Is that called an MBA ? 

Since I finished MS in Computer Engineering from NC State, I had an interest in doing MBA from the top 10 schools in US. At one point I bought all the books to prepare for GMAT, looked up linkedin profiles of people who had an MBA and were either in the top management positions or soon-to-be in the top management position. Having an H1-b visa does not help your MBA dreams as it means you go back to F1 and restart you career. So its a hard choice IF one really does go for it.

Lately I have been thinking about how it could be done without spending 150,000$ to 200,000$ in tuition and fees + lost salary for 2 years which could in aggregate be about $400,000 of financial impact.

Here is what I came up as an alternative based on feedback from the people who have finished their MBA and what their top 3 takeaways were

1. Network - You probably have heard about this that having a alumni network is invaluable.

alternative - Join meetups, hackathons and angle.co to build your network. Invest in 1 or 2 companies along with other investors that have a much better visibility starting at 10-20k/year.This not only will help you build a good network but also give you an opportunity to explore people outside your field from drones to art.

Total Cost - 20k/year

2. Leadership - Quality that is gained upon experience and provides a baseline for successfully running a company or an organization

alternative - Start a small volunteering organization in the field that you want to change using change.org.

Total Cost - Free

3. Jack of all - know about finance, accounting, marketing, branding

alternative - Start a company, sell anything(product, services). Any small product or services that you sell and would like to sell will require you to know all of the above.

Total Cost - 10k/year

In 1 year, I think there is a good chance that you will accomplish atleast 80% of what you could get from an MBA but if not, you only spent less than 50k and still kept your job.

Whats your thought ?