Hey guys, so I have a friend who went with me to a top 3 liberal arts school and he graduated in 2013. He is the first from his family to graduate from college and he has been teaching tennis for the last 4-5 years. He's trying to make a career change into either tech or real estate but he never was willing to spend the money on going back to school until now. If you were him would you try for an MBA or a MSF that has some real estate courses?
I have no clue if he's too old for the MSF at 27 years old or what MBA programs will think of the fact the he's been teaching tennis for years. If he were to take the Gmat I'd guess he would get in the 680-730 range. Does he have any hope of a top 20 MBA with his background?
What I'm thinking in terms of cost is he could become a resident of Texas and apply to the UT austin MSF or UT Austin MBA or Texas A&M MBA. Also he could look at the University of Wisconsin MBA as they are relatively cheap and have strong real estate connections.
Another option is he could self study comp sci and possibly take comp sci classes at a nearby college and then apply for a Masters of engineering. But he would be almost 30-31 by the end of this plan.
Would love to hear what you guys think.
I feel like he may be too old for MFIN and MBA could be tough given that his work experience is a tennis pro. That's not really a target industry for MBA programs, but maybe it brings diversity...
I'd encourage him to study hard for the GMAT while also figuring out what his ideal career path is. An MSF has somewhat limited utility, while your friend's interests seem fairly diverse - for this reason (plus age), an MBA makes more sense.
I think he has a pretty good shot at a T25 school with a good GMAT (720 would be a good target) and story. For what it's worth, there was a guy in my program who played poker online before getting his MBA. To get the most out of the experience, I wouldn't recommend that he apply before he's pretty sure what direction he'd like to go - the students who came in wide open had the hardest time recruiting.
By the way, for real estate, UNC would be a great option. I'd also recommend making sure that he meets residency requirements if he's looking to get in-state tuition.
If he does the MBA route, I think he's going to need to be in a place where he can intern during the school year so he gets experience. I was thinking texas because there is a very high chance I will be in that area, he can become a resident and hopefully get into UT Austin, which will probably be very tough coming from his background even with a 720. Or possibly Texas A&M. Although UNC is a great option, I doubt he would move to UNC by himself for a year.
I would say MBA. He'll get into one of the top 25 ranked programs assuming he gets 720+ on GMAT. He has an "interesting non traditional" background.
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