Full Time MBA versus Part Time MBA and Online MBA’s
“Hey dude, love the content and the page. What is your opinion on doing an full time MBA versus an online MBA/part time MBA”
I get this question a lot and for good reason. Individuals rationally evaluate the opportunity cost of foregoing employment for almost two years while doing graduate school. They are basically wondering if they can have their cake and eat it too.
So…is it possible?
Let’s break down the differences between the different “delivery formats” of an MBA
Full time MBA = FT, Part Time MBA = PT, Online MBA = Online MBA, Exec MBA = EMBA
Admission Differences between a FT MBA and PT/Online/EMBA programs
Getting into a ranked FT MBA is without a doubt harder than getting into a PT, Online or EMBA. Period. End of story. If you compare GMAT/GRE’s between the same FT program and the PT/Online equivalent, you will see a difference between the two. Why is this?
MBA programs are very concerned about the ranking of their FT programs. Much like the GMAT for MBA applicants, a schools ranking allows potential applicants, recruiters, companies, alumni, online publications to compare MBA programs on an apple to apple basis. Think of a program’s ranking as the “headline number” for its overall quality. The different publications that rank MBA programs (Bloomberg, Business Week, Poets and Quants, Financial Times) evaluate schools heavily on the following
GMAT/GRE admission ranges
Undergrad GPA
# of applications received
Admissions % rate
“Yield rate” or in plain English the number of applicants who accept the admission offer. HBS has the highest yield rate at xxx percentage
Pre MBA and Post MBA salary
Employment opportunities
Several other softer factors such as pre-MBA employer, diversity representation, scholarships given, career center capability, alumni surveys, employer surveys
A FT MBA programs ranking directly affects its place in the “business education” market. Higher rankings equal more applicants and the ability to be more selective. Schools induce FT admitted applicants to accepting their admission offers by handing out generous scholarships to FT admitted applicants. This helps increase their “yield rate”. Essentially, all the top 25 schools are competing for the same “pool” of 700+ score GMATs. They know that competitive applicants will most likely receive multiple offers so they work very hard to convert admits into matriculated students
Scholarships are very expensive. A full time MBA from a top school can cost north of $150,000 thousand dollars. Schools get this money in the following ways
Tuition from admitted FT students without scholarships
Tuition from PT, Online and EMBA students
Alumni Donations
Money allocated from the overall university
The school’s endowment
A special note about Executive MBA’s
EMBA’s are designed for more senior working professionals who are outside the normal window of attending an MBA program. They are delivered in a variety of formats but usually delivered as weekend classes or so called “immersion weeks” at the the end of the semester with online classes taking up the majority of the program. It is very important to note that most transitioning military officers are not good candidates for the EMBA program. Military officers really need a base level education of business and MBA programs literally start at the level. EMBA’s assume a base understanding of business and are best suited for professionals who want to stay in their current job, or position themselves for promotion a few years down the road.
Here is where things get tricky. MBA programs generally DO NOT GIVE OUT SCHOLARSHIPS TO PT/ONLINE/EMBA students. Everyone who is reading this page needs to understand and internalize this fact
Because a school’s headline ranking is from the FT program, they can afford to relax their admission standards a bit to induce people who would like a “elite” MBA but may not meet the standard FT admissions requirements
Essentially, it becomes pay to play for FT/PT/EMBA students. The MBA degree they receive does not differentiate if it was a FT/PT/EMBA program. It just says MBA – xxx university
Recruiting and Career Coaching Differences between a FT MBA and PT/Online/EMBA programs
A big difference between full time on campus programs and PT, Online, EMBA programs is the exposure to different career opportunities, networking, coaching that you find in the day to day life of an MBA. For example
On campus recruiting: The #1 way that most MBA students land a high paying job from a good MBA program is the consistent presence of corporate recruiters on campus for a good portion of the school year. This is where firms send recruiting teams to the school and you have the opportunity to easily meet and evaluate different job opportunities. Many of these firms exclusively source talent this way. Its an obvious choice for them since they can easily access a large pool of screened and qualified candidates. FT on campus students generally have much easier access to the following
Attend company presentations
Office Hours where you meet face to face with current employees, school alumni and recruiters who are looking to hire MBA’s for internships and full time opportunities
Company happy hours
On Campus Interviews
Company Wine and Dine invites to fancy restaurants
While many programs offer these same opportunities to PT/Online/EMBA students, it can be difficult for people who are not on campus to easily access those opportunities. Want to attend a corporate presentation on a Wednesday at lunch? Not possible if your not on campus. Company happy after class on Thursday? Good luck getting their from your job 300 miles away.
