Sorry; this might be long…
DS is currently an undergrad CS major at a large state flagship, which he is attending on a nearly full-ride academic scholarship. He is in a program that is considered quite prestigious for that school and has a great regional reputation, and is also in a pre-MBA program which so far has entailed taking one business class per semester. He has been very pleased with the opportunities he has been afforded at school, and has especially enjoyed his business classes. He is not 100% set on a career path, but wants to somehow combine computers and entrepreneurship.
After Christmas break, the professor in charge of the MBA program asked my son if he would be interested in accelerating his undergrad degree and applying for grad school admission for the class of 2017. DS thought, “Why not?”, and has spent the last few weeks arranging for LORs, interviewing with the grad school, and registering for the GMAT. Long story short, yesterday he took the GMAT with very little prep and scored a 740 (49Q/42V with 8/8 IR). Needless to say, we were pretty happy.
With that GMAT score (and a 3.97 GPA), DS is assured of having grad school paid for at his current school, which he likes and which has been fine for undergrad, but is a Tier 3 business school. However, I am thinking that DS might be better served to work for a couple of years after getting his BS in CS, then apply to a top tier business school, even if we have to pay for it. DS also wants to get his MS in CS, so another option is to have him get the “free” MBA from his current school, then his MS from a top tier program (we can really only afford to pay for one graduate degree). He can also probably get the MS paid for at his current school, but again, it isn’t top-tier.
I would love to hear your opinions and suggestions about what order DS should pursue his graduate degrees in, and whether the MBA or MS would be better to have from a higher-ranked school, or if he should just pursue the degrees from his current school. I have no employment experience with the corporate world, so value any input that will help DS make the most of his future.