Marquette MBA

[FruitStandJim]

Hello all,

First time posting on this board, hopefully this thread is in the right forum. I currently live in NW Illinois, but may be relocating to the Milwaukee area in a few months. I'm also planning on beginning the pursuit of my MBA in the Fall. So naturally, I've started the process to look into Marquette as an option.

Just looking to see if anyone here has gone through the program and has any tips/pointers or anything that they might find helpful.

I'm a Saluki (did my undergrad at SIU) and I've pretty much forgotten what it feels like to watch a good, well-coached basketball team. I'll be watching and rooting for Marquette tonight. And for anyone who can respond to my request above, thanks much!

[Efficient Frontier]

Hello all,

First time posting on this board, hopefully this thread is in the right forum. I currently live in NW Illinois, but may be relocating to the Milwaukee area in a few months. I'm also planning on beginning the pursuit of my MBA in the Fall. So naturally, I've started the process to look into Marquette as an option.

Just looking to see if anyone here has gone through the program and has any tips/pointers or anything that they might find helpful.

I'm a Saluki (did my undergrad at SIU) and I've pretty much forgotten what it feels like to watch a good, well-coached basketball team. I'll be watching and rooting for Marquette tonight. And for anyone who can respond to my request above, thanks much!

I'd look to UW-Madison or UWM first. Madison ranked higher with a broader national awareness, and UWM cheaper without any loss of cache.

IMO the MU MBA needs to pick a lane: be best in state or drop the price or program.

[2012 Warrior]

As a current MU MBAer, Efficient is not far off. They have just re-evaluated the program and seem to be streamlining it this (2017) fall.  The new curriculum should cut the cost by 20-30% depending if your a business undergrad.

My choice came down to work is paying for it. So price I didn't care a ton about (aka not going to UW-Mke). And I have too much disdain for UW-Msn (better dead than red). The program that did peak my interest more was Northwesterns weekend program. Decided I didn't want to travel in the end.

As I said agree with Efficients post above about it not being a top 25 program. But if location wins out or price doesn't matter to you, it's a good option. 

[keefe]

Here is my take on MBAs - getting a credential for the sake of getting one, any one, is a fool's game.

My advice is to take two years to invest in your career. Get into a top 20 program or don't bother.

 

[Tugg Speedman]

Commute to Evanston and go to Kellogg

[GGGG]

Here is my take on MBAs - getting a credential for the sake of getting one, any one, is a fool's game.

My advice is to take two years to invest in your career. Get into a top 20 program or don't bother.

I agree with this. 

Or if you are getting one simply for a credential, get one from the cheapest and most flexible one offered by an AACSB accredited school.  IOW, if it cheaper and fits your schedule better, UWM might be just as good as Marquette.

[Efficient Frontier]

Commute to Evanston and go to Kellogg

... if you can't get into Booth

[WarriorFan]

If you do an MBA before you get a real job most employers will think you did it because you couldn't get a job and at least one hiring manager (me) thinks it's meaningless.
If you do an MBA before you turn 30 you don't have enough experience to learn anything, and you definitely cannot contribute to the class.
My advice, wait until you're 35-40, do an executive MBA at a top 25 school, and use it to network, springboard your career or change career.  Read the ROI ratings, they are meaningful. 

[mu03eng]

I got my MBA from MU starting after 6 years of work experience and went back part time A) so I could keep working B) I still had a life C) my company paid $8k a year for tuition so I was spreading out the classes to minimize my out of pocket. All told, took me a little over 3 years to finish.

I got my MBA because I was making the transition from engineering lead to strategy/business lead at my company and having the paper put me in a position to get better transition roles than I might otherwise have gotten.

Having said that, 60-70% of what I "learned" at MU in the MBA program I had already learned in various roles at work or by other means. There is definitely classes that were more valuable than others like my negotiations course, etc but overall I'd say the experience was relatively blah. A lot of times it felt like both me and the course were trying to check a box. Additionally, by all accounts, a lot of the MBA programs are about networking and while I got some of that at MU the vast majority of all the students were doing part time as well and on their own schedules so it's not like you saw the same people all the time to build some of those relationships.

I got what I needed out of the program but I didn't need a ton so it worked. I originally wanted to do a distance learning program for MBA that had an in person component (majority of semesters were web classes but then every 4 months you had to come in for a 3-4 day weekend to do a bunch of in person projects/courses). Company wouldn't pay for that type of program otherwise I would have done that over MU.

