For Part-Time MBAs, a Full-Size ROI

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April 27, 2011
MBA Express

NEWS  THIS WEEK'S TOP STORY FINDING A JOB For Part-Time MBAs, a Full-Size ROI The return on investment for part-time MBA programs may be difficult to pin down, but graduates say the benefits are real   MORE TOP STORIES FINDING A JOB Visa Rules May Spell Trouble for U.K. MBAs Britain's new visa restrictions will give MBAs less time to find work before they're shown the door. U.K. B-schools are worried applicants may go elsewhere CHAT TRANSCRIPT Live Chat: Stanford MBA Admissions Stanford's Derrick Bolton fields questions from applicants on the admissions process at one of the world's most selective business schools MBA JOURNAL: SUPER SENIOR MBA Journal: The Real World Is Looming "For those like me who are interested in the entertainment industry, it's time to start applying for jobs" Are College Business Majors Slackers? Over the weekend, The New York Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education published a joint project that gave the undergraduate business major a serious thrashing. MBA Careers Data: What's Important to You? As prospective business school students, are you interested in the number of companies that recruit on campus at your target schools? BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS 2010 Business School, Explained Is business school on your horizion? If so, get answers to all your questions on admissions, careers, and B-school life from the experts  B-SCHOOL FORUMS Visit BW Online's interactive forums for wide-ranging discussions about management education. Search through over 1,359,000 posts for topics that interest you. Join in today! Here are a few samples of recent messages: Getting into Business Schools — MBA Admissions For Lawyers? From: mag1343 To: All I'm a second year student at a top-6 law school (think Columbia, Chicago, NYU) who's been accepted into their JD/MBA program. I have one year of non-traditional, non-finance/consulting work experience prior to law school, a 730ish GMAT, and a 3.5ish GPA from a top-15 undergrad. I'm in the process of evaluating whether to do the JD/MBA or to try to get a consulting job right out of the JD. McKinsey recruits on the law campus here and I've heard of other consulting firms being amenable to lawyers. I'm also trying to evaluate what my future options are should I do just the JD, not get a consulting job, and end up practicing law for two to three years. I'm concerned that getting an MBA right now might not be the best time for several reasons, but I'm also concerned that I may not be able to get into a similar or better caliber program in the future. I was wondering if anyone knows about how MBA admissions play out for practicing lawyers? I've heard so many negative things about how MBA adcoms might view them, such as them seeming disgruntled, without clear career goals, dime a dozen, etc. Of course, I would work hard to leverage my experience in an interesting way towards whatever my goal is when I might apply. Would I have a chance of getting into HWS, or at least an M7, in the future? I'm assuming HS will be tough as I'd be 28/29 by the time I'd matriculate if I practiced law for a few years, but what about the other schools? Would my career options appreciate significantly if I were to move up from say a Columbia/NYU MBA to a better program? Thanks! From: AskJudith_IvyMBA To: mag1343 Hi and thanks so much for the email. I have to say DO IT NOW. I would say that you have invested some time and energy into this thing already- and certainly while you lay out a few really interested scenarios about how your career move would play out, I would take advantage of doing it all at once, with what seems like a great opportunity. The truth is,.. you will be a little more advanced career wise when you work for a few years then try to reapply, and its a harder story to sell at that stage. I think that its amazing that you can take advantage of the two networks, cut down on your class time ( and money spent) and really come out of the gate with guns blazing when you are done.YES, YES I would certainly get excited and accept! From: mag1343 To: AskJudith_IvyMBA Thanks for the response. I am fairly certain I will accept at this point and get my career started already. Getting into Business Schools — Military Transition From: NavyGuy To: All Naval Officer with eight years in the SEAL teams. I have consistently heard that the SEAL brand name will help and makes a huge difference when stacked next to other applicants. That makes sense, but... How much does it really help? 3.2 GPA, and multiple deployments with both combat and non-combat Counter Insurgency operations. What is the GMAT/GRE score that I need to admit