psuKinger

The age old question. I'm looking for some advice regarding the issue of M.S. vs. M.B.A., as well as the Graduate School timeline in general, and finally a question about a couple of M.B.A. programs.


I have a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I've landed what I'd consider a pretty exciting (and reasonably lucrative... at least for an entry level position) job. I'm sitting for the FE's in October, which means I could have my PE before I hit the 5 year mark.

I'm wondering what kind of graduate schooling will coincide best with that to accelerate my ability to climb the corporate ladder.

1. Do I go with an M.S. in Engineering (probably Mechanical, but possibly Nuclear or even Industrial), or an M.B.A.? Maybe I should do both? If so, which one should be my first priority?

2. When should I hope/plan to earn that first degree (whichever one it may be)? At the "4 years experience" mark? 6? 8?

3. If I were to earn an M.B.A., either first or second, What kind of "focus" or "concentration" should an engineer who wants to move into Management take up? Are any of them better than others?

4. What's the value of an online M.B.A. program? I've seen a couple now that claim that the degree you will earn will not be an "Online MBA" degree, but instead the same M.B.A. that the students who attended the campus earn. The transcript/diploma will not differentiate between the two.


I ask number 4 because I do have a geographic preference. Moving is fairly unappealling. I suppose not impossible, but I'd rather not. Because of this, I'm limited to about 2 (or maybe 3) good choices for graduate school unless, of course, online MBA's for working professionals are an acceptable way to go.

I realize this is an MBA board, and many of you may be partial to the MBA route. I'd really appreciate and value your objective opinions on this issue, though.

matt330ci

it all depends on what career path you want to take. if you want to stay in engineering and perhaps become an engineering manager/director/vp/whatever or if you want to perhaps step outside of engineering into other areas in 'corp america'.

an MS will limit your future career choices compared to an MBA but with an MBA you will not be a subject matter expert in engineering if you wish to stay in engineering.

as far as an online mba, make sure you get it from a program that has a well respected brick-and-mortar counterpart. the degree will not say 'online mba' but recruiters will know it was either a part time or online program when they see you were working while 'attending' school.

if you do wish to change careers outside engineering, the networking/summer internship of a full time mba program are invaluable, not so much if you wish to stay in the same field...

sakky

1) The decision is obviously contingent on whether you want to stay technical, or move to management. I would say that the MS is going to precede or be concurrent with the MBA, but not come after the MBA. That's because after you get an MBA, you probably will never WANT to go back to doing purely technical work, especially if that MBA is from a top school.

2) Whenever you feel you are ready for a career transition. The decision should come naturally - it's basically whenever you can see that your career is decelerating and you feel that you are getting stuck in a rut. Some people never feel that and consequently have highly successful careers without ever getting an MBA (or any graduate degree at all). Keep in mind that not everybody 'needs' an MBA. You should get one only because you feel that you've reached a stage in your career where you're not getting as far as you would like and you think you need a boost.

3) This all depends on what sort of management you like to do. Some engineers simply want to move on to managing engineers or managing operations. Others see the MBA as an opportunity to make a radical leap to business functions that they have not been able to experience, i.e. marketing, finance, corporate strategy, etc. It all depends on whether you want to stay on the same path (but just move up) or whether you want to experience entirely new things.

I wouldn't say that any of these tracks are inherently 'better' than any of the others. The question is whether they are 'better' for you. Operations and technology management, for example, is a natural progression for most former engineers. It's comfortable, you will be able to hit the ground running. Finance jobs tend to pay very well and offer a lot of power and a direct shot to the CxO seat, but may present a steep learning curve to former engineers.

Far and away the biggest thing that you miss out on in the online programs is the face-to-face networking, which is arguably the most valuable part of any MBA program. The truth is, business success is often times not so much about what you know, but about WHO you know. It's hard to build rapport in a pure online setting. Fact is, much of the bonding of the B-school experience happens in the bars after classes, drinking beer with the other students. There's no such thing as 'Internet beer-drinking' (well, maybe there is, but it certainly wouldn't be the same thing).

The truth is, the MBA, just like any other degree, is an 'exploding' degree in the sense that 5-10 years after you get it, nobody is going to care that you have it. At that point, the only thing that people will care about is the quality of your work since the MBA. Hence, one of the only real 'takeaways' to any MBA program are the strong networking bonds you will hopefully have built.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think online is a great choice for those people who don't want to give up their jobs, and especially if your employer is willing to subsidize your tuition. In that case, you may not really need the networking that an MBA program can provide, because you will get plenty from just doing your daytime job. Of course, what would be even better is to have an employer fully sponsor you for an elite full-time MBA, but of course few employers are willing to do that nowadays (and justifiably so, as many employers will just take that MBA and then jump to some other company).

psuKinger

Matt and Sakky:

Many thanks for your thoughts on my situation. I appreciate both of your comments. Please allow me to address a few of them, using the same numerical system I developed in my opening post:

1. Allow me to clarify. I don't think I will want to deviate significantly from Engineering. I rather enjoy it (at least so far). What I forsee for myself is first proving myself technically, hopefully becoming an engineer my manager knows he can "count on", then perhaps one of the project/team leaders within the "group" , and eventually perhaps the manager of the entire "group". I don't have any real visions of one day becoming a CEO, just middle-management or upper-middle-management. I don't ever see myself wanting to get "too far away from the problem". If I'm not solving the problem, I think I'd like to be advising/managing/helping/coordinating the people who are.

