<p>My employer is willing to pay for the full tuition, housing allowance, and other expenses if I choose to get a full-time MBA from W&M, in exchange of me extending three years of the contract with my company. I like my company, and I do not mind working here for more years. Also, getting a free MBA would be nice. </p>
<p>However, I am 26 and I feel still young. If I try hard, I definitely have a good chance at top MBA programs; probably tough for top 10, but ones like Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Rice...etc I have no reason not to get in. Of course, I will pay it out of my pocket, but at the same time, I feel that my potential will be much higher by getting an MBA from one of these schools. </p>
<p>W&M MBA seems decent, but it is not in the top 30. It's ranked 47th by Forbes, 82 by USNEWS and 59th by Businessweek. </p>
<p>What would you do if you were me? </p>
<p>Would the company’s offer extend to those other schools? What is the cost difference? In my opinion, it is a generous offer from the company, and other employers will look at work experience, not just the school you graduate from The question is, is it worth it to you? Keep in mind that you’d have to be admitted to the program as well.</p>
<p>It’s a choice left up to the individual, but through the years, I’ve learned to look at more than just rankings when looking at the quality of a program</p>
<p>Are Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Rice extremely more prestigious than W&M? I would say “no”.</p>
<p>You could certainly argue that they’d open more doors (at least Goizueta in and around Atlanta/Charlotte, McDonough on the East Coast, Mendoza in Chicago/East Coast, and Rice in TX), but if you pay for yourself, that’s a big chunk of money. If you’re going to do that, why not aim for an M7 (or at least top 15) b-school?</p>
<p>If you’re not aiming that high, might as well take that very generous offer (and it <em>is</em> very generous).</p>
<p>Once you leave the top tiers, rankings are fairly useless and as @shawnspencer said, it’s really about the program and the relationships that the MBA program has with employers.</p>
I would choose the MBA program at William and Mary. While you can argue Georgetown is better for business there are other ways to stand out without going into debt. Compare student A who graduated from the William and Mary program with honors and took leadership initiative vs Student B who drifted by and just passed the Georgetown program. The honors student at William and Mary would stick out to me.As PurpleTitan stated you are not comparing William and Mary to Columbia or a school at the M7 level. Take the free MBA.