All you part-timers (or those who know them)

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All you part-timers (or those who know them)

by CPA2011 » Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:24 am
I'm a CPA with a couple years experience in public accounting, 7 months at a fortune 500 as an analyst, and I now work at a former client (assistant controller & financial analyst position, small but growing manufacturer, developing new consumer products)

I went to a mediocre public school, got great grades in accounting (3.7) and obviously passed the CPA exam without issue. I want a strong MBA for two reasons:

1) protect myself at my current company in case we get acquired - i think a strong MBA plus CPA will make me more of an asset if a major customer decides to buy us. I may not get immediately axed.

2) open up options for myself in a larger market (I'm in a small city in a small state) in case I want to leave for somewhere else in the future.

My local university is my undergrad university - the MBA program is decidedly worthless. I'm 2 hours from University of Kentucky(unranked, but has far more resources, networks and name rec than my undergrad). I'm 2.5 hours from Ohio State (solidly ranked, major name and strong networks). My employer is pretty fantastic and I think I could do part time at either of these schools and keep my full-time salary, although the hours may be heinous at times.

I know that neither of these are elite schools (especially UK), but I'm not looking to be a hedge fund manager or PE type (see reasons 1 and 2 above). The out of state cost of both schools (which i WILL be paying) is approx $60k for UK and approx $120k at Ohio State. Is a part-time approach at these schools just a total waste of money? What are your opinions, anecdotes otherwise?