Hi XX,
Congrats on admission to the Purdue MBA program.

One thing to consider is what you could get out of the program outside from the education. Many students get their MBA for the network. Going to Purdue would give you the opportunity to network with classmates, alumni, faculty that will help you get a good job. They will also be a lifelong resource as you move up in your career. Is this something that would be important to you in your career goals?

Granted, you have taken much of the curriculum in undergrad, but I often found (I also was a business major in undergrad) that the MBA classroom format was much more enriching, as I was able to learn from other students who had real work experience in the subject discussed (for example - rather than studying marketing in a book - I was learning about real-life situations from classmates with marketing experience).

You could continue at NIU, but do you think the education/degree will have a significant impact on your career - particularly several years down the road?

Some things to think about...

Regards,

NP

So i've spent some time thinking about this. In terms of an enriched classroom environment, it's undeniably here at NIU. Everyone has a lot of experience and the classroom experience surprised me as to how different it is from last semester in undergrad.

In terms of the career network, Purdue is clearly better. But I went ahead and looked more in depth at the required classes and its literally a identical repeat of undergrad business core classes plus the classes I took this semester (with the exception of two). So in terms of why to go to Purdue, the only good reason is the network i.e. the money that the average graduates make (which is a really good reason considering last years class averaged $105K). But my question is will I really be able to make this kind of money when I finish.. I have no previous work experience, whereas the average person in that calculation had close to 4 years of experience. I would hate to go there and spend all this money to repeat classes and end up not even finding a job that pays anywhere near $100K due to the lack of prior work experience. Does anyone know how much previous work experience matters and will affect me in terms of finding a job that pays $100K right out of the MBA program?

Hi XX,

That is a difficult question to answer. It is hard to anticipate the needs of recruiters and how they will look at pre-MBA experience. However, one way to look at recruiting is that many MBA students are career switchers and will not have experience in their field (other than the training from the MBA program). They use the MBA experience (education, contacts, extra curr.) to successfully make the transition.

So I do believe that recruiters would consider you. Also, while at Purdue (if you choose this option), you could (should) become very active in professional clubs, which will give you more experience/creditability. For example, if you are interested in marketing - join the Marketing Club, organize marketing-related events, network with marketing alums and recruiters. These factors will help line up interviews. Once in the door - sell your leadership and teamwork experience from the MBA program.

Good luck!

NP