Why I Would Not Pick Chicago Booth Part Time MBA

Prices - "Let's not be coy here, PT students are gifted access to the prestige that is earned by full-time students. If you broke off the part-time program and entered it the full-time U.S. News rankings, it would land in the 25-30 range (e.g. 680 GMAT for PT vs 730 GMAT for FT). This wouldn't be a problem if it was clear who attended which program, but PT students are notorious for hiding the fact that they went PT (e.g. falsely listing two years of attendance on LinkedIn, quitting their job and attending FT classes)."

While I don't attend Booth, I do attend the PT program at Kellogg, which is comparable to Booth, and I have to say that you are pretty off-base here. We are not being "gifted" absolutely anything from you. We complete the exact same coursework as you do while also working a full-time job (and pre-COVID, many of us were commuting every week also). Absolutely everyone who gets through the PT program can get through the FT program, but many people in the FT program would get burned out before they could complete the PT program. So, you need not feel morally or academically superior to us. For the record, I, myself, scored a 730 (48Q, 42V) on the GMAT, which is right in line with the average/median GMAT score of students enrolled in the FT M7 programs. Not only that, but I am currently in my second quarter at Kellogg and have been taking 2.5 credits both this quarter and the previous quarter, which is only half a credit less than a fairly typical course load for FT students who don't work a full-time job the way I do (and yes, I know I misplaced my modifier, but I don't care since I don't ever have to take the GMAT again). So, you will really have to forgive me for not feeling inferior or feeling that I am being gifted anything.

Yes, I will concede that getting admitted into the PT program is, significantly, easier, but there is good reason for that. It's because far fewer people are willing to do the work needed to get a top 15 MBA while working a full-time job. Even though the PT program has less selective admissions and admits people year-round, the total number of people enrolling in the PT program every year is still far less than the number of people enrolling in the FT program every year. So, I don't see what's wrong here. MBA admissions are a holistic process, and it, absolutely, makes sense for a business school to value the ability and work ethic to get an MBA while working full-time over a 50 point GMAT difference. Ask yourself this. If you were an employer, which would mean more to you: the ability and work ethic to get a top 15 MBA while working full-time or the difference between scoring in the top 15% and scoring in the top 4% on a pretty arbitrary test (two people who score as high as a 730 can still have very different abilities due to the nature of the test, so don't try to tell me that test is the be-all and end-all of anything)? Universities like Booth, Kellogg, and Ross are not dumb. If PT students were as unqualified as you seem to suggest, then these universities would never admit them as they wouldn't want them diluting their brand.

I will also concede that it's pretty lame and insecure for the PT students to be hiding the fact that they are PT if that's what they are doing. At the same time though, I think it's incredibly sad that so many FT students at Booth are, apparently, so spiteful, insecure, and judgmental that the PT students feel they have to do that. And to be honest, I never hear about these kinds of things happening at Kellogg or Ross, but I have read multiple threads where FT Booth students whine about the PT students. Is this what business school is supposed to be about? Looking down upon and judging your classmates? Or hiding who you are and pretending to be something you are not in case of the PT students? If this is the culture at Booth, then I am thrilled that I didn't end up there. I think the FT students are just insecure that they couldn't get into Harvard, Stanford, or Wharton and just like to beat up on the PT students to feel better about themselves while the PT students are insecure that they couldn't get into the FT program. And I think that is sad because Booth is a terrific university, and anyone who gets an MBA from Booth should feel incredibly proud, whether he/she did FT or PT.