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School Selection - Part time vs full time - Help!

Figure out where you wish to apply
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Which schools/Programs Should I apply to?

Booth/Kellogg - Part Time
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Booth/Columbia/Wharton/NYU/Yale - Full Time
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School Selection - Part time vs full time - Help!

by anonymous6053 » Sun Jul 14, 2013 3:36 pm
Hi All,

I would sincerely appreciate any career/business school advice around which MBA programs/schools are the "best" fit. Thank you in advance for your time and thought.

My background:
I have a 730 GMAT, with a high GPA from a top East Coast engineering school. I currently live and work in downtown Chicago and work in project management at a technology company. My eventual goal is to switch careers and work in finance (i.e. Hedge Fund, Venture Capital, Private Equity, etc.). I will have 5 years of work experience at matriculation. I love living in Chicago, but do not have a preference as to where I live after graduation.

My current employer is willing to pay 80% of my tuition if I attend part time, but will require that I stay 1 year after earning my MBA. Going PT I will be able to graduate debt free without having to dip into my personal savings; going FT I will have to deplete my savings and take approximately $50k worth of student loans.

I am struggling to decide whether to apply to FT or PT programs. My potential school choices are:
PT Schools: Kellogg and Booth
FT Schools: Columbia, Wharton, Booth, Yale, and NYU

Here are a couple of my questions and thoughts:
- I've heard that there is a negative stigma associated with attending PT programs since these programs on average have lower admission statistics. Would the negative PT MBA stigma affect my ability to land a HF/VC/PE job, even though I could easily get into FT programs and choose to go PT for financial reasons?
- Are Booth/Kellogg PT MBAs "good enough" to help me switch careers into VC/PE/HF?
- I've also heard that the internship between year 1 and 2 of MBA programs is critical to switching industries/functions. Would it be difficult to land an internship 1 year after completing a PT MBA? Would an internship after completing a PT MBA be a bad decision? If I don't get an internship in a finance field going FT, does this significantly hurt my chances of landing a job in VC/PE/HF?
- Would I benefit by changing job functions at my current employer to a financial analyst/associate role? Would this help me transition to a HF/VC/PE jobs after earning a PT MBA?
- In the incubating year that I have to stay at my current employer after earning a PT MBA, will I likely get a pay bump to match what other recent FT MBA graduates in my industry earn?
- Will I be better off with my East Coast BS and a MidWest MBA, or will I be better off with earning my BS and MBA both from the same region/state? Will two degrees from the same region/state limit my career network or the regions/states that I can easily find employment?

There are so many thoughts running through my mind, I am not sure what is the best path forward. Any insight, questions, thoughts, or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Abe
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by anonymous6053 » Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:09 pm
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by money9111 » Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:55 pm
- The "negative stigma" does not come from the programs having on average lower admissions statistics. There MAY be a negative stigma coming from Full-time students towards the Part-time students. You'd have to ask the PT students at each school what their thoughts were on this. Then, you should ask yourself - "Why do you care?" Also, if you'll be recruiting then PT students have a harder time doing so. So again, ask the PT students at each school how their experience has been. VC/PE are tough to get in to no matter which program you're going in to. PE is one of the hardest if not THE hardest. Also, if you get into a FT program you cannot then choose to go to that school's PT program. Maybe at lower ranked schools but definitely not at the schools that you're looking at. You would have to apply all over again.

- Re: Booth/Kellogg PT MBAs - you need to do more research into VC/PE/HF (what is HF by the way?) These are two very great schools.

- Um... an internship after completing a PT MBA? What would you then do after your internship is over? Again, like I said VC/PE are incredibly tough to get in to and the school's network comes in very handy when recruiting for these jobs. They don't have a normal recruiting cycle as they don't need to. People come to them.

- Would I benefit by changing job functions at my current employer to a financial analyst/associate role? Would this help me transition to a HF/VC/PE jobs after earning a PT MBA?

- Re: benefiting by changing job functions - Probably, but don't quote me on that. Do more research.

- In the incubating year that I have to stay at my current employer after earning a PT MBA, will I likely get a pay bump to match what other recent FT MBA graduates in my industry earn?

- I'm very confused. You want to go into VC/PE/HF but you have to stay at your current employer for a year afterwards? Unless that employer is a VC/PE then ultimately getting into those industries will be tough. Why do you need to stay at your employer for a year? Are they paying for your MBA? And a pay increase would depend on the type of company and whether or not they value MBAs.

