Weekend MBA Question (Florida)

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FloridaGator

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What are your thoughts on a weekend MBA program? I am 27 years old with about 5 years experience as a an analyst and relationship manager for a large commercial bank. I am a CFA charterholder and am not horribly anxious to quit my job or relocate at this time in my life, but would like to add an MBA to my resume.
As you can tell by my name, I went to Florida undergrad and am considering their 16-month weekend MBA program (it’s about a 2 hour drive from me). Florida is currently ranked the 37th best MBA program by USNews. I am perfectly comfortable with the thought of not having a top-10 school on my resume, and would like to stay in Florida long-term.
All signs point to this being a good option for me, but was wondering on everyone else’s thoughts on a mid-tier weekend MBA, and whether it’s really worth the trouble or not, given I already have my CFA charter. I’d like to “check off the MBA box” but I don’t know in the end how beneficial it would be.
Does anyone have experience in a simliar program? I appreciate everyone’s thoughts.
 
I never saw the value of getting your BBA and MBA from the same school, but in FL I guess you don’t have many other decent choices.
 
You probably won’t get a lot out of the finance course (with a few exceptions), but getting a better feel for operations, strategy, marketing, etc - the things that ultimately drive a company’s success and value are good to know for anyone.
 
How far are you from Emory? They are a respected (top 20-ish) program and they have an accelerated (1 yr) FT MBA program. They probably have a PT MBA.
Lets face it - UF is a football school and I didn’t even know they had an MBA. I don’t see it adding value for a CFA. You’re in a tough situation because the only good MBA programs down south are Duke, Emory & UNC, and to a lesser extent, Vanderbilt.
I think Duke has a distance learning MBA. It might involve occasional travel to Durham.
 
Since you seem to be content with your job & location I would probably take the gmat and start-up the application process. You don’t have to make a hard choice right now since it doesn’t seem like having an MBA will be dealbreaker for your career.
But you never know what the future might entail and your wants might change 5 or 10 years from now. Take the gmat, start preparing essays, recs, and give yourself some time.
 
UMiami has a good MBA program. Not top 20 or 30 but has churned out some high placing execs.
 
I think Kellogg has some sort of weekend/executive MBA program that has recently been launched in the Miami area…might be worth looking into.
 
nuppal Wrote:
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> UMiami has a good MBA program. Not top 20 or 30
> but has churned out some high placing execs.
Miami does have a good program that has been climbing the rankings the past few years…although not yet top 30. Not sure if a Florida Gator would consider going to The U though.
 
Another key factor is my company will pay a good chunk of in-state tution. Total out of pocket costs to me for the UF MBA would be about $15,000. Thanks for everyone’s input.
 
I did Executive MBA @ Fordham. Not really ranked anywhere that I can see. The firm that I was at closed in 2007 right as this stuff started. It took me 6 months to find another job and I got it specificially because I had an MBA and had passed LVL I. I recently took another job that I would not have gotten without my MBA.
Go for it. It cant hurt. Everyone on my desk told me I was crazy that the CFA and MBA means nothing if its not a top 10 school. It means a lot to me now as many of those same people are either out of the business or still out of work.
 
If the company is going to help pay and you’ll get the in-state rate, then I say do it. You’ve got the CFA charter, a good job that you’re not anxious to leave, and you want to stay in FL. As you’ve probably already experienced, UF is an immensely popular school in FL and might even take you further (in Florida) than a top midwestern/northeastern school just b/c of the extensive alumni network in FL. It’s possible.
Also, keeping tens of thousands of dollars in your pocket (or not borrowing it from lenders) has a higher value to you now than a slightly better job that you only got b/c you went to a better university than UF. The MBA isn’t a guaranteed meal ticket anymore, so go with something respectable (not U of Phoenix) and do it on the cheap (don’t drag it out, let your company pay for as much of it as possible).
Just my 2 cents. Good luck!
 
FloridaGator Wrote:
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> Thanks Edge, I’m leaning towards it.
FG, aren’t you in ATL? Did you end up putting your qualification with the M4 on your CV?
If so, how did it go over?
 
buyicide Wrote:
——————————————————-
> How far are you from Emory? They are a respected
> (top 20-ish) program and they have an accelerated
> (1 yr) FT MBA program. They probably have a PT
> MBA.
>
> Lets face it - UF is a football school and I
> didn’t even know they had an MBA. I don’t see it
> adding value for a CFA. You’re in a tough
> situation because the only good MBA programs down
> south are Duke, Emory & UNC, and to a lesser
> extent, Vanderbilt.
>
> I think Duke has a distance learning MBA. It
> might involve occasional travel to Durham.
IGNORANT POST OF THE DAY!
 
you’re funny. I’ll kill you last.
Here is the latest BW MBA ranking. Duke is top 10. UNC top 20. Emory top 25. Vanderbilt # 30.
I did not mention UVA Darden (I will be applying there myself) because it is nowhere near FL. I missed 1 truly “southern” program in the top 30 - Georgia tech. And I would still take Vandy in a heartbeat over tech (People on Wall Street have heard of it and Stephon Marbury never went there).
I’d say my assessment of southern mba’s is spot on. So, what was ignorant? Do you think the UF MBA is good? Seriously? It’s probably worth $15K but I would never call it good.
Top 30 U.S. Programs
1 University of Chicago (Booth)
2 Harvard University
3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
5 University of Michigan (Ross)
6 Stanford University
7 Columbia University
8 Duke University (Fuqua)
9 MIT (Sloan)
10 UC Berkeley (Haas)
11 Cornell University (Johnson)
12 Dartmouth (Tuck)
13 NYU (Stern)
14 UCLA (Anderson)
15 Indiana University (Kelley)
16 University of Virginia (Darden)
17 UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
18 Southern Methodist (Cox)
19 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
20 University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
21 Texas - Austin
22 Brigham Young (Marriott)
23 Emory University (Goizueta)
24 Yale University
25 University of Southern California (Marshall)
26 University of Maryland (Smith)
27 University of Washington (Foster)
28 Washington University (Olin)
29 Georgia Tech
30 Vanderbilt University (Owen)
 
honestly you guys overplay rankings quite abit. A big chunk of the value of an MBA is the networking; if you want to remain in FL, then going to one of the better FL schools (eg, UM or UF) is your best bet.
 
cjones65 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> FloridaGator Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> > Thanks Edge, I’m leaning towards it.
>
>
> FG, aren’t you in ATL? Did you end up putting your
> qualification with the M4 on your CV?
>
> If so, how did it go over?
I’m in Tampa.
 
So you never lived in ATL?
What about the M4 qualification … did you use it on your resume or not?
 
You must have my confused with someone else. I’ve never lived in Atlanta and don’t know what the M4 qualification is. What is it?
 
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