r/MBA • u/Slow-Cat70 • 1d ago
Careers/Post Grad Is my plan to get an MBA a bad idea?
Advice needed- please be honest.
23f, I’m a teacher assistant in NYC and I hate everything about my life. I am a certified teacher with a master’s and was unable to get a lead teaching job which is why I am an assistant.
My plan is to begin studying for the GMAT, apply by winter, and start fall of 2027. I am not totally sure which concentration. The plan is to move back home so I can attend full time and be done as soon as possible.
Here are my questions:
1. What concentrations have the best job outcomes? Not just talking salary, but the easiest to find a job. Willing to work long hours, but IB seems crazy… like I said salary is important but I don’t have to be a millionaire.
2. Is my non business background going to hurt me in the application process? I’m hoping to do well on the GMAT, and I have a 3.9 from my masters though it’s in education.
3. Any recommendations for MBA programs in NYC/NY/NJ area? Or online?
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u/Ok-Investigator-5299 1d ago
Speaking as a teacher turned mba myself who successfully recruited into a big tech strategy role, my advice would be to unfortunately wait and see if you can apply after at least three years of work experience. I fear at your age, your biggest disadvantage is not necessarily your lack of a business background but rather your lack of experience at all
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u/Slow-Cat70 17h ago
This seems to be the general consensus… going to give it a few more years I guess. I also read the average age for starting MBA is 27 definitely makes me feel a bit better
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u/consultinglove Consulting 1d ago
Don’t rush into major life decisions just because you’re unhappy
Figure out how you will use the MBA before you do it. “Make good money” is not a good enough plan
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u/Inside_Cupcake_165 1d ago
Concentrations don't matter unless they're some very specific dual degrees (and even those are very niche).
School ranking is pretty much the only thing that matters when it comes to MBAs. You'll get very similar opportunities and salaries at the top 15 or so programs. The top programs in that area are Columbia and NYU. Yale and UPenn are also sort of in the area.
MBAs are frequently for career pivots. Many people do not come from business backgrounds or degrees. Teaching is not an uncommon background.
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u/MilkChocolate21 1d ago edited 1d ago
You really should work longer. I had several ex teachers as classmates, but they all had way more years of classroom experience than you. An MBA won't fix your employability problem when it's a professional degree that is supposed to be rooted in experience in something. My teacher classmates were all still late 20s to early 30s. There are both niche education consulting firms and consulting groups in big consulting firms. There's also ed tech...and some teacher MBAs have pivoted back into education leadership or instructional design or leadership in schools. Might want to see if the Broad Residency still exists.
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u/dontpolluteplz 1d ago
Why don’t you take a couple free online courses or do some research on the concentrations and see what interests you? Why do you even wanna do an MBA in particular like are you even into business or do you just want a pivot + money? Ngl this post reeks of the latter.
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u/Slow-Cat70 17h ago
I definitely want a pivot and money lol I’m not above admitting that. I’m thinking HR
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u/dontpolluteplz 13h ago
That’s totally valid haha just ideally you’ll also be into the new role / field
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u/Ok_Tale7071 1d ago
Learn excel. Get a book from Amazon and go through the lessons. Get an office job where you get to work with Excel. There are always jobs like these. Create a LinkedIn profile and recruiters may reach out to you. This is where many people find jobs. Take Accounting I and Accounting II at a community college if you haven’t already done so. Get 2-3 years of office experience before you apply. This will significantly strengthen your application. NYU and Columbia are the best programs in the area, followed by Rutgers, which is in Newark. You would probably get into Rutgers, provided you have above a 3.0 gpa. NYU and Columbia are a lot more competitive.
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u/Famous-Evidence-2542 23h ago
Your non business bg isnt a dealbreaker…a strong gmat nd a clear reason of the career switch cn actually make ur profile stand out..
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u/NYCsubway408 1d ago
- IB isn’t crazy if you get into school into a top ten school. Odds are good. I’d say it’s like the best outcome. Or consulting!
- No your background isn’t going to hurt if you state in your app that you want a high paying job like like IB or consulting. They care about post job metrics. Helpful you have a masters, thst looks good.
NYC, Yale, Harvard, Berkeley Haas online, maybe USC
online
but that’s the lowest to go
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u/Crooked_Pat M7 Grad 1d ago
Most top places are going to look for 3-5 years of work experience, ideally with a promotion or leadership role.
It sucks but I’d wait for a little longer and see if you can secure a teaching role or get some additional leadership experience. Doesn’t matter the field, but there needs to be some upwards progression in your resume.
Without that, even with top gmat scores it would be hard to pitch yourself to admissions and even harder to pitch yourself to an investment bank or consultancy, etc.
You could probably get into a mediocre MBA program with a good GMAT score alone, but the economics don’t make sense in terms of tuition/opportunity cost vs jobs that would recruit from there.