Choosing between Kellogg and Booth weekend programs

since you feel comfortable with the fit of both schools, I think where you need to look next is the specific class offerings in the concentrations that you want to focus on. I know booth offers some excellent classes in Gleacher center downtown that even I, as a full-time admit, hope to take advantage of during my time there.

Secondly, if you are looking to career switch after your PT MBA, I would look at each school and what are the qualifications you need to achieve to take full advantage of career services. I know that some part time programs are quite flexible in how much recruiting is allowed to take place, while other schools pretty much lock part time students out of recruiting. As a full time admit at Booth...one thing I have heard is some complaints about how easy it is for part-timers to partake in recruiting opportunities. However...I suppose for you, that would be an advantage

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the responses!

The Booth weekend program is definitely more flexible than Kellogg's weekend program. Having said that, Kellogg does offer the key areas including Entrepreneurship which I am interested in. I don't think I can go beyond the 3 concentrations that Kellogg offers anyways as a weekender.

You definitely raise a good point about career services. I am not expecting to change my career but then 2.5 years in a long time and things can change. From my research, both Kellogg and Booth open up the career services center for part timers in the last year and I have heard praises from part time students on both sides. But I think the key difference lies in the type of jobs/industries that are accessible on campus. In a recent article on poets and quants, Kellogg was hailed for its efforts in attracting a wide range of industries on campus. Booth however seems to be still very much focused towards Finance and consulting jobs.

akb

So I cant answer the Kellogg question, but I can provide some color on Booth...

* First, in terms of classes: by and large you will have access to the same professors teaching the same classes as the FT program, so on paper anyway, the education is the same as FT program. In that sense, the PT Booth program is pretty stellar.

* Booth has grade non disclosure; i dont know if this matters to you at all, but its something unique to the program (Kellogg does not, but does generally subscribe to teh concept of a "gentleman's B")

* Third, booth allows you to take as many classes as you like as a PT student whereas Kellogg has historically (again, double check, things change) limited you to two courses. This has an interesting effect at Booth; it means that in very practical terms theres really nothing stopping someone from applying to the PT program, quitting their job, taking a full load of classes, and graduating in two years. For that reason, many of the FT view the PT program as a cheap backdoor into what is otherwise a highly selective school. I admit, I am among those - but I also admit, had I not been admitted FT, this would have been exactly what I would have done. It used be even worse (or better depending on your POV): PT students used to be able to sign up for FT classes (meaning during the day, on campus, etc) with no preference given to FT students. (The inverse was also true, FT students could sign up for evening classes with the same preference given to PT students). So, it wasn't uncommon for PT students to attend "FT" classes. While it is still technically true that you can do this, now preference is given to your home program; thus, FT students get 'first dibs' at FT classes, PT students 'first dibs' at PT ones. While you can still graduate in 2 years, it makes it a little more difficult to do so or a bit more challenging to get all the classes you want.

* This may have changed, but Booth allows you to interview on campus for FT positions provided you have completed a certain number of courses (12 if I recall) and attended some very basic interview training (couple of hours). Kellogg, if memory serves me right, requires you to have a note from your current employer saying you are allowed to participate in campus recruiting. That might be a meaningful issue, it might not be. From the perspective of a FT student, its meaningful: the FT recruiting pool at Chicago has hundreds of PT students suddenly added it to it. This doesn't generally engender a lot of love.

* Fifth, to the best of my knowledge, neither Kellogg nor Chicago allow PT students to interview for on-campus internship positions. That doesnt mean you cant get an internship, just that you cant eat up a regular interview slot.

* From an academics and rigor point of view, I think there's little question Booth stands out, but frankly, this matters little once you graduate.

* As you may have gathered, FT students generally dislike PT students, and while friendships certainly exist (some of my best friends were PT), I'd say its more of an arms-length relationship for most people. I don't know how this is at Kellogg, but I imagine its not very different.

* You will be locked out of a lot of the FT student clubs; in part because this is just an issue of fairness - there are FT consulting clubs and PT consulting clubs for instance - in part because of what I mentioned before. The PT student clubs, im told, are not the same quality as the FT ones in that the FT ones get corporate sponsors, more attention from recruiters, etc. I dont' know how big of a deal that really is in the end, but I thought it telling that it was a frequent occurrence that PT students would try to join FT student clubs (even when PT equivalents existed).

* I know of several people who complain of the PT career services as being quite lame compared to FT, and frankly there's no extra bandwidth with career services to go see PT students.

That said, if it were me and I were doing it over, I'd pick Booth for PT; really for three reasons (assuming these three differentiators still exist): 1) grade non disclosure, 2) ability to take more classes and finish faster if you want 3) comparatively easier and more liberal FT recruiting policy compared to Kellogg.

