I’m considering doing an MBA degree (after I finish with my BS), so I’m trying to gather an idea on the viability of some options that I have in mind. From what I was able to see, Universities looks for students with a rich background and I think that my case is not the one of a typical student. There seems to be a lot of users with a lot of knowledge in this admission area, so I will appreciate any comments on my situation.
Regarding me: I recently turned 29 years. I came to the US 2 years ago from Argentina (hispanic/latino seems to be a plus, specially if you weren’t born here and are from a country that doesn’t have many applicants). I have been working since I left high school, so I have over 10 years of experience in IT. I didn’t have a bachelor’s degree, so when I came here I started mine at WGU that I should complete next year. I have a lot of IT certifications (around 18), most of them done in the last 2 years. Currently I’m working as a Network Security Engineer at one of the largest utilities companies in the country. My profile is of course mainly technical, but I have been leading projects and similar. On a side note, this company sponsored me a visa so I could stay here. This was done just a few months after I started working for them. I’m not really looking to do the MBA for salary reasons, I’m earning well above 6 figures so I’m not planning to quit working.
The thing is, I’m seeing there is no more room to improve in my career, all the positions I’m offered will end up being similar, so I’m planning to move forward in a more strategic/management position and a MBA seems to be the way to go. As I said, I’m not planning to quit working, so the options I was checking out are online (University of Illinois, University of North Carolina, University of Michigan Dearborn) that I will be paying from my own pocket. There is another option and it’s regarding Executive MBAs (I have more years than they usually require, but I wasn’t able to find if they are specifically looking for management experience or overall work experience in your field works fine).
In either case, I’m in Philadelphia, so there are several options here for a more face-to-face experience like Carnegie, Temple, PennState, even Wharton. All of these options are expensive, way more than I’m willing to pay, so… questions. I know there are a lot of variables in place (like getting a really great GMAT, above the school average), so I’m looking an overall feel, not a definitive answer.
- How likely is I will get some scholarship with my background?
- Full scholarship could be granted to someone with my profile?
- Executive MBAs have the same rules regarding scholarship or they are usually sponsored through a company? Executive MBA at Wharton looks nice, but of course, it's like 200k.
The online options aren’t cheap either, but I could cover them without aid and they serve my purpose (UNC seems to be the most expensive there), but, I’m seeing usually universities offer some aid (I didn’t know it worked like this, so I’m not familiarized with how they work) and maybe I could try to get into a better local program if they are willing to cover most of the fees.
Thanks for reading my wall of text!