Southern Methodist University ? (Dallas, Austin, Atlanta: loans, buying, schools)

[cordata]

Originally Posted by EDS_

2. I don't think you know what SMU's executive MBA is - it's for mid-to later career folks, directors, high level managers, C-suite executives, MDs, lawyers, Ph.Ds etc. who want a strong-dose of business education etc. People fly in from around to country to attend the program - OKC, Florida, Chicago etc. A person must have an appropriate job to be admitted.

I'm pretty familiar with the exec MBA at SMU and know several people who graduated from the program. I know and have taken classes from a number of professors who teach in the program.

As you point out the people in this program already have $100K+ jobs (many quite a bit higher) and to the best of my knowledge (as you point out) they are not going to get the degree for the purpose of changing jobs. However, there actually is the possibility of meeting recruiters when doing the exec MBA at SMU. A few years ago this was not the case but the school now allows exec MBA candidates to participate in recruiting.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by J800

2015 Best Business School Rankings
Best Business School Rankings | MBA Program Rankings | US News

#17 UT Austin
#27 Texas A&M
#33 Rice (tie)
#33 UT Dallas (tie)
#48 SMU

Outside of the Top 10-20 rankings start to not matter as much. The opportunites are available at ANY of these schools. Usually when people talk about MBA rankings they're referring to the traditional programs. A #3 executive MBA ranking wouldn't be viewed as being better than a #10 traditional program ranking, for example. (#10 on the USNews list is UVA's Darden)

For the average MBA job though, you can make 6 figures at any of these schools. If you're at a Top 7 school you probably have the experience to come out making well into 6 figures. (I've personally seen Wharton MBA's come out making as much as $500K, but these are seasoned professionals)

Phone post sorry for the clunky language.............


There are a lot of rankings out there.......2015 US News seems rank SMU MBA lower than any of the others.

I'd be curious to know how UTD's program is better than SMU's when according to UTD's own information its grads start about $10,000/12,000 lower in pay on average and its other placement metrics seem worse too.


Somehow people don't seem to understand what EMBAs are all about. Professionally speaking most everyone in an EMBA program has long been what MBA students want to become. In other words there is no good reason to compare SMU's EMBA to UVA's MBA because they are just different.


What SMU Cox is doing in good part because its PMBA and EMBA programs are so strong is attracting top faculty that will help improve the regular MBA program.

[cordata]

Originally Posted by EDS_

1. SMU 96% employed @$97,864 mean salary
2. Rice 88% employed @ $102,740 mean salary (34% went into oil and gas which pays well)
3. A&M 96% employed @ $98,313 mean salary
4. UT ?% employed @ ~$107,000 mean salary (lots of grads to the east and west coasts)

Look at the two numbers here that are easily compared, SMU and A&M.

So the results are above, 96% employed, $98K or so mean salary for both schools.

What is the cost to get this same result at the two schools?

SMU: 2 years at $76,421 per year = $152,842.
TAMU: 1 year at $42,395, second year at $31,799 = $74,194.
(In state, out of state will cost total of about $20k more, you can save money by doing a 16 month program)

So is SMU worth double the cost of another school with the same results (by this one metric ) ?

Only you can decide. There are many factors to consider.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by cordata

Look at the two numbers here that are easily compared, SMU and A&M.

So the results are above, 96% employed, $98K or so mean salary for both schools.

What is the cost to get this same result at the two schools?

SMU: 2 years at $76,421 per year = $152,842.
TAMU: 1 year at $42,395, second year at $31,799 = $74,194.
(In state, out of state will cost total of about $20k more, you can save money by doing a 16 month program)

So is SMU worth double the cost of another school with the same results (by this one metric ) ?

Only you can decide. There are many factors to consider.

Hey I'm with you on the bang for the buck argument. If I was a youngster and had rising MBA offers, assuming no scholarships and my company wasn't paying, from UT, TAMU, Rice and SMU I'd go to either UT or TAMU.

However, as you know the UT MBA program is fairly large but TAMU's MBA program is very small - some motivated people are going to have to make other decisions. For many the argument isn't going to be UT/TAMU vs. SMU but instead SMU vs. UNT or SMU vs. TCU or nothing.

[cordata]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Hey I'm with you on the bang for the buck argument. If I was a youngster and had rising MBA offers, assuming no scholarships and my company wasn't paying, from UT, TAMU, Rice and SMU I'd go to either UT or TAMU. .

We are potentially in violent agreement here.

Is SMU "better" than UTD? Yes, in my opinion SMU is better than UTD for an MBA.

But what's the cost of a part time MBA (most likely best bang for the buck at SMU) at SMU compared to UTD.

SMU cost of part time ("PMBA") = $93,072.
UTD cost of part time = $34,850.

That is a huge difference BUT if my company is paying 100%, hey I'm going to choose SMU. OR if I study the exact programs and am knowledgeable about what I'm going to get at one program vs the other maybe I can justify the $60K difference.

[wallawallahoohoo]

Without getting into the weeds of rankings, salaries, etc. back to the OPs question. Overall I believe SMU has a higher admissions rate than something like a UT Austin or Rice.

