MBA or M.S. ?

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>Im currently an undergrad finance major at Texas A&M. My school has an M.S. program in marketing that's 38 hours and that accepts students with no work experience. Average GMAT score is 620 (Its competitive though, only 35 spots per year): Mays</a> Business School :: Master of Science in Marketing</p>

<p>MBAs by contrast take 48 hours and the good schools expect quality work experience. The site claims that the average salary for 2006 graduates was $62k, and for 2007 grads was $65k (Mays</a> Business School :: MS/MKTG FAQ</p>

<p>Assuming I score high enough on the GMAT, should I do this program instead of getting an MBA? Im definitely interested in marketing, but I want to get the best value, and im not sure how MSs are treated.</p>

<p>Let's say I'm approaching this purely from the standpoint of which will offer me greater financial returns. An MBA student at A&M starts at a mean of 87,000 a year. (<a href="http://mba.tamu.edu/multimedia/MBA07placement.pdf)%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mba.tamu.edu/multimedia/MBA07placement.pdf)&lt;/a>, and has an average GMAT of ~640.</p>

<p>So that's an extra 22k in salary, but we also have to take into consideration that those MBA grads probably have 3-5 years work experience on average.</p>

<p>So all other things equal, would I have better prospects at age 30 with a marketing focused MBA or an M.S. in marketing?</p>

2

<p>I was looking at undergrad finance or maybe accounting at Mays. Marketing seems like it would be the most fun, but least marketable of the those three. I was also considering a BA in economics.</p>

<p>As an A&M student can you give me some advice as to which I should aim for? Do you have any regrets about anything you chose? Do the finance majors get good opportunities for work at A&M? What about the others?</p>

<p>I was also looking at an MBA afterward and was also discouraged to learn how slim my chances of getting into a good program were without taking a few years off to work first.</p>

3

<p>I chose finance because because it was more interesting than accounting and more lucrative than marketing. marketing's the easiest, but the job prospects are nowhere near finance and accounting.</p>