Parttime vs. Fulltime?

There are two articles that I have located that may assist anyone interested in this thread. The first is from the Wall Street Journal title "The Full Time Advantage". The article discusses, from a company recruiter's point of view, the distinctions between a Full-Time MBA and Part-time MBA and their reasoning for the distinction. They order the value (again from the company recruiter's POV) of the following MBA's from highest to lowest:

1. Full-Time
2. Executive MBA
3. Part-Time
4. Online MBA's (with these being of little to no value. One recruiter was quoted as calling them "scams.")

The article lists several negatives of a Part-Time MBA (from the Recruiter's POV). Sorry, I can not provide a link because this is my first post to this site and I do not yet have permission to post the link, but at the time of this posting the article still exists on the Wall Street Journal website.

Additionally, if you'd like to read about the popularity of Part-Time MBA's among applicants (folks like you and me), please look up an article from Forbes called "Part-Time Fever" by Kurt Badenhausen and Lesley Kump.

As for myself, I still have to study for the GMAT and I've been browsing this site for the past 2-3 hours. Yikes! Anyway, hope this helps.

Hjort,

In terms of the quality of applicants and the level of difficulty of getting selected, where do the PT programs from the best places (Like NYU or Chicago GSB) stand compared to the FT programs from elite / trans-elite schools?

I'm also pondering the decision of full time vs part time.

I just turned 25, I don't know if that makes me young or old anymore

Currently, I'm a risk analyst for the structured credit trading desk at my firm (a Bulge Bracket firm). Long term, I want to move to the trading desk. I've only been at this job for a week now, so I'm not certain about the growth opportunities within the firm. Is it realistic that a risk analyst can move over to the desk? When I was trying to leave my last job, I was able to get interviews at two hedge funds for trading jobs (no offers though ), so I don't feel that it would be extremely difficult.

The benefit of going full time is that it might be easier to make this career switch, but I'm reluctant to go full-time since I'm not impressed with post-MBA salaries. I don't know if it makes sense to drop $100k on an education, forfeit two years salary and bonus, and get paid substantially less than I make now. Additionally, a part-time MBA would be fully funded by my company.

I feel that 10 years down the road, no one will care if your MBA was full-time or part-time..

I took the GMAT a few months ago, I have a 760 so I feel that should be OK for most schools. My undergrad GPA was a mediocre 3.4 from a top engineering school.

After re-reading what I just wrote, I've pretty much convinced myself that part-time is the solution for me. Does that sound logical? I'd like to get some other opinions on this.

Thanks!

I am surprised that this thread is only one page long! I would have thought that this topic would arouse impassioned arguments from both sides.

Are most people on this forum looking for only full time programs? I've started to think that programs like the GSB part time offers a great deal of flexibility and almost all the benefits of the full time program without requiring me to give up my job and graduate with 150 K of debt. What do other people think? Just how much does one gain by going full time over part time?

I had the luck or curse to not work in college for a year in college (grant) then had to work full time for the next 4 to finish.

3 of those years were in my field, public relations. It was a wonderful experience to be improving everyday at both work and school. I’d learn new ways to approach problems or projects, then implement them or at least have them in the ol’ toolbox the next day. I feel that was one of the reasons I was able to accelerate my career. I hit the ground in a full sprint.

I’m applying to a P/T program because I had such a great experience last time I had to work my way though school. I’m fine with some recruiters not being big on it. The issue I do take is that if you’re even considering a MBA or any advanced degree, you’re destined for great things. People that think of ways to improve themselves to beat the competition, to develop a new business, to lead people, these are not the punch-in/punch-out drones that mutter “that’s not in my job description” every chance they get. We all can achieve our goals over the course of our working lives.

But I’m a very impatient man.

I’m getting an MBA to accelerate my career. I’m putting my butt in a catapult and yelling pull. I don’t want to wait to be 50 to be director-level. This advanced degree will help me add a few more tools into my tool box, and I think a P/T program will work best for me to accomplish that is best suited for the ways I learn.

Personally I think it all depends on where you are coming from. Overall yes FT is looked at more favorably then PT but this is a very GENERAL opinion.

For example say there is a person working in the investment industry already. They work about 50 hrs a week and make between 60-80k. That person can go to school funded by his company and due to the work load probably finish in about 2.5 years. By the time they finish they will have an enormous amount of contacts due to their job function as well as contacts from school.

I've always been a finance guy and so I tend to look at everything in economic terms and the amount of money it would cost to go full time given this situation would be about 310k

160k in foregone salary for two years
90k in Tuition at top tier school for two years (i.e HSB, Wharton or GSB)
60k for loans to live off for two years

So now we have a price, the price of FT. I will be the first to admit that FT has more benefits. But if you are going to an Ultra Elite School (or even a regular School for that matter) would those benefits be greater then 310k? Overall I don’t see how it could but I assume there are situations where it would although it must be a rarity.


What do people out there think? Let’s start a discussion!

for me, the biggest differences in were related to career path...

if you want to do a complete career switch go full time
if you want to stay in your current career or very much related, go part time and continue moving up the ladder at work

For myself, I can't afford to take off two years of no salary, thus a part tume program works for me. However, I may want to change industries once I've completed the program.