Honestly I am not 100% sure that I will ultimately want to nail down in a financial position. I will most likely get the concentration in Finance though with my MBA. I would do accounting, but I don't hate myself and wouldnt want to torture myself. I have to look into MFE, I have always debated on whether or not I should have gone the Engineering route. This would be a good compensation. Yeah, I dream of Chicago or NY since those are the ideal financial cities, but I am fine living in any other big city not named Dallas or Salt Lake City.
I'm in the same boat as you OP. BS in accounting and pursuing an MS in accounting but not sure if I should switch to an MBA. Same school too. It's not like I need the extra accounting hours provided by the masters degree I'm pretty set there. I'm just short overall of the 150 required to sit for the CPA.
depends on the school. I think a MS Finance are better in terms of providing more tangible specialized skills, but if you're going to network and get the prestige, a top MBA program works best. imo, there's only a couple of MBAs worth pursuing tbh...the obvious ones like Kellogg, Booth, Wharton, Harvard etc. otherwise you're spending a whole bunch of money on very general, case-oriented knowledge. the connects are incredible, but to be honest, you can make those same connects outside of say Harvard MBA by working in the field.
those are the "tier 1" schools, the door is still open pretty wide for the "tier 2" schools like Haas (Berkeley), Kelley (IU), Ross (Michigan) etc.
Haas et. al are good, but to be honest, with that much money on the table, and with little to show for a MBA other than the prestige and connections, I wouldn't venture that much further.
I recognize that there is quite a bit of differentiation between tiers of schools, and coming out of those programs to land jobs, it can make a big difference. There is, however, something to consider: many higher level executive positions like to have an MBA as a "tick in the box". If you've worked up to a certain level in an organization through your own merit, there can often be a ceiling on how far you go. Some orgs like you to have an MBA when you make that next move up the chain, and it is less about where you got the MBA and more about if you have one or not. It doesn't put you ahead of the competition, its more of like a minimum requirement.
If that's the value of an MBA program to you, then you shouldn't be going to a full-time program. Go get an executive MBA -- you can "tick the box", and it won't cost nearly as much out of pocket (assuming your company sponsors it). If your company isn't willing to sponsor it, then the it probably isn't that important to them. As for the original question - if you're going to go get an MBA, get more work experience first. It depends on what you want to do. I'd say the expectations from most companies that are hiring an MBA is an expectation that they can legitimately manage other people if not immediately, then very soon. Frankly, 1-2 years experience isn't enough to put you in a good position to do that. I don't really know many people with MS in Finance degrees. Maybe they do quite well, but my guess is it's a "line on the resume" type of deal. Would a bank hire someone with an MS in finance as an associate as opposed to an analyst? I don't really know, but my guess would be no. Ask the program's career office what typical jobs are out of the program. If those are appealing to you, then go for it.
