Berkeley even offers some of the courses online, or you can do the crash course for the exam and become certified without having to complete their entire programs. Like I said, don't know if it would work for you, but is something I'm getting into myself so figured id chime in.
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Sep 14, 2015 03:51
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I finished the evening program at U Chicago last year, happy to talk via PM if you want. It's hard to say if it'd be worth it for you in my opinion, I think your plan to discuss with others in your industry is a good one. I would just make sure you discuss with people who are currently involved in the area you want to move towards, seems to me the value is highly variable between industries.
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Sep 15, 2015 00:05
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Oakey posted:I finished the evening program at U Chicago last year, happy to talk via PM if you want. It's hard to say if it'd be worth it for you in my opinion, I think your plan to discuss with others in your industry is a good one. I would just make sure you discuss with people who are currently involved in the area you want to move towards, seems to me the value is highly variable between industries. Thanks I'll probably take you up on that. I'll put some not half assed questions together later this week
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Sep 15, 2015 03:08
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I've had this semi-goal of doing an MBA since high school, and recently I did a lot of research into it because I think I'd actually be a good applicant now (like talking with MBA reps and alumni at several info sessions, not just SA threads!). I feel that the ideal situation to do an MBA is you want both of the following: 1) You want to pursue a semi-different career and the fastest way to switch is using the 'reboot' of doing an MBA. 2) You view 100k+ with additional potential earning power as something you can't get to in 2 years. So based on that I'd say it could be a pretty stupid idea depending on what you want to do with it. The median salary out of Harvard was 125k according their website. If you already make around that, what are you expecting to get out of it? If the answer is a career change into something that you can't easily transition into right now, then maybe it's a good idea, but I don't see it as a seniority boost. Sure if would make sense if going to a top 10 school meant you could then be a VP of blahblah when you graduate but looking at the employment statistics from the top 10 school this doesn't seem to be the case. You might just end up with your current job +20k which is a lovely deal.
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Sep 20, 2015 04:41
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I'm an Engineer who got an MBA from a good state school. The big question here is how much will your employers reimburse you and what are the terms of reimbursement. In other words, if you bail out of your company 18 months after graduating with the MBA, will you be required to pay it all back? You should look up the policies and rules about educational reimbursement first and foremost. If your employer will reimburse you and the terms of that reimbursement are reasonable, I'd say go for it. You don't have anything really to lose, except your time. An MBA can take up a lot of time if you want to do well at it. I agree that you want to go for the best school there is. One of my regrets is that I didn't try to go for a program like Northwestern or Chicago. I was not confident enough at the time to go for those programs and in hindsight, that was totally ridiculous. If you have to pay all of it, most of it, or hell, even some of it yourself, then I'd really think hard about the value you get from it. Getting an MBA is not a guarantee that you're going to get into management. You may not even see the MBA pay off until years (and I mean 5+ years) after getting the degree. Sounds like you're getting paid well as it is, the MBA might result in a bump of only a few thousand dollars, statistically speaking. You can always ask universities for the statistical breakdowns of pre and post MBA salaries. Colleges will always fudge the numbers but it is something to take into account. I do want to stress that Engineer + MBA is not a magic bullet into management. Where I work, we have about 50 engineers and about half of them have MBAs or are in the process of getting their MBA. The engineer + MBA combo is not uncommon so it is by no means a guarantee of breaking through the engineer salary plateau due to sheer statistical probability. Also I got into management before getting my MBA (although I was encouraged to get my MBA as part of my promotion into being a manager). All depends on where you work and what the job requirements are for being in management.
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Sep 20, 2015 16:28
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Thanks for the earnest responses. Putting the decision into perspective like that really helps. I'm going to try to get into some leadership programs/courses in the next year or two here (F500 company) and work down that road.
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Sep 23, 2015 03:27
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