Looking for advice on choosing a school

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Looking for advice on choosing a school

by shubhamp » Wed May 07, 2014 6:52 pm
Hello,
First of all, thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my post.
I just gave my GMAT and am considering a couple schools to apply to for my part-time MBA.
I'd appreciate your inputs on which of the two programs is better suited for me.
The programs I'm considering are -
1. TMMBA at the Foster School of Business, Seattle
2. EWMBA at Berkeley Haas

GMAT score - 760/99% (V 44/98%, Q 49/81%, IR 8, AWA 5)
Gender - Female
Age - 30
Nationality - Indian
Currently live in Seattle, WA.

Work experience - 8 years in Technology (Microsoft). First 6 years in software development/testing, last 2 years as a Program Manager.
I worked in Microsoft India for the first two years, and I've been at Microsoft in Seattle for the past 6 years.

Extracurricular - Volunteer work with multiple animal-welfare related non-profits.

What do I want from my MBA?
- Learn product management, marketing, and strategy skills.
- Building a network is important to me.
- Career services provided by the school for part-time students are also important.

The advantages I see with Foster, are -
- I already live in Seattle
- I can apply now and start in Jan 2015
- Be done in 18 months
- Significantly lower cost

However, I'm concerned that Foster is not a highly ranked school, and also worry that my network will not be diverse. I'm also unsure what their career services are like.

The advantages I see with Haas -
- Much bigger brand name
- Way more diverse network

It's higher cost, and I'd have to move to the Bay Area (I'm willing to relocate, though). Plus, I'm not sure if they'd even accept me.

I'm looking for inputs on which of these programs will best help me meet my goals.
Thanks!
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Wed May 14, 2014 5:44 am
I don't want you to mistake my brevity for a hasty response. Your question merely has a straight forward answer :)

Haas. With your stats and experience, you should absolutely apply there. It ticks off all 3 requirements and, as far as career services go, it's free as an alum too so you can use them for the rest of your professional life!

If you have any other questions or want to talk about your profile in detail, don't hesitate to reach out! We're happy to help!

Bhavik
Critical Square | MBA Admissions Services

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