Hope this helps.

[Babybluejeans]

Here is my take on MBAs - getting a credential for the sake of getting one, any one, is a fool's game.

My advice is to take two years to invest in your career. Get into a top 20 program or don't bother.

On point. I might even amend that to top 10 unless it's a regional powerhouse.

[Efficient Frontier]

On point. I might even amend that to top 10 unless it's a regional powerhouse.

If you are getting an MBA without a 100% for-sure idea of what you want to do after, an M7 school will minimize risk. The staying power of endowment, nobels, ranking and alumni are hard to disrupt, even by strong second-tier schools. In particular, these are more important if trying to get into banking/Private Equity/Consulting/etc.

Year-in and year-out these are the top 7 schools, unlike Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, or Haas (to name a few) who will briefly shoot up the rankings, only to return to the top-10 or top-15 spots. Also, generally, better idea to get an MBA from such a school young, so as to enjoy more years of increased salary/career options/etc.

List of M7 Schools:


Sources:
- Nobels by University: https://s1.postimg.org/46ry52gbz/MBA_Rank.png
- ROI by MBA: http://www.valuewalk.com/2016/09/chicago-booth-mba/
- Ranking (Economist): http://www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba-ranking
- Ranking (Financial Times): http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2016
- Ranking (USNews): https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/mba-rankings
- Ranking (Recruiters): http://poetsandquants.com/2014/01/16/how-recruiters-rank-mba-programs/2/

Edited:
Looks like Forbes does their own composite ranking of MBAs which shows the M7 as the top 7 programs:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2015/12/30/the-sum-of-all-the-business-school-rankings-of-2015/#50bdd13d5637

Doesn't mean those are the only great schools out there, but any movement among these schools is simply shuffling the top 7 spots.

[Efficient Frontier]

Hello all,

First time posting on this board, hopefully this thread is in the right forum. I currently live in NW Illinois, but may be relocating to the Milwaukee area in a few months. I'm also planning on beginning the pursuit of my MBA in the Fall. So naturally, I've started the process to look into Marquette as an option.

Just looking to see if anyone here has gone through the program and has any tips/pointers or anything that they might find helpful.

I'm a Saluki (did my undergrad at SIU) and I've pretty much forgotten what it feels like to watch a good, well-coached basketball team. I'll be watching and rooting for Marquette tonight. And for anyone who can respond to my request above, thanks much!

Bottom line for evaluating an MBA is to talk to people who are in and have completed the programs.

[jsglow]

I agree with the M7 analysis.  It opened doors for me that would have never been available with my undergrad out of MU. 

What blows me away these days is the price tag.  You guys don't want to know what my Booth MBA cost in the mid 80's.  (The college wasn't named back then, just GSB.)  I don't think I could do it today even with the inflation factor.  Of course at the time, the Hyde Park campus consisted of 4 classrooms and a student lounge in the Quad.  And the downtown campus (190 E. Delaware) was in a transformed downtown middle school.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I got my MBA from MU starting after 6 years of work experience and went back part time A) so I could keep working B) I still had a life C) my company paid $8k a year for tuition so I was spreading out the classes to minimize my out of pocket. All told, took me a little over 3 years to finish.

I got my MBA because I was making the transition from engineering lead to strategy/business lead at my company and having the paper put me in a position to get better transition roles than I might otherwise have gotten.

Having said that, 60-70% of what I "learned" at MU in the MBA program I had already learned in various roles at work or by other means. There is definitely classes that were more valuable than others like my negotiations course, etc but overall I'd say the experience was relatively blah. A lot of times it felt like both me and the course were trying to check a box. Additionally, by all accounts, a lot of the MBA programs are about networking and while I got some of that at MU the vast majority of all the students were doing part time as well and on their own schedules so it's not like you saw the same people all the time to build some of those relationships.

I got what I needed out of the program but I didn't need a ton so it worked. I originally wanted to do a distance learning program for MBA that had an in person component (majority of semesters were web classes but then every 4 months you had to come in for a 3-4 day weekend to do a bunch of in person projects/courses). Company wouldn't pay for that type of program otherwise I would have done that over MU.

Hope this helps.

Extra reseating points, ai-na?

[warriorchick]

Extra reseating points, ai-na?

[Babybluejeans]

I agree with the M7 analysis.  It opened doors for me that would have never been available with my undergrad out of MU. 

