I'm starting MBA!

I applied a couple of months ago to an MBA and yesterday got a letter that I'm accepted! It's a form of an executive MBA of Georgia State University - Professional MBA. The classes start at January and the entire learning program will take two years. The schedule is quite acceptable for me: every other Thursday evening and full days of Saturdays and I hope my intensive travels won't make me missing many classes. Now a few thoughts that drove me to looking for an MBA and to applying to PMBA of GSU.

• Why MBA? Starting a transition from technology to business I felt a heavy shortage of business knowledge (let alone experience). Not disputing a version that everything can be learned on your own I still believe that interactions with professors and in-class discussions are very valuable. Networking with classmates and an alumni network stand on the second place of MBA attractions and a formal line in the resume stands on the third place.
• Why executive? Theoretically speaking there are few options in choosing MBA: online, part-time, executive, and full-time. I didn't mention that though I decided to shift towards the business area I don't want to change the profession: no desire to work in McKinsey or a top financial company. Hence the importance of full time MBA wasn't so relevant for my case. Going to the other side of the MBA spectrum I excluded the online option. It's too similar to self-learning and the value of a diploma is arguable. The part-time route was opted out for two reasons: a long term of completion and relatively fresh students comparing to executive MBA. The latter fits my objectives great: enough communication with students and professors, relatively short program, and experienced classmates to learn from.
• Why GSU? Even among executive MBA there were quite a few options. Criteria for choosing candidates were trivial this time: proximity and cost. Living in Atlanta I couldn't consider attending Kellog's MBA every other week so the options squeezed to a few where either schools were in Atlanta or a schedule was modular (consisting of week-length modules split by a few-month self-learning periods). I had on the list: Duke, Emory, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State with corresponding tuitions in neighborhoods of 130, 85, 60, and 35 grands correspondingly. In hi-tech companies there is very little attention paid to a diploma of MBA so from a financial perspective investing $100K to MBA won't stand a test of return. I chose GSU since it's a solid school with strong curriculum, mature students, convenient schedule and location, and acceptable price.

It won't be an overstatement if I say that I'm happy to be accepted and to become a student after 12 years again. The next two years will be hard years for me and my family but I'm excited by the challenges and hope we'll all get dividends later. By November I have to take 4 online preparation courses and then we have a 5 day boot-camp. The first semester starts in January. I've started a new category on the blogs so stay tuned:-)

Technorati tags: MBA, GSU, PMBA