Quitting job to go back to school?

[txeconomist]

I am currently working for a pretty good energy company in Houston in its Strategy & Market Analysis group. I don’t hate it but I don’t love it either. I am considering quitting my job and going back to school to get an MBA. I have applied to UT, UVA, Rice, Washington University in St. Louis, and the UT-Professional/ Weekend deal in Houston. So, all of the options above would require me to quit my job except the UT-Weekend MBA option. As of now, I have been accepted into the UT weekend program and Rice with a ½ scholarship, and I am waiting to hear back from the others (UVA is probably a ding). Upon graduation I’d probably like to get into some risk management/ trading/ structuring role at an energy/ commodity based company or maybe energy ibanking.

I was pretty much set on going full-time as I always was under the impression that was generally the best route but I am starting to get cold feet. The two years of salary I would forego, the debt I would accrue, and the uncertainty upon graduation is starting to really set in. I would probably prefer to go full-time, as this would probably help me make my career transition the fastest, but I just don’t know. Would I be crazy to quit my job in this economy to go get an MBA from what honestly are less then sure-fire career boosting schools?

 

[Namewithheld]

When I was in Fort Worth in the mid-late 80s I had a BS/MS from UT Austin in Engineering but I went to UT(Arlington) for 3 years at night for my MBA. It crimps your social life (I wasn't married then) but I did it at night and I basically had to take 60 hours since most of my Engineering courses didn't transfer/translate to business courses. I did test out of a few though. Just my $.02 Good Luck

BTW will your company pay for you to go at night/weekends or you on your own? If your company is big enough there are some who pay for you to go full-time with some commitment.

 

[theiioftx]

How many years of experience do you have? Rice has a weekend EMBA program that is outstanding and most energy companies pay the tuition.

If you want more information, let me know..

 

[TexasGolf]

IMO, not a good time to quit any job regardless of how much you do not like it. Houston is a great city to be working in...keep doing that and do school part time. You are on a good course, do not jump off. Best of luck.

 

[txeconomist]

Re: “BTW will your company pay for you to go at night/weekends or you on your own? If your company is big enough there are some who pay for you to go full-time with some commitment.”

My company will pay around 10-12K of the 86K tuition if I go part time.

Re: “How many years of experience do you have? Rice has a weekend EMBA program that is outstanding and most energy companies pay the tuition.”

I have about 5-6 years of experience. I don’t think that I will get any more money out of my company.

Another thing that might be worth considering is that there is a big tuition price differential. The fulltime program at Rice would run about 43K with the scholarship assistance. The weekend program at UT would run about 86K. I wish I had been able to apply to both of the part time and fulltime programs at Rice as I like Rice’s curriculum a little bit more than that of UT’s.

 

[zork]

Think really long about this type of decision. That goes without saying but you want to assess the risk-reward of the decision really well. What type of salary/position will you have if you get this MBA compared with the extra 2-3 years in your present situation or with a competitor?

Good luck, whatever you decide.

 

[texaszete]

I'm not too familiar with your jobs, but as someone in a full time program right now I can offer these comments.

How common is it for someone to make the jump from your current job to the one you want without getting a degree? If it's relatively common, then the part-time program should be fine. If it's not common or difficult, go to the full-time program. I have a couple of friends who did part-time degrees and now regret it because they don't have the flexibility to change careers easily. The full-time program gives you the chance to do an internship which is critical for a lot of companies since it's a short commitment to test you out, especially if you're a career changer.

It was really easy for me to change my career with a full-time program, and it was only easy because I was able to have an internship somewhere.

 

[Scipio Tex]

It seems to me you get a MBA to:

1. Check a box that advances your career
2. Facilitate a career change
3. Take a break from work and rethink your life direction in a socially acceptable way, easily explicable to a future employer
4. Because it's "what's done"

I pondered doing a MBA, but every time I ran the opportunity cost and factored in where I already was vs. what it would theoretically yield, it just didn't compute.

Those are all good schools, at least.

 

[txeconomist]

Re: “What type of salary/position will you have if you get this MBA compared with the extra 2-3 years in your present situation or with a competitor?”