- Degrees from the same region or different regions don't really matter for the purposes of skills learned. Where the location comes in to play is where most of the people from those schools end up after schools. Where are the alumni networks based? Typically if a school is on the east coast the the majority of its alumni base will also be on the east coast.
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by money9111 » Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:55 pm
- The "negative stigma" does not come from the programs having on average lower admissions statistics. There MAY be a negative stigma coming from Full-time students towards the Part-time students. You'd have to ask the PT students at each school what their thoughts were on this. Then, you should ask yourself - "Why do you care?" Also, if you'll be recruiting then PT students have a harder time doing so. So again, ask the PT students at each school how their experience has been. VC/PE are tough to get in to no matter which program you're going in to. PE is one of the hardest if not THE hardest. Also, if you get into a FT program you cannot then choose to go to that school's PT program. Maybe at lower ranked schools but definitely not at the schools that you're looking at. You would have to apply all over again.

- Re: Booth/Kellogg PT MBAs - you need to do more research into VC/PE/HF (what is HF by the way?) These are two very great schools.

- Um... an internship after completing a PT MBA? What would you then do after your internship is over? Again, like I said VC/PE are incredibly tough to get in to and the school's network comes in very handy when recruiting for these jobs. They don't have a normal recruiting cycle as they don't need to. People come to them.

- Would I benefit by changing job functions at my current employer to a financial analyst/associate role? Would this help me transition to a HF/VC/PE jobs after earning a PT MBA?

- Re: benefiting by changing job functions - Probably, but don't quote me on that. Do more research.

- In the incubating year that I have to stay at my current employer after earning a PT MBA, will I likely get a pay bump to match what other recent FT MBA graduates in my industry earn?

- I'm very confused. You want to go into VC/PE/HF but you have to stay at your current employer for a year afterwards? Unless that employer is a VC/PE then ultimately getting into those industries will be tough. Why do you need to stay at your employer for a year? Are they paying for your MBA? And a pay increase would depend on the type of company and whether or not they value MBAs.

- Degrees from the same region or different regions don't really matter for the purposes of skills learned. Where the location comes in to play is where most of the people from those schools end up after schools. Where are the alumni networks based? Typically if a school is on the east coast the the majority of its alumni base will also be on the east coast.
My goal is to make MBA applicants take onus over their process.

My story from Pre-MBA to Cornell MBA - New Post in Pre-MBA blog

Me featured on Poets & Quants

Free Book for MBA Applicants

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by anonymous6053 » Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:00 pm
Thanks for the reply.

I currently do not work at a PE/VC/HF firm. HF = Hedge Fund.

If I went PT and my employer partially paid for my education, I am required to stay 1 year after graduation in exchange for my employer paying part of my MBA tuition. If I voluntarily leave my current firm before 1 year after graduation I am contractually required to pay back all tuition reimbursement provided by my employer.

If I pursued a PT MBA, I would like to stay at my current employer for at least 1 year after graduation so I do not have to re-pay any tuition reimbursement provided by my current employer. This means that the earliest I could take another job or internship after earning my MBA is 1 year after graduation.

Since switching industries/functions is easiest with an internship, I would likely quit my current job and take an internship at an VC/HF/PE firm 1 year after earning my MBA. After my VC/HF/PE internship I would continue to search for full-time positions at a VC/HF/PE firm.

I am trying to understand how difficult /feasible it is to switch careers pursuing an PT MBA pursuing the above strategy compared to switching careers pursing the normal FT MBA approach.
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by money9111 » Sun Jul 21, 2013 6:25 pm
Ah I see. I think your best bet would be to ask PT students currently enrolled in a bschool. I wouldn't take the advice from applicants or admissions experts on this one. You can probably find PT student ambassadors on the websites of the schools you're interested in. Your case is very specific.
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by anonymous6053 » Tue Jul 23, 2013 6:47 pm
money9111 wrote:Ah I see. I think your best bet would be to ask PT students currently enrolled in a bschool. I wouldn't take the advice from applicants or admissions experts on this one. You can probably find PT student ambassadors on the websites of the schools you're interested in. Your case is very specific.
Thank you for your time and thoughtful feedback. I truly appreciate the input.
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by money9111 » Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:43 pm
No problem!
My goal is to make MBA applicants take onus over their process.

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