What blows me away these days is the price tag.  You guys don't want to know what my Booth MBA cost in the mid 80's.  (The college wasn't named back then, just GSB.)  I don't think I could do it today even with the inflation factor.  Of course at the time, the Hyde Park campus consisted of 4 classrooms and a student lounge in the Quad.  And the downtown campus (190 E. Delaware) was in a transformed downtown middle school.

Depending on where you are and where you want to go, Booth is in the small number of schools that are worth the price of admission for an MBA.

[JWags85]

I think its fair to extend outside the M7 to the Top 15 depending.  My cousin's husband went to Ross, namely due to scholarship opportunities, and his experience and network is just as good as if he went to M7.  The key is a strong network and alumni base.  Sure the price tag is high, but depending on your plans after, he said with signing bonuses and pay hikes, he and a lot of his classmates were paid off within 2-3 years.

Ive mentioned here that I went to a mid tier program.  Was a top 10 ranked part time program when I started, but that was clearly trading on prior prestige.  Wasn't super impressed by the curriculum nor peer group.  However it opened a door for my next job, cleared a hurdle, and helped me surpass most of my colleagues that I had fallen behind since graduation.  But I don't think the cost was purely worth it as I pay loans for the next 5 years still.

[martyconlonontherun]

If you do an MBA before you get a real job most employers will think you did it because you couldn't get a job and at least one hiring manager (me) thinks it's meaningless.
If you do an MBA before you turn 30 you don't have enough experience to learn anything, and you definitely cannot contribute to the class.
My advice, wait until you're 35-40, do an executive MBA at a top 25 school, and use it to network, springboard your career or change career.  Read the ROI ratings, they are meaningful.

So if you are hiring for a position and considering 2 mid 30-somethings for a position, one with a MBA (s)he got early and one who didn't have a MBA at all, you wouldn't think give any preferential treatment to the one with the degree? Do you closely look at the years the degrees were earned?

Also, any thoughts on an online MBA? I think the actual experience is really limited but I would imagine it would help check MBA box formality on some positions at a higher level.

[FruitStandJim]

Thanks for all of the responses all. I guess I can shed more light on my situation, and from there you can all tell me I'm an idiot or I'm on the right path in looking into an MBA.

I graduated from SIU with a degree in Finance. During my last year there, I worked alongside the controller of the Alumni Association. I completed a project that dealt with their investments. It was really cool because it directly tied to classes I was taking that year such as portfolio theory. In fact, I would go to my professor's office hours and help students with a big project we had since I was a leg up on them. Upon graduation, I considered staying down there and starting my MBA right away. After talking to peers and my boss at the time, I pretty much came to the conclusion that it would be a waste to pursue right out of undergrad (as someone had mentioned earlier in this thread). I ended up finding a job back in Chicago that I started right after graduating.

I work for a produce wholesaler. We buy produce from all around the country on a wholesale basis and sell it to retail and food service. We do actually sell to a few customers in Milwaukee (V Marchese and Tony Machi if anybody is familiar). My current title is Financial Director, and I'm in charge of all of the accounting that we do in-house. I report to the President and work alongside our CFO, as well as the accountant we use outside of the company to reconcile components of our balance sheet. We are a very small company of about 50 people, with 7 in our office. There are 2-3 people that report to me on a daily basis.

So why an MBA? Well first of all, in my eyes it will help me network and potentially leave my current job for a new one. I feel as if my work here is so specialized that it wouldn't really carry forward if I were to move on. Therefore getting an MBA would not only help me network, but also sharpen my business acumen on a broader scale. I'm also interested/excited to work with like-minded individuals on group projects and become a better leader that way.

As I mentioned earlier, I currently live in NW Illinois but may be relocating to Milwaukee. I've looked at several programs in Chicago, but some like Booth are just way out of my price range. My old roommate went to Booth, and the amount of money he had to borrow is something I don't think I could ever do. Even with my current salary (I make over 100K) and stability, I would crap my pants if I ever borrowed that much money for anything other than a house. I've looked into DePaul as well, but the cost there seems insanely high as well. Marquette seems to be in a comfortable price range for me, and without knowing much about it I figured it would be the best option in or near Milwaukee.

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate the time and help.

[Efficient Frontier]

Thanks for all of the responses all. I guess I can shed more light on my situation, and from there you can all tell me I'm an idiot or I'm on the right path in looking into an MBA.