As to the poets and quants thing, not having it read it, I cant critique it directly, but I can tell you Booth has all manners of companies coming to campus - banks, strategy consultancies, biotech, pharma, energy, PE, VC, IM, corporate finance, general management, CPGs, high tech firms, think tanks, economic consultancies, non profit, federal, educational, manufacturing companies, real estate development firms, foreign investments, bla bla... theres hundreds and hundreds of options coming out of either Booth or Kellogg...

(Note: you should validate my claims, things change, I graduated in 2009)

Hi Rhyme,

Great response!

I can't post the link for poets and quants (since GMATclub is not allowing me to do so) but if you go to google and just type "poets and quants career management", it will be the first link on the search.

In the latest employment report, Kellogg talks about part-timers who found jobs through their career center whereas Booth does not have present any data on part timer student recruitment. Kellogg definitely seems more open and forthcoming on this front!

Let me comment on your points.

* First, in terms of classes: by and large you will have access to the same professors teaching the same classes as the FT program, so on paper anyway, the education is the same as FT program. In that sense, the PT Booth program is pretty stellar.
>> I think this is the same in Kellogg as well.

* Booth has grade non disclosure; i dont know if this matters to you at all, but its something unique to the program (Kellogg does not, but does generally subscribe to teh concept of a "gentleman's B")
>> Why is this important?

* Third, booth allows you to take as many classes as you like as a PT student whereas Kellogg has historically (again, double check, things change) limited you to two courses. This has an interesting effect at Booth; it means that in very practical terms theres really nothing stopping someone from applying to the PT program, quitting their job, taking a full load of classes, and graduating in two years. For that reason, many of the FT view the PT program as a cheap backdoor into what is otherwise a highly selective school. I admit, I am among those - but I also admit, had I not been admitted FT, this would have been exactly what I would have done. It used be even worse (or better depending on your POV): PT students used to be able to sign up for FT classes (meaning during the day, on campus, etc) with no preference given to FT students. (The inverse was also true, FT students could sign up for evening classes with the same preference given to PT students). So, it wasn't uncommon for PT students to attend "FT" classes. While it is still technically true that you can do this, now preference is given to your home program; thus, FT students get 'first dibs' at FT classes, PT students 'first dibs' at PT ones. While you can still graduate in 2 years, it makes it a little more difficult to do so or a bit more challenging to get all the classes you want.
>> This is a very interesting point so I will take this into consideration. However, I am not expecting to be leaving my job during the program unless something drastically changes in my life.

* This may have changed, but Booth allows you to interview on campus for FT positions provided you have completed a certain number of courses (12 if I recall) and attended some very basic interview training (couple of hours). Kellogg, if memory serves me right, requires you to have a note from your current employer saying you are allowed to participate in campus recruiting. That might be a meaningful issue, it might not be. From the perspective of a FT student, its meaningful: the FT recruiting pool at Chicago has hundreds of PT students suddenly added it to it. This doesn't generally engender a lot of love.
>> This is not entirely true for Kellogg. Yes, Kellogg does expect a letter from the employer but only if you have received funding from the employer for the MBA program. Otherwise, this condition would not make any sense. I am quite sure this would be the same for Booth since this leads to a conflict of interest.

* Fifth, to the best of my knowledge, neither Kellogg nor Chicago allow PT students to interview for on-campus internship positions. That doesnt mean you cant get an internship, just that you cant eat up a regular interview slot.
>> Very true. I have heard Haas is one of the unique PT programs that allows part timers to access the summer internships positions via the career center.

* From an academics and rigor point of view, I think there's little question Booth stands out, but frankly, this matters little once you graduate.
>> I have heard this several times around. I have a friend who is currently doing her Exec program at Wharton and she was also raving about the academic rigor at Booth.
>> Kellogg on the other hand focuses heavily on team work and collaboration which in many ways is my style of working.

* As you may have gathered, FT students generally dislike PT students, and while friendships certainly exist (some of my best friends were PT), I'd say its more of an arms-length relationship for most people. I don't know how this is at Kellogg, but I imagine its not very different.
>> This is very evident for Booth but I don't see this from Kellogg as much. I have seen quite a few posts across various portals where this complaint has been posted but not so much for Kellogg. I wonder why this is so?

AKB

*

Am in the Bahamas at the moment with poor Internet, so I'll keep it brief: my gut says your heart is at Kellogg, if so, go with your heart. This is like picking between a Ferrari and a Maserati, either way, you can't go wrong.

Posted from my mobile device

Rhyme,

Your gut feeling could be correct

Also long term, I want to move back to India and the Kellogg brand has got a stronger recognition in the Indian subcontinent. Having said that, I couldn't agree with you more on your analogy about choosing between these two reputed programs.

akb

rhyme is on the money ... go for Kellogg .. that is where you will be happy ... all the best!

I still have the question on grade non-disclosure - what is it all about and how does that help? It's a new term to me.

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