With the M.S. vs. MBA question, what I'm hoping to learn (and both of you already provided me with some helpful info and things to think about on this very issue), is what I need to do to progress as quickly as possible to those goals. I'm not going to lie, either, I'd be kidding if I didn't admit that money is on my mind a bit. The quicker I advance, the quicker I move into the next payscale, and the quicker my soon-to-be wife and I become accustomed to a higher quality of life .

2. sakky:
Interesting advice. My only question is, "is it really smart to wait UNTIL you need it to then decide to start working on it?" I guess the way I've been trying to approach this problem is to anticipate what I'll need and when I'll need it, so that I can hopefully be well on my way to earning the degree I need by the time I need it. Perhaps this approach is a mistake?

3. That sounds very appealling. I have a feeling that something like that is what I'm probably looking for.

4. Interesting point. Something I would not have known if someone had not told me.

This happens to be the situation I am in. I don't expect to want to leave this company, either. The industry is beginning to boom, and we're concurrently about to be faced with a great deal of retirement, opening up lots of positions above. Profit-sharing levels were at an all-time high this year, and rumors exist that we'll be getting another kickback bonus, as a sort of a thank you because of a huge profit turned by our former parent company selling us to a new parent company at a price that more than quadrupled over a 7 year period. So I think things are ripe for growth and promotion within this company over the next 10 years. And yes, my company will subsidize my degree, but only to an extent. As you mentioned, they are not willing to pay full-freight for an "elite" MBA. A graduate degree from the local (and fairly respectable) major public institution would be paid in full by my company, but not the local "elite" school. If I want to attend the elite school, my company will pay for as much as it would have cost to attend the fairly respectable public school, and I will have to come up with the rest of the money myself (this would be a considerable amount of $$$ out of my pocket). This is why I'm considering online MBA programs. If acceptable, it could be a good way for me to *increase my options*, so to speak.

Polo08816

Have you thought of doing perhaps a combined program MSE/MBA? You'd get the best of both worlds at the cost of perhaps 1-2 more years in school.

psuKinger

I am considering doing both degrees. Is that what you mean? Or are you speaking about a specific program that *bundles* both degrees? I've seen programs like this, tieing in an M.S. Industrial Engineering and M.B.A., but I havn't seen it for M.E. or Nuc. E.

I havn't yet made up my mind as to what flavor of Engineering I would pursue if I were to do the M.S., but I believe that Industrial would probably be 3rd, unless I somehow find a reason/come across some evidence to lead me to believe that an M.S. in Industrial Engineering would bring about considerably more earning power. I have my doubts about that (particularly in the industry I'm currently in, the Nuclear Power industry), but I'm open to ideas/suggestions.

sakky

You can do it in the MIT LFM program for ME (but not for NucE)

http://lfm.mit.edu/index.php?cat=aca...=academic.html

morfinx

hey psuKinger, I know this is an older thread but I just stumbled on it.

I'm in the same situation as you (except I'm ECE), and I share many of the same aspirations/concerns. I would like to be in a technical management position later. So I chose to go for a MS first, then a MBA after. Let me tell you my reasons:

1) After undergrad, I felt that I didn't get into the areas that interest me as well as I liked. So the natural progression would be a MS.
2) While recent movements in engineering education have moved toward more communication and interpersonal skills, the curriculums are still highly technical. So I feel that a MBA would be useful to learn aspects of business operations not taught in engineering schools but useful in everyday workplace.

I'm in the progress of completing my MS, but MBA at this point is anticpated, but not absolute. I have considered an online program, but there seems to be a strong negative stigma associated with it. If you cannot go full time, and there is a reputable b-school near where you live, then I would go that route. If no decent b-school is available, I know Penn State and NYU both offer online MBAs, and both have reputable brick&motar b-schools. That is actually my plan.

airbigdog

I have been also considering both options and don't know where to go. I have a B.S. in I.E. and have considered to take the MBA route to increase my position with my current company. I cant afford the cost and time to go to a school and get an M.S. in I.E.. I have seen the combined programs but I can only do them online. Arizona State University offers a good online program but for me the cost of the local "b" school maybe the route to take.

arvind5511

Hi airbigdog, you can do MBA part time from any distance learning institutes because there are so many good distance learning institutes for MBA. I have done my MBA from SMUDE and on my personal experience, I can say that SMUDE is much better than other institutes because SMUDE uses the latest edunxt technology to create a virtual classroom where you can interact with the faculty and students and thereby also network with other students, which is a unique and one of its kind feature amongst other colleges offering distance education. For the prospectus and speaking to their counselor you can register for free at The Degree That Works! The MBA that makes business leaders out of students.