<prompt> Human: I know there are other places I could ask this, but I feel like this sub would do a really good ROI analysis and cut through the hype about some of the softer aspects of the decision.Lets say Im 27 years old, making 80,000 a year in the southwest with 10 target bonus. Based on this, a full-time MBA seems like a big gamble considering that a reach school for me like UT McCombs posts that median starting salaries are 100,000. So thats 2 years of earning no income save internship, paying tuition, and not getting more money in the stock market to allow compound interest time to do its thing. But, the type of work that McCombs grads typically do such as Management Consulting and work with consumer product tech is sexier than what I do now and probably has a better salary trajectory in terms of mid-career earnings. Right now, what I do is similar to insurance underwriting its surety bonds, if anyone knows what those are. I found out from a friend that people at our level range from about 68k to 128k in Chicago so probably adjust downward for Texas. I would guess that the more senior underwriters who are strong producers probably top out around 150,000 and its probably about the same for mid level management. I dont know what an MBA from a top program would expect to be making mid-career, but Id guess its higher.People seem to sort of dismiss part-time programs, but it seems like in my case, it might make some sense considering my employer would pay for some of it. If part-times dont do a great job of helping people switch rolesindustries, I could even pick a less prestigious and cheaper local school like UT-Dallas that my employer would likely foot the entire bill for. Likely the biggest benefit of a degree from there is that it would check the box when applying for management jobs in my industry in the future. Since the part-time programs arent as selective, I would likely be more competitive for UT McCombs part-time program, but then again, Id worry that its really expensive, and wouldnt necessarily open a bunch of new doors for me like the full-time program would.Who all has considered this for themselves, and what are your thoughts?  <response>: Hopefully I can correct some of the misinformation you have received. Ill preface this by saying that I did an MBA for Professionals program. So it was a full time program, but I did it at night and on weekends. First, think about your motives, and where you think your career path is headed. If you like your company and want to stay there after your MBA, then it may not matter too much where you go for your MBA. Most companies are crazy and place less value on their current employees getting an MBA vs. new hires straight from the program. So if you are wanting to check the MBA box, and thats something important to your company, then look for a smallercheaper option to do that. If you are wanting a career change, then you need to be much more selective about where you go. You mentioned UT-Austin as a school you like. Thats going to be a finance and Oil and Gas focused program should be relatively obvious since its in Texas. So make sure thats the right direct you are wanting to go. If you want to be on Wall Street, you should northeast. If you want to be in Silicon Valley, venture to the west. The top schools do a great job of getting recruiters in, and while you will get companies from all over coming in, it just makes good sense to be in the geography you want to work in.Next, is your company paying for it and what are the requirements of you if you take their money? Most will require a year or 2 commitment to stay at the company so they recoup the value for the money they spent on you. One company I worked for offered a total of 7,500year towards an MBA. The company I went to work for next paid for 75 of the MBA. Lesson is to make sure you understand the costbenefits of accepting the money. Finally, as I mentioned above, be sure of what you are using your MBA to do. A lot of people get an MBA for a career change, hence the geography selection. Understand what each college offers as their specialty to make sure thats what you want. Im from Texas and in the OG industry. So while I wanted to stay in the industry, I was less set on staying with my company. So I did the part time MBA and selected Rice University which offered a more OG focused education. That let me continue working, and gave me the focus I wanted. I was making roughly 75,000 prior to getting my MBA, and the company I ended up joining started me off at 95,000 after 1 year in the program. So by the time I graduated, I was over 100,000. So was the experience worth it the cost of the MBA? Absolutely because it is usually difficult to get that kind of pay increase at your existing company and it allowed me to move to a better one. 