I am getting an MBA part time or full time… but If I worked for the next two years, I would think that I would achieve a salary typical of those from the previously mentioned schools. I would probably have to jump companies and stay in a similar role…which I don’t really want to do. That’s my whole reason of getting an MBA. If my main goal is to get a new job, then why not do it in a way to best leverage all my time and resources…? Yes, it expensive to make this happen though…

I think it will much tougher getting into some of the more premium MBA jobs such as ibanking or consulting if I don’t go full time. Ibanking and consulting typically pay a good deal more than the average MBA salary. Both are tough to get into and are by no means a sure thing even if you do awesome in school. Honestly, I might not be cut out for ibanking for more than just a couple of years anyways.

RE: “How common is it for someone to make the jump from your current job to the one you want without getting a degree?”

Id say all are relatively tough to get into without some sort of experience. This is why I think that going full-time might be the way to go. I will be able to give myself the best odds to get some sort of focused experience through an internship…To get something in the realm of energy trading, I honestly don’t know if getting an MBA at all will do much for me. Its pretty much a what can you do for me now type business. You can help me make money or you cannot. For consulting and ibanking, going to business school full time I think is the typical route as the company’s typical hire from the pool of interns they take in.

RE: “I pondered doing a MBA, but every time I ran the opportunity cost and factored in where I already was vs. what it would theoretically yield, it just didn't compute.”

If you are happy with what you are doing, then yea it probably doesn’t make sense; I don’t think that going back to business school is purely financial decision. I just know I don’t want to do what Ive been doing over the last 3 years for the next ten years… and if I really want to do something different Ive always been under the impression that going full time is the way to go as you will be able to maximize your resources and networking. But, I’d say going full-time was the standard a few years ago… now the economy sucks and 1/5 of the people in school come out with a donut.

 

[general35]

The weekend program at UT would run about 86K.
________________________________________________

good lord it it that high now? i had a friend that did it 10 years ago for about 30k. rice has a good program and a lot of affiliations with the local energy sector if you want ti stay in that industry.

 

[txeconomist]

Yea, the weekend UT program is 86K and the Rice program is about the same but I got a half scholly for the full time program so my tuition at Rice would be ~43K. Professional programs are really expensive I guess because the ExxonMobil’s of the world pick up the bill for so many people and I guess because the schools know you have disposable income because you are working… thus they charge more.

From my back of the envelope calculations, going full time is more expensive (obviously) but once you figure what you would have made AFTER taxes and then subtract that ~45K extra tuition of going part-time… the bullet is somewhat easier to bite.

 

[texaszete]

If you're interested in energy trading, I wouldn't discount an MBA helping you get there. I did a rotational trading internship at a large investment bank last summer and crude oil/refined products was one of my rotations. They alone hired 4 interns full-time for next year with 1 of them headed to Houston. Power and Natural Gas trading also hired a few guys.

I know Chevron has a rotational MBA internship program, you work in the finance department, ops, etc., and I think one of the rotations was within energy trading.

ExxonMobil had something similar when I spoke with them. I know Constellation Energy you typically don't start as an energy trader, but if you work there for a few years in the finance department you can certainly get in there.

So I guess it all depends on what kind of energy you want to trade and whether you want to trade the physical product or financial contracts in terms of timeline to get there. But in all scenarios of energy trading, the full-time MBA will be much more advantageous, especially if you get into McCombs.

 

[Vince4Heisman]

I am now in energy trading, (nat gas), and have an MBA but having the MBA basically didnt mean anything for me...just getting the opportunity and making the most of it was the key and being in the trenches was the best way to make that happen..sounds like you are already there if energy trading is what you want to do..now if you want to do invenstment banking then maybe it would be worth it....not sure what obama is going to do with the banks and trading also, if they all go away it could be tougher to get back into the industry as a lot of people with experience will be on the streets

 

[Djibouti, Djibouti]

I don't have an MBA...wish I had time to get one, but that's a different story.

anyways, I do have a law degree and am a member of the bar. that said, I'm not exactly practicing law. I'm involved in an "industry" where being a lawyer isn't necessary, but it sure does help.

and that's only really short term thinking. for the long hall, I'm really glad I went back and did the extra school as I have the ability to shift gears as necessary.

so...you might not "need" the MBA to get the gig you want, but it sure won't hurt in the pursuit. I can tell you right now that I moved up to the front of the line for my job solely because I was a lawyer.

to me, going back for the grad degree provided a couple of years of reflection and the ability to really think things through on my goals and potential destinations. it does set you back financially, but I feel like I'm in a much better place.

 

[ImissWallyPryor]

Believe me, when you're pushing 50, the difference between having spent 2 years or 3 or 4 seems pretty insignificant. I'd lean towards the weekend programs even if it takes another year or two.