[anjapower]

Hi guys,

This is my first post here. I stumbled across this website while I was prepping for my GMAT, which I took this past Saturday.

Here's a little background info about me: I'm an Indian living in Massachusetts, USA. I have a bachelors degree in Finance from University of Massachusetts Amherst. My undergrad GPA is a 3.0. I have 2.5 years of work experience as of now in Accounting. I work for a medium sized real estate investment firm, and I am 23 years old.

I scored a 700 on the GMAT - not as well as I could have done but I am pleased that it meets the top business school averages.

Here is the predicament I am in: When I decided to go for my MBA, I was thinking of going part time at Boston College or Boston University...mostly because they are reputable schools in the area and my company will pay full tuition fees and costs of books if I go to school part time. I also didn't think I could score well enough on the GMAT to have a chance at one of the top universities.

This past Saturday's peformance has given me some hope and I figure there is no harm in trying for fall of 2007 at one of the top tier institutes. Perhaps not Harvard or MIT, but I might fare OK at Darden, Cornell, etc. However, there is not much time to apply to full time programs in round 2 of applications. I have not prepared my resume, I haven't written any essays, haven't secured any recommendations...heck I don't really even have an idea of which school I should go to!

My parents, being Indian, are strongly pushing for only top tier schools. However, considering the aforementioned confusion and time constraints I don't think I could put my best foot forward.

All that said, I have 3 options:

A) Go full time to a top 10-15 program that is out of state since I probably can't get into any local program (Harvard, MIT, Tuck) of that caliber. All these programs are full time. So I'd be spending 2 years out of state, taking on a mountain of debt (90-100k), but you are almost guaranteed a 100k+ position when you graduate.

B) Get a nice scholarship from a top 40 business school like Boston College or Boston University, and go full time. From what I'm being told, I could probably get 13-15k a year in assistance. This would mean I'd take on some debt (30-40k) but finish in just two years. Depending on luck and diligence, a six figure salary is possibly but probability is way lower. I could also live at home and commute to school to lower costs.

C) Go part time to BC or BU. Have my company pay for tuition and graduate with 0 debt. Continue working and saving up money in the meantime. BUT it will take minimum 3 years to graduate, and the average is 4. And my life for those 3-4 years b/w full time work and school at night will be hell.

D) There is but one other option....that I could just wait to apply for fall 2008. Take my time filling out applications, doing essays and getting great recommendations, perhaps even doing some community service activities to beef up the resume, and I would have one more year of work experience. This would help since if I enrolled in Fall of 2007, I'd be at just over 3. Enrollment in Fall of 2008 would bring me closer to the B-school average of 5. The main reason to do this is to try and apply to the top tier schools without rushing. Although if I fail to get admission, and end up going to BC or BU, I will have essentially wasted a year.

So that is the problem I'm facing. I unfortunately don't have much time to decide and I've been wracking my mind and my parents' for the past few days trying to think of something.

I realize I wrote a lot but if you guys have any insight or tips, please share.

[kamakazie]

I would suggest that you post the same query on the Assistance desk. It becomes very difficult if each PGite starts a new thread for his/her query. Please do not take this personally but I hope you understand the point I am trying to make. I clearly understand your anxiety but it would be better for you as well as other members of this forum if you post your queries in relevant threads

Anyways here's my 2 cents on your query hope it helps (First of all each persons requirements/aspirations are different so please take my advice in view of your own personal goals in life)

1. Securing an admit into one of the top-10 schools inspite of the debt is worth it. Having spoken to scores of people over the past few months I think it is worth the money to get your MBA from a top school. Please remember that you are only going to do your MBA once. So there is no point in thinking later that you could have done it from a better place later!

2. A scholarship always help to make things easier post-MBA. But it should be your personal call because I don't know your financial situation. I am sure that since you are in US finance is not that big a deal for you as of now.

3. I have no clue about the part-time MBA programs so maybe other PGites can help you out here.

4. This option is by far the one I think you could choose (again it is just my view). You have just worked for 2.5 years. Your work-ex is anyways low for a good MBA school (not that people don't get in with that kind of work-ex). You are young and have your life ahead of you. My suggestion is work for another year. Build a great profile. Participate in community service. Do more things that will add value to yourself and of course to your profile so that you stand a better chance at top-10. Remember the top-10 schools go much deeper than you GMAT and GPA. They want people who have done significant thins in life. Also taking another year to decide will help you to research more and talk to more people. It will help you get more inputs on not only different schools but also different programs (like full-time, part-time etc.). It will also help you write good essays and recommendations. Most importantly it will help you take sometime off and choose the best program and best school for you. There is no point in applying out of haste and not doing justice to your applications or worse still getting into a program or school you don't want to be in!

All in all I think one year of good research is what i think it takes to decide on the best school and program (thats what I did ). However if you are inclined to apply this year then go for it! Take sometime off work, skip the Christmas vacation this time and start researching on schools and start writing your essays. Most programs will have their second round deadline in the first two weeks of January (and quite a few have deadlines later as well, check the websites of the schools that you are interested in). Take a break from work till your apps are over. I think it is possible to complete a few apps before the deadline dates.


Hope my thoughts help you clear you confusion rather than add to it

Keep me posted if you need to know anything about universities. I can atleast guide you for the schools where I have applied.


CHEERS!!!!!

[anjapower]

gotcha kamakazie, no offense taken. I didn't realize where the appropriate place to post was. Moderators, please feel free to merge or delete this post

My parents are also saying to go for option D - Fall of 2008. I feel it is a very important decision and I don't want to rush into it. But I just feel that I will have "lost" a year if I don't get admission into a top school - the only reason I will have waited another year.

I see your point in not to worry about loans but I have spent the past few years getting rid of car loans, credit card debt and undegrad school loans and it was no fun. Being loan free is very liberating, and I figure if I can boost my income potential while mitigating the loans undertaken, it might not be a bad pursuit. Living in the US definitely makes the finances easier but I still am FAR away from being able to afford a these top B-school tuitions:neutral:

I appreciate your input. I am getting many contrasting opinions from my well-wishers, colleagues, friends and supervisors, so I figure I should ask others who have gone thru similar problems. Thanks!