Part Time MBA Program Admissions
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11 Nov 2005, 12:34
It should come as little surprise that PT programs of business schools in the top clusters in major metropolitan areas tend to have higher admissions requirements than the PT programs of similar ranked schools schools in smaller metro areas. The most obvious explanation is that the largest metro areas have more students competing for each seat in the PT class and students move to large metro area to attend desirable business schools.
For example, NYU (New York economic area) and UC Berkeley (SF/SV economic area) PT programs have GMAT statistics that approach those of their respective full time programs. The 10th percentiles (PT and FT) at NYU differ by only 20 points. The 10th percentiles at UCB PT and FT differ by 30 points.
On the other hand, part time programs in smaller metro areas tend to have GMAT stats that differ significantly from those of their FT programs, particularly at the far left tail. At Michigan (Detroit economic area), the mean at Michigan Evening was barely above the 10th percentile for Michigan Day. The 10th percentiles (PT and FT) differed by some 60 points. At Rochester/Simon, set in a relatively small metro area, the average for the PT program was only 3 points above the 10th percentile for the FT program!
It is important to recognize that while Michigan FT is an Elite Cluster program, the admissions stats for Michigan PT are very similar to those of a Near Elite FT program. Indeed, Rochester FT and Michigan PT have the same 10th percentile GMAT, the average GMAT for Rochester FT was just 3 points below the avg for Michigan PT, and Rochester FT had a higher avg GPA. Georgetown FT has a slighlty lower average relative to Michigan PT but a higher 10th percentile GMAT.
These differences in admissions requirements might also explain part of the reluctance of some business schools to allow students to transfer from the PT program to the FT program. After all, the schools might be afraid of their PT programs becoming a side route to the FT program. For schools with very similar admissions requirements for PT and FT programs, there is less of an excuse.
In sum, one should account for the size of the economic area and the admissions requirements relative to the FT program when generalizing across PT programs.