i received my MBA from NYU (Stern), and it's the most expensive and worthless piece of paper i have hanging on my wall that shows my membership to an elite group of bean counters and cut throat demons. for five arduous years i worked for a major nyc bank raking in 80-100 hours a week, six days a week prior to enrolling at stern. thinking that obtaining my MBA would decrease my workload and increase my responsibilities, i entered their MBA program. i obviously did not do enough research, nor did i truly think about the fact that i hated my job. after what felt like an eternity, i received my MBA and went back to work. i was right that having an MBA would increase my responsibilities, and decrease my workload, but now i had no life whatsoever. up the totem pole i traveled.. all the way to assistant vice president. when the bubble burst in the late 90's, early 2000, stress from work overcame me and ravaged my body. i had serious medical conditions that needed to be addressed that were directly related to my lifestyle at the time. ulcers, high blood pressure, etc. would kick my ass up and down everyday.

i left the world of swaps, options and derivatives to pursue a career in technology. while it hasn't been a lucrative move (yet), i enjoy the fact that i now have a life outside of work. there's this thing called 'quality of life' which i once thought was just a slacker's term for not wanting to work. it's very important to me now, and being broke isnt so bad if you consider what i left behind.

right now i'm trying to save up as much as i can to pursue a graduate degree in technology from somewhere like UCI. beach, sun, babes, cars, and oh yah, they have a pretty good program MIS program to boot!

and btw, read what ulrich posted earlier in this thread. his words are golden and i wish i could've had the pleasure of having a resource like this to guide me along.

if you want to hear more about stern, drop me a line.

 

I chose to partake in the Keller School of Management MBA program.

It's not just a local based school, they have locations and graduates across the US where their graduates work performance speaks to their program. I found this to be important to me just in case my wife and I do decide to move out of state. Another employer may find my educational background to correlate positively to another's.

Also finances had alot to do with it, I do not have $50k+ to spend on an education. I wish I did, but I don't...and I'm not willing to take anymore loans; the wife and I are on a new 'kick'. Aside from our home mortgage, we are really trying to live credit free, everything paid in cash. Our retirement plan really depends on this lifestyle....we are trying not to depend on any government programs for money (ie. social security, medicare/medicaid, etc.)

Whatever we do get from the social programs will be entitled to us as the government sees fit; I don't find much comfort in that, but what we do get should be nice icing.

Back to why I chose Keller. They are very flexible in class scheduling, cost-benefit factors, and work schedule are just three of many of my determining factors.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kekoa
[B]Would anyone care to post your GMAT scores.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cyber_x
[B]

I got 640, which is a pretty average score...I took no prisoners on the verbal, but was taken prisoner on the analytical.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kekoa
[B]

Wow, we have some really accomplished guys on the board.

Cyber, thanks for the words of encouragement.

 

just remember, cyber, take ALL the time in the "getting to know the computer" section you need --

-- not to "get to know" the computer, but to calm your nerves -- this is a big test for admission, and you need to go in to it steady and strong --

GOOD LUCK!

eric

 

The GMAT is one tough mutha!!!

I got a 610, I was hoping to do better based on pratice exam results, but I was not willing to pay to take it again, or sit there for another five hours. When I finsished that test, I felt like my brain had blown a fuse.

My best advice is to just keep your wits about you. The test seems to have a lot of trick questions, and since you can't skip a question and come back, you don't have a lot of time to really analyze the info.

Don't worry too much about your test score though, I'm sure you'll do fine

 

hey bkw, i certainly hope that putting in those huge hours got u something besides health problems, i mean, if u put that much in then u should have been earning the major bling bling and retired early imo.
i own my own business and do about 65 hours a week and it is pretty easy work, a little repetitve, but what work isnt most times, no mental stress and i get to do what i want as im the boss. granted i work every day, i get home by 5pm and dont have any medical worries.
now i just have to work on winning that powerball

 

at least you know what ROI stands for

 

This thread is very educational.
I am considering going back to school to get my MBA.
Thanks Ulrich for all of the insight you have provided. I think that I will just keep working for a couple of more years.