at a top tier school given this background? Any thoughts? From: MBAApply To: NavyGuy Like any b-school applicant, you ideally want to get as close to the average GMAT scores for your target schools. If you're targeting top 16 schools, you want to hit 700 or better in an ideal world, and high 600s at a bare minimum or else it will be a handicap. I've worked with special ops folks in the past, and they tend to have the most success with b-school admissions. I don't think it's just that adcoms recognize and value SEALs and Rangers - but that it takes a certain kind of person to become one that those traits tend to carry through into other things they pursue. In other words, while special ops on the resume in and of itself may be an asset, in my experience they also tend to do a better job on executing the applications compared to other folks. I'm sure not every special ops guy is always heads and shoulders above other military folks applying, but by and large they tend to be stronger b-school candidates overall. From what I've seen over the years, more than any other applicant (military or otherwise), the special ops folks tend to have the most success getting into HBS, Stanford and Wharton. Alex Chu Getting into Business Schools — Duke for IB From: jackjeggernaut To: All Hey guys, Long-time first time... I'm an international who got into Duke Fuqua .Im interested in IB, and I was wondering how well Fuqua does for IB placements. I understand Duke is not typically regarded a "finance" school, like Chicago and Wharton are, but how is the support structure for students interested in this field. Also more partial to jobs in europe as Visa requirements seem to be more international-friendly compared to America. Would love to hear responses from current/past Fuqua finance students Thank you... From: jackeggernaut To: All Anyone? From: illFlava To: jackjeggernaut You can get a job in IB from there, but its not a sure thing and it's a roll of the dice. North Carolina is a long way from Wall street so its not like Wharton/Columbia/Harvard/NYU where its a subway/train ride away. Duke is more known for its Marketing than its Finance program. Check out the statistics on their website, people go into finance, but like Michigan, its not the most common choice and if your really banking on going into IB---its probably not worth the money to go to Duke, not saying it can't be done, and if its the best school you get into, I guess its still a good choice From: jackjeggernaut To: illFlava Thanks! I had tne exact same thoughts....sounds like it maybe possible, but lotsa legwork involved....any others? Esp current/previous dukies From: mEEchigan04 To: illFlava Getting into banking isn't a sure thing at any school! The fact is if you are smart, work your tail off, are an engaging personality, etc. you will find the job you want. I don't think going to Duke would put you at a disadvantage. I'm looking to get into banking and only applied to general management schools, like Duke, because I wanted to learn marketing, strategy, and finance to balance myself. As an engineer, I wasn't interested in the finance schools because I felt I'd already loaded up on quant classes and wanted some breadth. If Duke is the right school for you and you want and IB job, you can make it happen. From: Taken To: jackjeggernaut current Fuqua student here I think the first thing you need to be clear is that Fuqua doesn't equal to Duke. Duke undergraduates are pretty strong in financial sector. Regarding Fuqua, as you mentioned, it's not a comparable to Wharton, Booth, and CBS, in terms of IBD. The reasons are complex, partly because we don't have a very strong finance concentration, partly because not many of us want to join IBD. Don't get me wrong here. Almost all bulge bracket come to school to recruit (I didn't focus on IB so that I express this in a safer way). Regarding results, we got people in GS, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Barclay, JP Morgan, Citigroup, to name a few. Some got IBD, some got Equity Research, some got PE, and some even got hedge fund. Many of them are internationals. Please don't get me wrong again. As other friends saying, it's more difficult. You need to take flight instead of subway. Regarding buy-side, I'd say the chance is little. As I remember, no on-campus recruiting for buy-side jobs. In a nutshell, it largely depends on where you are (your background), your commitment (how hard you want it), your personality (fit or not), and luck. Good luck From: mEEchigan04 To: Taken I think you are selling Fuqua short. One of the main reasons the schools you mentioned are so strong in Finance/I-Banking is that more students from those schools want to go into banking. It doesn't mean the Finance concentration at