I posted this at Poets&Quants, but apparently they’re napping over there. I hope it gets some takers here, because I really do need answers. As an artsy-fartsy mom, I find that this whole MBA World is strange and uncharted territory, so I welcome all the advice I can get.
My question in a nutshell: What’s more worthwhile for career plans (short- and long-term): an MA in Management at a name-brand school OR an MBA at a slightly lower-ranked school?
Here’s the backstory. (Warning: long post. I write for a living; it’s a professional liability.)
My older son has just graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama with a double major in History and Classics. (He attended on a National Merit scholarship, which covered most of his expenses. Yes, I am a proud, braggy mama.)
Well, anyway, like many liberal-arts grads, my son really didn’t have a clue what to do after graduation. He knew he did not want to go to law school, but that was about it. So, he applied to a liberal-arts MA program at Alabama (very late but still got in; no $$$); to the Masters in Market Research program at UGA (admitted with $17K scholarship); to the Manderson (Univ of Alabama) MBA program; and to Wake Forest’s pre-experience MA in Management program. (The latter, as I’m sure you know, is designed to ease nerdy liberal-arts grads into the Real World of gainful employment.)
He figured it was kind of a crap shoot. Whoever offered the most scholarship money would get his Letter of Intent and non-refundable deposit.
Well, long story short, two programs offered him substantial scholarship packages: Wake Forest and Manderson. (I should mention that my son has a very thin resume in terms of work experience, and that’s putting it charitably. He has had only two short-term summer jobs. But, despite next to no prep and a cavalier attitude, he did pretty well on the GRE — 166V, 160Q. Plus, he has a 3.96 GPA. I guess those stats impressed somebody. (Oh, he also had a fair number of ECs at Bama, too, for what that’s worth.)
Wake Forest is literally 20 minutes away from us, so, if he did the MA in Management program there, he could live at home and save on expenses. OTOH, Manderson’s scholarship/stipend/etc. basically covers tuition for two years. (The Wake package covers about two-thirds of tuition.) However, that leaves living expenses in Tuscaloosa. From a $$$ POV, it’s a wash.
So, here’s the big question: What’s more valuable, more practical, in career terms: the 10-month MA in Management program at Wake Forest OR the two-year MBA at Manderson? As an institution, Wake Forest has the better reputation. (Well, OK, not in Division 1 Football, maybe, but in the rankings. :)) OTOH, though, we’re talking MBA vs. MIM.
My son figures Manderson wins by a mile, even though it’s #67 in US News rankings (about 58 in Forbes rankings); whereas Wake Forest is around #45. But, because we’re all liberal-artsy types in our family, we thought we’d check with people who actually know about this stuff. Please advise. Thanks in advance!
(BTW, I assume y’all are well aware that Wake Forest no longer has a traditional day-time MBA program, so that wasn’t even an option. And it didn’t occur to my son to apply to any other MBA programs, let alone an elite one. [See “thin resume,” above.])
Thanks!
[[Lady Dianeski]]
