Dear dublr8,

I realize time is of the essence with the May 15 deadline quickly approaching, but your post is giving me pause that perhaps you are moving too quickly. Before you end up in the part-time program this fall only to realize you wish you were in the full-time program, I think you should take a few days to really decide what it is you want from your business school experience.

You note you want to move to a different role within your industry, so that is a slight career change, but not necessarily a significant one. What you need to determine is if that is something that would be possible for you to do from the part-time program--meaning have there been others in your firm that have done an MBA part-time and then made a career switch in the firm? Financial services firms can be particular about both business schools and types of programs, so you need to figure out if there will be potential resistance to you changing to an investment associate role without doing the full-time program. I would suggest talking to some folks in the investment groups to ascertain their views on recruiting MBAs. Likewise, it is important for you to know what career services are available to Langone students. Will you be able to compete for on-campus recruiting opportunities with the full-time MBAs? How much assistance is available to you from the career services center? Part-time MBA students can make career changes, but it can be more difficult and often it comes in the year following graduation. The reason being that you finally have the time to devote to your career search whereas while you are juggling school, work and your life, you don't really have time to look for a job, too.

You have a competitive GPA and GMAT for many programs, but I don't know enough about the quality of your work experience to comment on your overall competitiveness for top full-time programs. Taking the CFA is not really an extracurricular, although it is very time consuming. So, you would want to work on that aspect of your profile if you decide to pursue full-time MBA programs. If you decide to proceed with the application to the Langone program, I do think you are competitive. The tuition reimbursement is awesome and something to consider. I just want you to be sure you have considered all of your options and picking the program that is the right one for you.

Good luck,
Lisa