Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

This year, many of my friends had graduated from their MBA programs while another received his MFA for film.  On a few occasions, I've considered doing an MBA either with USC or UCI.  But sometimes I become interested in pursuing other areas of academia like computer science or an MFA in creative writing. Most of my interest in returning to school stems from the desire for intellectual satiation and to avoid the horrendously moronic office politics that I've encountered for the past 3 years in Tokyo.

At this stage, my only prevention is money.  Certainly, I can obtain another loan but I don't know as of yet if it's worth it.  In the case of an MBA, my focus would be on information systems.  However, the general cost of an MBA program can range up to $100k, a figure that doesn't look pleasing, especially to one who just recently got out of most of his student loan and credit debt.

A computer science masters would require me to probably take a good 3-4 months of in preparation for the GRE test, especially on the math sections.  I might even need to just go back and finish my bachelors at UCI, which I wouldn't mind, but I don't know if it's worth it. 

Finally, the MFA program would be out of pure selfishness.  My preferred school is Columbia University.  The program there fits my style and mode of writing.  However, the school being Columbia and the state being NYC, I'm certain that cost would play a huge factor.  The nice thing though is that this type of degree is something I can pursue at any time, whereas the other two degrees have a definite time factor driving me.

Overall, it would be great to have such a diversion.  Definitely, the time away from the office would heal some of my mental and emotional wounds as I would focus more on my studies.  It's very tempting at this point in my life and would give me a nice excuse to depart from the business world without worry for a short period.