Trouble Picking which Degree to Go For! - Any advice?

[Duneranger]

As someone pretty steeped in education/hiring, I wouldn't recommend a MAOL. It's more of a check-the-box sort of degree versus actually having practical value. Especially considering these degrees usually require a fair degree of networking to have much conventional use. How much do get in a yourpace situation? I don't know, but I am guessing not a ton.

If you do go to an MBA program, PLEASE make sure it is from a ranked school. There are a million online MBAs and the majority aren't worth their salt. An MBA is one of the few degrees where reputation, rankings and networking all matter greatly.

If its a check-the-box situation, ignore everything I have said.

An MBA can also be a checked box. Many of us have years of experience. An MBA from Harvard is not going to do much for many us. We'd be in debt up to our eyeballs. Networking can be done outside of a college program. Most of us are adults so we'd only attend a ranked program part time and not be on campus so our networking would be limited anyway. Plenty of people have MBAs from schools no one has heard of and they have great careers. There's no need to buy into the hype of ranked schools.

My husband does not even have a bachelor's degree; but he does have a vast network of people in his field from 20+ years of experience.  It is just as easy to create a network from work as it is to create one at a school.  They both take plenty of work to create, and maintain.

Also, I NEVER recommend getting an expensive MBA from any school, let alone a ranked one.  That's just totally unnecessary. Going to a local state school would give you as many networking opportunities in your area as an Ivy, without you having to move out of state to pay a gazillion dollars to attend some far-away school.  And an online program is never going to give you the network that you could get from meeting people in person.  You could easily join a group where you met with people from your industry, and do just fine that way.

Highly depends on how high up the food chain you want to be. Many state schools are ranked and name/prestige does matter for certain echelons/spheres of work. 

Some job fields just need a box checked, for those it doesn't matter (government is one example or if you have a ton of local experience as you stated).

Is it going to be a 100% thing every time? No but it is one of the few degrees (aside from law) where it does matter. As a counter, where you go to medical school does not really matter (Sans FMG or Caribbean).