Wall street journal's take on part time MBA

gmat_stuff,

Chicago GSB allows transfer between programs. I have always known that you could transfer between the PT weekday and PT weekend program. But a few weeks back, I met with a GSB alum who was in the PT weekday progam for 1 year, changed to the FT program, did internship at Merryl and came back for 2nd year as FT student. She seemed to indicate that it was very much possible to change between programs. My 2 cents - know that there is a possibility but don't depend on it b'cos they always have the right to say no.

I also know for a fact that Kellogg does not allow you to do this. Hope it helps.

Thanks plsubbu, good to know Chicago GSB allowed transfer from PT to FT after 1 year.

By the time I start applying, this will be a key question I am going to ask the admissions office.

I can understand if they say it is subjective, depends upon seats availability.... But if they flatout say NO, better to stay away from those schools.

Chicago is probably one of the PT programs when evaluated against these criteria. The PT curriculum and FT curriculum are virtually identical (save for LEAD), and students take the same courses from the same professors.

Are you sure that Kellogg allows this? When I went for info session, I think they told us you could not.

I think you missed the "NOT". Kellogg does NOT allow this.

Dig a little deeper and you will discover that they actually do. How else could Kellogg stay competitve with GSB?

Another important aspect that one needs to consider is that many schools e.g. Michigan do not allow prospective students to apply to the FT and PT programs in the same semester. The only reason I can think of this is that the competitiveness of these two programs is different. and the schools do not necessarily want to send out the message that a given candidate is not good for FT but is for PT and at the same time reject that student for PT for good. Can you think of any other reason?

If that is true then it follows that the 'general' standard of the PT class is not as good as FT. PT needs a certain number of students to run the program. I believe 25 % of these students are of FT level but rest are not. What do the recruiters think about this ? the ones who get good jobs after a PT program are ones who stay in their respective fields and offcourse bring a lot to the table.

comments anyone?

I believe that they said in the info. session for the OSU Fisher College of Business that it is possible to transfer from PT to FT. The way that it came across was that it may not be the easiest thing to do, and they may not necessarily encourage this, but they won't stop you.

Probably the biggest reason for this is the structure of the 2 programs. The FT program requires you to have either already taken certain prereqs (stats, econ, accounting, etc...) or have to take them (at the grad school prices of course!). However, in the PT program (which requires at least 5 yrs. of full-time work experience), they do not have the prereqs. Also, in the FT program, you are required to choose a major, while the PT program just allows you to choose a "specialization" area, if you want. However, the PT program does have certain "core" classes that everyone has to take (finance, marketing & logistics, accounting, etc.)

Basically, the PT program gives you longer to finish (2-5 yrs., as opposed to the 2yrs. for FT), cuts out the prereqs (due to the work requirement, they figure that you'll have more practical experience), and gives priority scheduling for the evening sections. That's right, the PT classes are the same ones as for the FT students, only offered at night. If there are still seats available after the PT students have scheduled, they are opened up to the FT students. On the same note, if you're a PT student, and have some sort of crazy work schedule or something, and want to take a daytime section, you can do that too.

What I do like, also, is that there is absolutely no distinction on your diploma or transcript between the FT, PT, or Exec. programs. No matter which one you graduate from, you simply have an MBA.

Thanks for the information. Note that if employers really care whether the student took the FT or PT program, this is pretty easy to determine by examining the transcript or just asking the student.

The article makes some good points and I've been hearing the same feedback from some of the executives I've spoken with at GE, where I currently work. Remember that most employment reports that list average salary after MBA, types of positions, etc., refer only to FT students.

Technically, Chicago GSB does not let students switch from PT status to FT status. However, they do allow PT students who have chosen not to work to achieve a FT schedule and participate in all the classes (including LEAD), events, etc., as the FT students - so you can see that although this is not technically a transfer from PT to FT, it's a transfer for all practical purposes. And I would imagine any PT student taking this route would be treated as a FT graduate during recruitment, after graduation, etc.

The only difference between the two at GSB is that PT students taking a FT schedule get lower priorities on the GSB internship bidding process as well as lower priority on actually getting into the classes they choose, although not getting into a class you choose is apparently rare.

Thank you for information.