MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 16 Jul 2011
Posts: 510
Given Kudos: 24
WE:Consulting (Education)
Re: Wharton EMBA - Would you recommend?
[#permalink]
03 Jul 2013, 15:09
Hi stepup2014 - wow we have a lot to say about your post.
First up, the Wharton EMBA is a great program; some might even say that it's one of the few EMBAs that are the same caliber experience as a full-time MBA. Wharton doesn't water down the curriculum, and it's nearly as hard to get into their Exec track as it is any other Wharton program. That's definitely not the case with every school. So in terms of the business education, you can't go wrong with it.
In terms of admissions, that means they're very selective and you need to have a strong profile to have a shot (again, not as true at other EMBAs, even at peer schools - others tend to be more flexible in considering candidates).
In terms of whether it's the right step for you, which is actually what you've asked about... dunno. Your reasons given here just aren't convincing enough. Spending $200k or whatever just to get "respect" is not the investment of resources that EssaySnark normally recommends. We understand that was just a turn of phrase for you, we're certain that you want more out of the experience - you said you want "education" too which is great - sometimes people seem to overlook that part of it!! But you didn't offer any real compelling reasons for why the MBA is the right next step for you. You'll want to do some self-examination on that to see what's motivating you. Often people think in terms of strictly financial ROI which we also feel is misguided, but you should certainly have a strong plan in place for what you want to do with your career and how an MBA fits in - and how you plan to juggle all the many responsibilities that you already seem to have with a very demanding courseload and curriculum of Wharton.
It's not easy to go to school and work simultaneously. If you're an entrepreneur then you probably have a lot of control over your own schedule, but there's also probably a lot of demands on your time. You are actively involved with (at least) two businesses already. If you also have a family, then it can be a lot to handle just with a "regular" full-time job; it changes the dynamics of everything. It's really intense. We don't say this in an attempt to talk you out of it, we're just making sure you recognize the challenges.
It's totally worth it for many people too - that's for you to decide.
Wharton can definitely open a lot of doors and going back to school can be really fun - particularly if you can apply what you learn in real-time in your company as you go through. We'd think that some of this depends on what stage of development your companies are at, what skills you feel are holding you back that you need to acquire, and where you want to be in X years - do a map of 2 years, 5 years, 10 years out, and see what the picture looks like.
Talking to other entrepreneurs who went through an EMBA can be invaluable so reach out to your network and see who can share their experiences with you.
If you have any reactions to this or care to share further details on your profile, feel free to post and we'll respond in kind.
EssaySnark
Our advice would be to go talk to the EMBA admissions people and see what they offer in direct feedback.