-Any PhD worth doing will be funded.
-An MBA MAY be funded by an employer but it depends on the type of employer. To get into an MBA with, say, an English major, you’re better off applying from Williams or UChicago and from a 3-year stint at the type of employer who wants to hire Williams/UChic/ivy English majors.
-None of the schools you listed as ‘likelies’ are ‘likelies’. They’re ‘reach for everyone’ due to their acceptance rate.
- If you want a close relationship with professors you may be better off at LACs (perhaps also Princeton/Yale?) but certainly not a large Texas public university, unless you got Plan II.