<p>I have a friend who is a computer engineer who has a full-time job at a top firm in the Pacific Northwest. She's applying for several FT MBA programs, mostly out-of-state and far from her current job, which means that she is planning to leave her job. Her manager knows that she is planning on applying for a MBA program, since she has asked her manager to write her a letter of reference but the manager seems to be assuming that she's applying for local part-time/night-time MBA classes, since they've had some discussions on taking on more managerial roles or leadership positions in the company.</p>
<p>She wants to leave her job on good terms and does not want her manager to retract her letter of reference or ruin her relationship with the manager. How can she explain why she's leaving her job to enroll in a FT MBA program? Note that the manager does not know what school she's applying to since she has not sent out the referral links yet, since she wants to take the GMAT first. </p>
<p>Honesty is the best policy. Tell the manager she’s changed her mind and is thinking FT programs now. She won’t be the first one to ask her manager to write a reference letter and intends to leave her job. Most full time MBA applicants do that.</p>
<p>True, but many of those applicants come from jobs where people are pretty much expected to leave at some point to go to business school (e.g., consulting firms). This young woman is a computer engineer, so the situation is a little more touchy. </p>
<p>Actually, about 30% of MBA applicants have engineering undergrad degrees. Many see engineering-MBA as the perfect combination. Most MBA graduates at top schools go into these 3 main industries, financial services, consulting and technology.
Surprisingly many engineers in all fields want to go into financial services as their main goal for obtaining an MBA degree.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the advice! My friend took the GMAT and is fine with her score. She’s scared to talk to her manager, because her manager seems to be a little volatile in nature. She’s still applying to both local PT and out-of-state FT programs but doesn’t know how her manager will react. </p>
<p>To complicate the issue, she’s recently heard rumors in the workplace of a potential reorg, so people maybe given voluntary severance packages or be laid off, and she doesn’t want to be marked as a potential candidate for being terminated. I advised her that the truth is that she’s trying to keep her options open while she’s young (she’s in her mid-20s) and to tell her manager that or wait out another year at work until after the reorg passes, but she wants to tell her manager that she has a boyfriend in another state, which is a story that doesn’t seem to hold under scrutiny, and is feeling pressure from her parents to obtain an MBA ASAP. </p>
<p>I’m confused. She is worry about potential layoff and she is applying for a full time MBA, why? It doesn’t make sense. Maybe it’s best to ask someone else if her boss is volatile.</p>