I graduated from SIU with a degree in Finance. During my last year there, I worked alongside the controller of the Alumni Association. I completed a project that dealt with their investments. It was really cool because it directly tied to classes I was taking that year such as portfolio theory. In fact, I would go to my professor's office hours and help students with a big project we had since I was a leg up on them. Upon graduation, I considered staying down there and starting my MBA right away. After talking to peers and my boss at the time, I pretty much came to the conclusion that it would be a waste to pursue right out of undergrad (as someone had mentioned earlier in this thread). I ended up finding a job back in Chicago that I started right after graduating.

I work for a produce wholesaler. We buy produce from all around the country on a wholesale basis and sell it to retail and food service. We do actually sell to a few customers in Milwaukee (V Marchese and Tony Machi if anybody is familiar). My current title is Financial Director, and I'm in charge of all of the accounting that we do in-house. I report to the President and work alongside our CFO, as well as the accountant we use outside of the company to reconcile components of our balance sheet. We are a very small company of about 50 people, with 7 in our office. There are 2-3 people that report to me on a daily basis.

So why an MBA? Well first of all, in my eyes it will help me network and potentially leave my current job for a new one. I feel as if my work here is so specialized that it wouldn't really carry forward if I were to move on. Therefore getting an MBA would not only help me network, but also sharpen my business acumen on a broader scale. I'm also interested/excited to work with like-minded individuals on group projects and become a better leader that way.

As I mentioned earlier, I currently live in NW Illinois but may be relocating to Milwaukee. I've looked at several programs in Chicago, but some like Booth are just way out of my price range. My old roommate went to Booth, and the amount of money he had to borrow is something I don't think I could ever do. Even with my current salary (I make over 100K) and stability, I would crap my pants if I ever borrowed that much money for anything other than a house. I've looked into DePaul as well, but the cost there seems insanely high as well. Marquette seems to be in a comfortable price range for me, and without knowing much about it I figured it would be the best option in or near Milwaukee.

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate the time and help.

I'd suggest that the marginal benefit of an MBA from a top school versus a Marquette will likely far surpass that of any real estate purchase you make in your lifetime.

That said, if price is a concern, I'd recommend getting the cheapest MBA you can find. If I were in your shoes (and a little less concerned with debt for an MBA), here's how I'd look at it:

1) If I can get into an M-7 program, I figure out how to pay for it, and absolutely go
2) If I get into a top-25 (non M-7 program), I'd attend only if I received significant scholarship or company assistance to bring the price in line with #3
3) I'd attend the cheapest, fastest option to complete an MBA as a "check the box"

Otherwise I would not attend.

One more note (not to push it), but the loan payback rate of M-7 schools is within 2-3 years of graduation. If you look at average salary increase, etc for schools even in the top 20, they are a far cry but not much cheaper. Debt sucks especially when you have to sacrifice comfort in the short-term, but you only get one shot at an MBA for life, and it pays every year, long after the loans have been retired.

...not to mention a Booth/Wharton/MIT degree in the finance field is particularly powerful.

[GGGG]

Jim:

My thoughts: 

1. Unless Marquette does something differently than most other part-time MBA programs, the "networking" aspect is overrated.  You aren't grabbing beers with these people after class, you aren't shooting the sh*t with the professors, you aren't getting placed into an internship the summer between years, your significant other isn't attending events for significant others, etc.  You are going to class with these people and that's pretty much it.  Those are benefits more of full time programs.

2. What do you want to do with your career?  Do you want to stay in this type of business?  Same size of business?  IMO I don't think an MBA helps you much in that respect.  Do you want to more into a larger company in a different industry?  There I think an MBA might help you more.


So IMO it comes down to this:

1.  If you want to quit your job, go to school full-time, and see where it takes you, then do it.  And I think you can look at some of the other top 20 options.  I know MBA graduates of Michigan, Texas and UCLA and none of them have any regrets about their decision. 

2. If you are looking to do basically the same thing you are doing now, but working up to a larger company find something economical and flexible, yet still AACSB accredited.  So Marquette might be an option, but so might UWM, UW-Whitewater or Northern Illinois.  Your job experience is going to mean a lot more than the school from which you received your MBA the further along you get in your career anyway.

3.  So does that mean I'm sh*tting on the alma mater's MBA program?  Yeah a little.  I don't think the marginal benefits you get from a part time Marquette MBA are worth the marginal costs compared to some of the options.  And I wouldn't quit my job to go full time at MU either.