Now to the "good school" part... If you're looking for jobs in DFW, SMU will carry a lot of weight due to alumni centrally located mostly in DFW. Having lived in other cities, there will be noticeable drop offs. Let's take for example Houston. I personally haven't worked or interviewed someone from SMU in Houston, and down there Rice is the "top" program followed by a ton of people from UT Austin and A&M, whose alumni networks are wide and strong. Contrast that with NY, totally different ball game - I don't think SMU will garner very many leads or advantages versus the Ivies or people from other private northeast schools or large well ranked state schools (California's, for instance).

IMHO, if you're going to stay in DFW for the short term and possibly long term, SMU would work.

[biafra4life]

Lots of great points being given here; I'll add my final two cents.
One thing I didn't catch from the OP is his/her background. How much benefit you will get from an MBA will depend in large part on what's on your resume. If you have say 5 years experience in the work force as an accountant/financial analyst or even in a non business degree like engineering, then the MBA will definitely give you what you need to jump to that next level.

What I've seen from quite a few people are those folk who graduated with an undergrad business degree, either didn't get the job they wanted/ didn't get a job at all, and then decided that going back to school for an MBA would solve their problems. I honestly don't think it will. Unless it's a top 10 program like say Harvard Business School. Getting an MBA from UTD or even SMU if your resume is empty would just be wasting money in my opinion.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by wallawallahoohoo

Without getting into the weeds of rankings, salaries, etc. back to the OPs question. Overall I believe SMU has a higher admissions rate than something like a UT Austin or Rice.

Now to the "good school" part... If you're looking for jobs in DFW, SMU will carry a lot of weight due to alumni centrally located mostly in DFW. Having lived in other cities, there will be noticeable drop offs. Let's take for example Houston. I personally haven't worked or interviewed someone from SMU in Houston, and down there Rice is the "top" program followed by a ton of people from UT Austin and A&M, whose alumni networks are wide and strong. Contrast that with NY, totally different ball game - I don't think SMU will garner very many leads or advantages versus the Ivies or people from other private northeast schools or large well ranked state schools (California's, for instance).

IMHO, if you're going to stay in DFW for the short term and possibly long term, SMU would work.

It was a year or two ago but I read somewhere that Texas Tech's MBA program was more selective than Duke's MBA program via admission rates. Given that some programs are quite large and some tiny and some are on most student's dream list (Stanford, Harvard, Penn, Chicago etc.) I think admissions rates are a very poor metric for judging MBA programs.

What metric is better than first year salary after graduation?

[Wolfpacker]

Originally Posted by J800

That title would go to Rice University in Houston.

I'd consider Rice to be the MIT of Texas.

Isn't one of knocks on SMU that it tends to be a school for the rich--even more so than other private schools?

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by biafra4life

Lots of great points being given here; I'll add my final two cents.
One thing I didn't catch from the OP is his/her background. How much benefit you will get from an MBA will depend in large part on what's on your resume. If you have say 5 years experience in the work force as an accountant/financial analyst or even in a non business degree like engineering, then the MBA will definitely give you what you need to jump to that next level.

What I've seen from quite a few people are those folk who graduated with an undergrad business degree, either didn't get the job they wanted/ didn't get a job at all, and then decided that going back to school for an MBA would solve their problems. I honestly don't think it will. Unless it's a top 10 program like say Harvard Business School. Getting an MBA from UTD or even SMU if your resume is empty would just be wasting money in my opinion.

^^^^ THIS. Great points.

I know half a dozen people who got their MBAs from online schools like Kaplan (I think??) and they're still stuck in the same dead-end jobs they had before. They say "I don't understand it, I have an MBA!" Not all MBAs are created equal.

I have only a lowly bachelor's degree, but at the same time a master's degree would not do me much good in my field (I.T.). I've known a handful of database developers (like myself) with master's degrees and even a couple of Ph.D.s, all either MBAs or in unrelated fields. Didn't do them any good. My field changes so rapidly that constant education and training is required just to keep up, but the good news is that employers will sometimes pay for part or all of it...or you can attend weekend seminars or just buy a book. Sometimes employers pay for those, too. It doesn't have to be expensive.

A master's degree in computer science might look cute on a resume, but I don't give it more weight when I'm evaluating candidates. I rarely see high-level database jobs that require a master's degree in any subject. They usually just want a bachelor's degree and TONS of experience.

My brother, on the other hand, HAD to get an MBA if he wanted to advance in his field (finance). He quit working for two years and went to a full-time program. It was the right decision for him and his career. He'd have been stuck in neutral if he had not done it. Even a part-time MBA wouldn't have cut it for him. Had to be full-time, because apparently the education is less valuable to recruiters if you spread it out over a longer period of time so you can keep working. I've never understood that; I think it's snobbish.

But in short: Me + MBA + I.T. = bad investment, unless I want to get into management...which I don't.

Brother + MBA + Finance = Mandatory! Excellent investment. Paying off hugely.

Hope this helps.