<p>Good morning everyone (or good afternoon to you Central/East Coasters)!</p>
<p>I've been pondering my part-time MBA options over the last couple of months and in the meantime have begun the planning/studying for it and the GMAT. I would love to hear others' opinions of my situation...</p>
<p>I think one would definitely consider me a non-traditional MBA-pursuer. I am hoping to go into a program that has either an entrepreneurship, non-profit, or corporate social responsibility MBA program. </p>
<p>To start, I have four specific career goals and intend to meet all of these in the coming years (mostly post-MBA):
(1) To be an executive for a large natural health-focused company (e.g. Clif Bar, Smart/Vitaminwater, Hain/Celestial, etc.)
(2) To be an Executive Director/high-level exec. for a large non-profit (e.g. Sierra Club, NRDC, Red Cross, LA/SF Zoo, etc.)
(3) To develop my currently small-time homeless project into a non-profit
(4) To start my own business (two thoughts on this, will give more detail if necessary)</p>
<p>I got my B.Sc. in a self-designed program of Environmental Education from University of Maryland, College Park 10 years ago. I am currently a training/recruiting/customer care manager for a dot com near LAX and live in LA's SF Valley. I have approximately 10-12 years of work experience that includes management, teaching/training, non-profits, high-end retail, customer service, etc. </p>
<p>I am currently taking math classes to refresh myself on long under-used math skills. I have not yet taken the GMAT. I plan to take several Algebra and Stats classes as well as a Princeton Review/Kaplan program in the least before taking the GMAT this winter. I am also studying for it w/ the books on my own. </p>
<p>Here is my dilemma:</p>
<p>The schools that I am focusing on are UCLA- Anderson, Cal Berkeley- Haas, and Pepperdine- Graziadio. </p>
<p>In order to complete the prereqs for Haas (e.g. specific Calculus and Stats classes), I will probably not be able to apply for the Fall '08 year. I would instead be applying for the Fall '09 year. Assuming I got in, this is a 3 year program that would mean that I would not be done until '11 at the earliest. It would of course require a move to NorCal (oh what a hardship), new home (we rent here), new job and convincing my husband to move up there. He is in animation at Nickelodeon and hopes to work for Pixar (in the Bay area) at some point but everything would have to fall in line with great precision for this to work. It's not impossible, but it would be a bit of a challenge.</p>
<p>UCLA doesn't have prereqs but they do suggest a pretty secure math/stat background so I would probably take the same classes before I started there. I could perhaps apply for Fall '08 but it might be more likely to work for Fall '09. It of course is only slightly behind Cal in the MBA rankings.</p>
<p>Pepperdine's biggest drawback is its lack of immediate recognition/national stats that put it on the "best b-schools" lists. It does say that it is "top 20 in US by US N&WR, etc. but it of course doesn't have the reputation that UCLA and Cal have. Advantages are: rolling admission/3 start times each year, no prereqs, a guaranteed $12,000 scholarship, a two year program, and a campus near to my house. </p>
<p>Sorry for this incredibly long post, but I wanted to make sure all the info was there to get good, solid opinions from the masses. :)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your thoughts!</p>