Fuqua isn't strong. I was really impressed by the Duke finance professors. A good measure to know would be the ratio of people who found jobs in IB to those who wanted Jobs in IB. Anecdotally, at Michigan the number was near 1. Not sure what it was at Duke. From: Taken To: mEEchigan04 I totally agree with you. Per my personal experience, Accounting and Finance professors at Fuqua are very, very, very impressive, much more impressive than Marketing. I'm sorry that I made a mistake. I was wrong when saying "partly because we don't have a strong finance concentration". We're strong in Finance concentration. The market just doesn't perceive Fuqua as a strong Finance school. We have ex-IBankers. Most of them want to switch to other industries. I think at least that's part of the reason they come to Fuqua. From: monteon To: jackeggernaut Duke is about on par with Darden, UCLA, Yale, Cornell, when it comes to getting a banking job. That is to say, a step down from NYU. Good but not great. This newsletter is a FREE service provided by BusinessWeek.com. 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B-School Insider Dear Reader: What happens to part-time MBAs after graduation is the terra incognita of the B-school world. Nobody really knows how many find their way onto the management fast track at their companies, end up with big raises or promotions, find new jobs, or change careers because nobody really bothers to ask them a year or two after graduation when the answers to those questions become apparent. I'd like to be able to tell you that we've figured it all out, but I can't. However, as Francesca Di Meglio reports, a lot of part-time MBAs harbor no such doubts. For them, the degree has been instrumental in their later career success, opening doors that might have been closed otherwise. All three part-time MBAs she spoke to for her story not only landed bigger responsibilities—accompanied by bigger paychecks—but they all ultimately struck out on their own, starting their own companies. Is the part-time MBA worth the investment in time and money? For these three at least, the answer seems obvious. Louis Lavelle Business Schools Editor Bloomberg Businessweek E-MAIL A FRIEND  |  GET RSS  |  NEWSLETTERS B-SCHOOLS NEW ON MBA INSIDER >> UCLA Anderson: Admissions Q&A MBA Admissions Director Mae Jennifer Shores explains what UCLA's Anderson school has to offer and what it takes to get in MBA Insider Subscribers Only Advertisement B-SCHOOLS MULTIMEDIA MBA >> Harvard Business Review IdeaCast Anthony Bourdain on Why Leaders Should Eat with the Locals What’s Your Problem? Trouble at the office? In surveys, blogs, polls, and social media, BusinessWeek collaborated with readers to identify problems at work. Together we found answers.  IN YOUR FACE: THE FASTER, CHEAPER MBA Reader Dorothy Beach Writes: " People are losing patience with an MBA system that is too linear, not relevant so get it done as quickly as possible to get on with what is real. " Tell Us: Leery of Year-Long MBA Programs?     Tools & Features MBA Insider Check out this feature-rich area for advice and tools that will help you choose the right B-school -- and develop a strategy for getting accepted Full-Time MBA Rankings & Profiles BusinessWeek's Top 30 U.S. programs and Top 10 international programs. Plus, scan in-depth profiles of more than 300 full-time programs around the world The Best Undergraduate B-Schools Undergrad business programs are getting MBA-like respect, and competition to get into them is hotter than ever. Here's how the top schools stack up B-School Calendar BusinessWeek.com's scheduling tool will give you an idea of upcoming events at B-schools in the U.S. and around the world. You'll find information on admissions receptions, application deadlines, networking events, alumni events, conferences, and much more. EMBA Rankings & Profiles BusinessWeek's biennial Executive MBA rankings grade 25 programs worldwide. Plus, you'll find profiles of nearly 200 programs Exec Ed Rankings & Profiles Here are BusinessWeek's top 20 Executive Education programs. Plus, profiles of more than 100 programs worldwide Advertisement   FEATURED SPECIAL REPORT >> Perfecting Your Business School Application Slide Shows Slide Show: Best U.S. Business Schools Video Video: How to Choose Recommendation Writers GMAT Test Prep: A User's Guide Not all GMAT test-preparation services are created equal. Use this guide to find out which one is right for you How to Write an MBA Admissions Essay Be clear about your career goals and how business school can help you achieve them. But most of all be yourself Make Your Leadership Case for Business School Extracurriculars: The Extras That Count The College Visit 101 Chat: MBA Admissions Tips READER COMMENTS > MORE SPECIAL REPORTS >