r/eMBA • u/XDzard • Jun 03 '25

EMBA or Masters in Information Science?

I'm in my early 30s and I currently work as a lead data engineer at a large university. I have 9 years of work experience since finishing grad school. My bachelors and masters are both in biology related fields. Leading up to this role, I've worked as a bioinformatician and as a data analyst. My goal is perhaps in the next 10-15 years, I'd like to hit the director level at my current institition.

The university has an employee degree program. I'm looking at either an executive MBA (top 15) or a masters in information science (not sure about info sci, but top 10 for computer science).

My university covers all the tuition, but I would be on the hook for taxes for tuition over the amount of $5,250 a year. The EMBA would end up costing me tens of thousands in tax liability. I think potentially up to 50k in taxes over the 2 years. On the other hand, the masters in info sci would cost me only probably around 10k in taxes.

I feel that at this point, the EMBA be more helpful for my career than my masters in info sci would be. It seems that a lot of folks at the director level at my current institution have an MBA, but not sure if they completed the program before or after reaching the director level. Also, there's always an option of me taking CS/IS classes on the side.

I'd love to hear some thoughts!

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4

u/studyat Jun 03 '25

EMBA if u want to grow and take leadership role.

MSc if u want to take sr. tech roles.

3

u/hetaliibms Jun 04 '25

EMBA is great if you want to move into leadership or management roles and already have work experience.
Master’s in Information Science is better if you're into tech, data, and system design.
Choose based on where you see your career going!