Regretting my part-time UF MBA

[Ashish8]

I've only been to one class so far and I'm already rethinking my decision to pursue an MBA. First and foremost I'm a software engineer and very much do enjoy coding. After working for a bank, I got excited about a career in Investment Banking. Now that I'm full headfirst into the program, I pretty confident UF isn't the school to get me to wall street, combined with the fact part-timers don't have access to any career placement services I've started to loose faith in my career move. I guess my main reason to get a MBA was because I thought I was peaking salary wise ( < $100K) in my engineering career. I don't see myself as some person who stares at spreadsheets all day, because I've "graduated" into management. Anyone have any advice? It would be great to hear from someone who has already done the part-time MBA route and gotten a career benefit.

[amit28it]

In my opinion you should continue with MBA and you will get many opportunities after completing it.

[cheetarah1980]

Can I ask how you decided on attending UF? Did you look at the school's placement stats for PT students into the jobs you desire?

As a general rule of thumb career switchers tend to go for FT MBA programs for the on campus recruiting and summer internship opportunities. Simply having an MBA is not a ticket to Wall Street, especially not an investment banking role on Wall Street. If we had a better idea of your rationale for choosing your program we could give you a better idea of whether or not it's worth it to continue.

[cmajedi]

I would quit if I were you. Follow your instincts. If you think you can get into a better MBA program, drop out now and go for it. You can only get an MBA once (if you plan on going to a good MBA program).

I earned a graduate degree in advertising (not an MBA) and I remember feeling like I should drop out, like I wasn't learning the information I wanted to learn. But I stayed with it... I'm not a "quitter". But let me tell you, now, I'm 80k in debt and need to go back for an MBA to be qualified for the marketing jobs I want. I should have followed my instincts, which is why I'm telling you.

Good luck, whatever you do!

[paris_kennedy]

I think once you have started your MBA,you should continue it.At least you will get an experience in marketing area also.

[gmat_basher]

Part-time MBAs no matter where you do it cannot help you switch career to a totally different domain, Firstly your domain experience is different and all the experience you have gained is as good as worthless for the new industry you are trying to get into. Secondly, the new FullTime Grads are mostly young and they are most sought after by hiring industries.

In my opinion, PartTime MBAs are tricky, you should try to utilize the newly learned business skills to climb the ladder within the same industry segment and network with colleagues who can help during career change in same domain.

[Michael@VeritasPrep]

Your predicament is part of the reason why I advise everyone to be really sure about why they are going to get an MBA and why now. It is really hard to have a do over on business school. Before you quit anything, I highly recommend you take the time now to figure out what you should have answered for yourself before going in the first place. Once you figure out your goals then you can start to figure out what things you need to do to get yourself there.