[FruitStandJim]

Thanks. I'm definitely a novice when it comes to all of this, so thanks for the tips/pointers. The roommate that I mentioned started at Booth on a part-time basis, but he felt like he was missing too much. He quit his job and finished the program as a full-time student. He then tried to do the start-up thing but the app him and a few classmates created never really took off. He missed out on his dream job after that, but now works for Orbitz in Chicago. I don't think he makes as much as he'd like/he thought he would, but he also hasn't been out of school too long either.

[Efficient Frontier]

Thanks. I'm definitely a novice when it comes to all of this, so thanks for the tips/pointers. The roommate that I mentioned started at Booth on a part-time basis, but he felt like he was missing too much. He quit his job and finished the program as a full-time student. He then tried to do the start-up thing but the app him and a few classmates created never really took off. He missed out on his dream job after that, but now works for Orbitz in Chicago. I don't think he makes as much as he'd like/he thought he would, but he also hasn't been out of school too long either.

A top school is definitely a big bet, so it's not an obvious choice by any means. You're smart to think hard about what level of risk/reward you're willing to pursue. Just a final thought on your situation:

Poets & Quants (an incredibly dorky blog following MBA programs) put together a list of average income made by MBAs post-graduation in 2011. This is old data, but let's just assume it holds today. (http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/04/what-top-mbas-earn-five-years-out/)

Here's a quick table of program cost, and expected salary for Booth and UW, since you're considering Chicago/Wisconsin schools. Since UW isn't ranked in the top 25, I've substituted Rice U's salary info here assuming it's similar):



Note: UofC is 99%(!) more expensive, returning only 23% higher expected salary at graduation (this doesn't include signing bonuses as part of compensation). However, 5 years after graduation, the average Boothie is making 63% more than the average UW/Rice grad.

I threw together two comparisons in the table below (no discounting):


In the "Booth v UW" comparison, I assume you'd attend either part-time, while making $100,000 per year. Comparing these two schools, you can see that years 1-3 are (in total) $63k more expensive to attend Booth. However, over the next 5 years, the average Booth salary increases dramatically, whereas the average UW salary barely surpasses the Booth graduating offer. If theses averages are even remotely correct, Booth will payoff much higher than UW, particularly if you continue in a finance career.

In the "UW v No MBA" comparison, I assume (if you don't choose to get an MBA), you're making exactly 100k today, and receive a 4% raise annually. In this case you can see that in no year (over the next 7) would you expect to have had a better year with a UW MBA than with your current career trajectory.... and you'd have to pay $64k for that outcome!

Since you're looking at other MBAs in Wisconsin (which likely have lower income figures), I'd expect the differences between Booth & other MBA or No MBA v other MBA to be even more pronounced, meaning you'd likely be better off swinging for the fences for a top school or forego the MBA altogether (unless you're getting it free or close to free).

Ranked by Estimated Return:
1) Booth
2) No MBA
3) UW MBA

[Benny B]

Here is my take on MBAs - getting a credential for the sake of getting one, any one, is a fool's game.

My advice is to take two years to invest in your career. Get into a top 20 program or don't bother.

Why the basic advice here is sage, it falls well short of universal.

My cousin is doing her MBA at the equivalent of a dash school, not quite as low as a UofPhx but certainly no cachet either... but she's mid-career at a Fortune 200 and simply needs to check a box in order to move up a level.  I have no idea what tuition costs, but it's a fraction of what it would be at Marquette or similar.  Two of her superiors actually have the DeVry or UofPhx credential... she initially had the same thoughts keefe did about MBA's until the promotion she thought she was in line for was given to these two. 

One of my wife's former co-workers had a husband who did an eMBA at ND's "campus" in the loop.  He was not trying to check a box but wanted to get plugged into the ND network.  I'm not sure that it really worked out for him (mostly because he's basically a putz to begin with), but people do a lot of stupid stuff in the name of networking, and for some, it eventually pans out.

I got my MBA from MU mostly because the job market was sh|tty and it didn't cost me anything (graduate assistant FTW) but also because the program had a top-10 rating from US News at the time.  Nevertheless, while not as sought after as an M7 or t20, it did directly lead to the job I have today.

I will be the first to admit that the prestige of an MBA - even an M7 - is much more diluted today relative to decades past, but unfortunately, that is what has made it all the more important as the cost of entry in certain places... in traditional jobs.  The growth and emergence of the tech center as a major employer of business (and not just IT) students has made the answer you're looking for all the more complicated.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Screw the MBA and go to dental school.  Look at 4ever, he's a DDS and is barely literate.