Career Coaching: MBA programs hire ex consultants, bankers, marketers, corporate finance, technologists, recruiters etc to act as career advisors and mentors for MBA students. These generally come in the form of a “career center” that helps you do the following
Build a resume in a standardized format that translates diverse career backgrounds into a format that recruiters can generally understand
Mock interviews based on your desired career field
Advice on competing offers and salary negotiation
Advice on networking
Running corporate presentations and networking events
Host mini job fairs throughout the school year
Acting as a “broker” to connect employers and students
Run the job application system that allows you to view opportunities, select roles you are interested in and receive interview invites
I will be upfront and say the mileage you get from the career center “varies”. I have seen MBA students literally attached to the hip of the career center and also have seen MBA students who go once and never go again. Personally I was about in the middle with the career center. I used them, but was not dependent on them. I was pretty confident in my ability to network and talk to people. But I was also a 31 year old combat vet who flew helicopters and loves talking to strangers. Confidence comes naturally to me. Some of my fellow classmates were greatly intimidated by the entire process and needed that extra boost.
Where does this leave PT/Online/EMBA students? It depends. Some schools will offer equivalent career services to them, but many don’t. It is a simple allocation of resources. Schools are ranked according to how well their FT students do in the job hunt and career counselors are expensive.
Also, the ability to just “pop in” same day with the career center and have them get to know you is invaluable. Counselors will get to know you, and will stay as part of your network later on in your life. Many go back to industry and will be able to help you later on down the line.
Finally, the motivation for PT/Online/EMBA students is a big factor in whether or not you need the career center. Maybe you like your job and you just want an MBA to increase salary or promotion chances. The career center will be of little use to you. However, if you want to switch careers, the FT program is the way to go to take full advantage of the career resources offered to you.
Part Time to Full Time Option
Another option that that some schools offer is the ability to go from Part Time/Online -> Full Time program after the first year. This allows you to keep your job and then go all in on full time recruiting your 2nd year. Research the school and ask them about the difficulty of moving from one program to another. At Carnegie Mellon it was fairly easy. You will not get any scholarships though.
Campus Clubs and Networking
This is important…so pay attention.
Campus Career clubs are vitally important for the job search. The Consulting, Finance, Marketing etc club at each school is pretty much mandatory if you want to break into a specific corresponding discipline. Very often the first thing recruiters and alumni look at the on resume of an applicant is the clubs they are members of. The reasoning? It’s a filter to determine if you are really serious about doing consulting, finance, tech etc. If you are not even in the club then are you really serious?
This seems silly, but campus career clubs have 2nd year students in them who already have full time offers and will often be used as sounding boards by recruiters and alumni who do not know the applicants very well. I have personally been asked by full time employees to give my opinion on 1st year students.
How does this tie back into the FT vs PT/Online/EMBA debate. Simple the more time you have to be at club events, getting to know 2nd years and attending club specific events with companies and alumni the better your chances of landing an exclusive job. Don’t think that by just sending in your resume to a career portal you are going to get an invite. It requires networking as well.
Not all hope is lost though. I have seen Part Time students do just fine in recruiting if they had the right background for the jobs they were applying and knew how to network. If you can network and can speak the industry language then you should be fine.
Internships
The structure of an MBA program is that you will do a paid summer internship between your first and second year. Do not think these are “getting coffee” internships. These are substantial, intense, 10 week long internships that will allow you to contribute in a meaningful way to the organization that hires you. You can expect to make anywhere between $15,000 to $25,000 for that ten weeks of work. The end state of almost all these internships is what we call “the return offer”. Companies get 10 weeks to evaluate you before deciding if they want hire you full time. Many companies try to fit their recruiting strategy so that the only source of incoming high paid junior talent comes from internship to full time job conversions. Investment banking and Consulting are the two biggest industries that follow this model.
Attending a part time program obviously makes it harder to recruit for an internship and also attend an internship. If you are working full time you just can’t “disappear” for ten weeks to be an intern at Google, Deloitte, Facebook, JP Morgan etc.
Quality of Life and Overall MBA experience
This is what I would call a softer topic but one definitely worth mentioning. The MBA is meant to be a transformative educational experience that takes you purposefully out of the “workforce” for two years. I would categorize the benefits of a full time MBA as follows
A real break from work and the real world. Leaving the military is a confusing experience. You are leaving a very insular community and re-joining the big wide world. Think of a full time MBA as the chance to reorient yourself to how civilians think, work and live
Learn from the best business professors in the world without any work distractions
The chance to take risks and explore different opportunities that would not be possible as a working professional. Maybe you want to try your hand at Marketing or Consulting to see if you like it. The internship portion of the MBA allows you to do that, and re-pivot to another industry your second year
A chance to meet like minded people who will be successful in their future careers. Your classmates are heavily screened and selected for the MBA program. The admissions committee tries to build a diverse class with a wide set of experiences and perspectives. Almost all will go into a new industry upon graduation. It becomes much harder as an adult to make lifelong friends who have a vested interest in your well being. The MBA program allows you to spend enough time with your classmates to develop really lasting and fruitful relationships
The chance to travel internationally. Your classmates will have a huge appetite for international travel and the MBA program gives you plenty of time and opportunity to explore the world with your friends, classmates and family. You will most likely not get this sort of travel opportunity until you retire.