So I know that there are a lot of haters bashing PT MBAs. I’m enrolling (already admitted) in the Booth PT program for access to the full-time professors and to learn. I already have my CFA and CAIA but enjoy learning and enjoy my job so don’t want to leave. I know that I won’t have access to FT recruiters but I already make 175K as a PM working 40 hours a week for a fund that is putting up nice numbers with $750mm AUM. My wife is a doctor and pulls in 350K with no debt. I floated the idea of a FT MBA but her main goal is for me not to kill myself working so doesn’t want me to leave my job. So I know I won’t get some dream exit job in banking, PE or at a bigger fund, but we pull in close to a half mil and don’t kill ourselves in the process.
So call it hacksaw if you must, but I’ll have access to the profs and classes that I want and we really don’t need any more money. Please tell me if there is something I’m missing by going PT but in my scenario I think the FT route makes zero sense. Also, my employer is paying for 85%.
really though. how many kids do you have. how long will this PT program take? Since your employer is essentially paying for your school, the only thing you have to lose is time
Your job story could be true, it could be false. I’m leaning towards false, but ok let’s assume it is true for now. Here are some thoughts:
it’s still hacksaw, doesn’t change anything
Why FT >>> PT is because most candidates are doing the MBA as career changers. back office to front office, non-finance to finance, etc. The simple fact is that if you were indeed a real big shot “portfolio manager”, crushing it at your job will always be FAR more profitable than having a “PT MBA”. And you certaintly don’t need part time classes to teach you to be a better PM if you’re already at that spot
2(a). Recruiting is totally geared to FT only (PT folks at Booth especially get the shaft when it comes to campus recruiting.
If you don’t care about any advances at your job, your wife is the breadwinner, and you want to chill by picking up some interesting tidbits in school, or heck you’re just there to socialize and meet people, then this PT is totally fine for your needs.
Also, no kids but that is the plan in 2-3 years. Yes time is an issue but the program is a ten minute walk from work and then a 15 minute ride on the train home. So if I take 2 classes a week I’ll be done in three years and we are talking 20 hours a week between class, homework, and social events through school.
My goal was to go full time and make it big afterwards when I first moved to Chicago. I had a 3.8 GPA, 10 years of bayside experience and a 740 GMAT so I think I would have been competitive for Booth FT which was my target school.
But, I met my wife during that time and regardless of whatever career I choose she’ll be the main bread winner. Her main goal for me was to be in a career that was rewarding so that I wasn’t stressed out impacting our relationship. Plus, with the goal to have kids she wanted me to have a light work schedule since her job can be much more demanding as she is an oncologist and has to be on call frequently. The best part of Booth PT is you have the same professors as the FT class and can take classes with the FT students if there is room (FT students get preference). So I can take Eugene Fama’s class, Richard Thaler’s class amongst others. Pretty excited for the intellectual challenge the classes will present (hopefully at least).
Sorry read that last post–my story is not false though I don’t know how I could prove that on her. Normally, I would not have been added to the prospectus of my fund without a FT MBA. But, I helped build the fund from the ground up and one of two listed PMs left unexpectedly. This is a fund that we sub-advise and the firm that we sub-advise for knew me and liked my work so it made sense to add me as a listed PM. It sounds false, sure, but I was extremely extremely fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and have demonstrated my worth prior.
for me the big value of the PT MBA is the classes but also to simply say I have a MBA from Booth. On the fund’s prospectus it will simply say I have an MBA from Booth which will help me and the other listed PM (another CFA/top 5 MBA) raise assets. The fund has 18 months of live performance and we have done well so far.
so yes, my story seems false on the surface but the reality is I lucked out and was extremely fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. This normally wouldn’t happen but the firm was in a bad place when one of the PMs left so I benefitted mighty from the situation.
It feels great–she works harder than me and is much much smarter. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from an Ivy undergrad while playing a D1 sport and then went on to a top 5 medical school. She deserves to make more. I played basketball in college (D1 walk-on) and she can beat me at horse as well.
Do you…but…wtf man. I mean I guess you really love her but does she love you back? Was her goal meant for you or for her? If you did FT Booth MBA, with your prior experience, you could blow past her measly 350k after bonus…don’t see why you think she would always be the main bread winner. It sounds like she’s stomping on your balls a little man…but like I said do you, if it makes you happy…just don’t settle if you’d rather be crushing it as a non sub-advisor at a firm with some more AUM and closing some sexy deals. Don’t see why you have to give up your dream career just because she’s already in hers.
P.S. kudos to her for being an oncologist saving lives and stuff.
Good lord. Grow a pair of balls. How insecure do you have to be to care if your wife makes more than you? I’d love it if my wife got a huge raise and started making more than me.
I’m not giving up on my dream career–I like to be engaged at work but finance is not the end all be all for me. I prefer to have time to bike, play soccer, watch sports and travel. Sure, I could go FT and get a job where I make more money. But we pull in a hal mil together and this is before any pay raise from a PT Booth degree. At what point is enough is enough? I grew up in a family of 8 where my dad never made more than 60K and we all had happy childhoods. I’m not going to judge my life in the end by how much money I make but rather the experiences I’ve had. You may feel differently, however…
I’m happily whipped–have an attractive doctor wife from a good family whose personal computer homepage is ESPN. I was whipped on our first date 4 years ago…
Itera, can you please elaborate on this part? Someone from Georgetown’s PT MBA program made a comment that they’ve been shown no love from the career center (whereas the FT MBA people get an average of 7 interviews courtesy of the career center near graduation).
A) why do MBA programs only sell their FT students to employers? Is it because there’s some huge disparity in skill level and stats between the 2 student populations?
B) Let’s say I did a PT MBA program and I’m willing to take it upon myself to do the selling when the career center won’t do it for me. Do you think the employers actually think lesser of the PT graduates, or are you saying the employers don’t but I just won’t get help from my school?
C) Are you lumping in EMBA programs with PT normal MBA programs in your comment?