What do you guys think about the pros/cons of Full-time vs Part-time MBA? I am trying to decide which way to go. And some of the pros and cons I am considering are as follows: Full-time MBA: Pros – Can finish it in 1.5-2yrs, More networking opportunities, and Easier to change careers. Cons – Opportunity cost of 250k+ (including forgone salary and cost of attending school), Out of the Job in this down market, Might be tough to get into a top school with all the laid-off wall street types looking to go back to school. Part-time MBA: Pros – Still have the job, Employer pays some of the tuition (though only about 8k a year in my case), Don’t have to go back to being student full-time (and by that i mean being poor again 
Cons – Can take more than 4 yrs to complete, Less networking opportunities, and probably harder to change careers. What do you guys think? Any suggestions will be welcome. A little bit about my background: I graduated with an MS in Engineering couple of years ago from a top 20 University (also have an Econ and Engr. undergrad degrees), work as a technologist (Developer that has morphed into Project Manager) in an Investment Bank, just sat for CFA Level 1 in June, and definitely thinking about changing career to finance in couple of years.
Any suggestion ?? hmmm… Change your employer. 8K a year reimbursement is (pea)nuts. you are better off going full-time. You should also consider the a$$-busting, that you’ll be going through for 3-4 years working full-time and studying part-time. Also, if you are thinking of leveraging your MBA for a switch from technology to finance, that’s going to be less easy with a part-time MBA…people are more likely to see your MBA as the next step in your IT career.
fsa-sucker - thanks for the input.
I am contemplating full-time versus part-time. I’m considering Emory’s 1-year MBA.
I’m shooting for the best of both worlds in the form of a nights/weekends program. Not this year, though.
part-time is tempting due the reduced opportunity costs, career disruption, etc. That said, it is a SLOG. 3-4 years of having no free time? What is that worth to you? I have friends that did Stern and UChicago part-time. Both look back at those times as brutal. Keep in mind it is far worse than the CFA program. You are constantly attending classes, but worse yet, you have to work on teams which prevents your ability to manage time (with the CFA you have complete control of when you study). Plus with the CFA the studying is January-May (highly cocentrated - even march-may for some). Why not enjoy your time in school and reallyuse it as an opportunity to explore carreer options and make frineds rather than make it an unpleasant, and franly unrewarding experiece. If you are focused on career change, then this is a no-brainer - do full time. If you have a job you love, the firm is footing the bill (and you feel it is a career neccessity) then it may make sense to pursue part-time.
Depends on how high you’re shooting and what level of MBA program you want to get into. If you want to be an I-Banker or work at a hedge fund in New York, you probably need to go full-time at a top school. The internships are extremely important. In my case, I’m getting my MBA from Texas through the Dallas part-time program. It’s not any longer than the full-time, the networking in Dallas is awesome, and for a decent corporate finance manager position or private bank position, I don’t think it makes any difference between full-time and part-time. In fact, at Texas, the part-timers make more coming out than the full-timers.
I did a full-time evening program which was brutal while working but at least I had a job when I graduated and I didn’t lose any income during the process. A good portion of people in the day program couldn’t find a job. This was in 2002 when the finance market was not so hot. Depending where you live, some good schools have very reputable evening programs. They don’t carry the prestige of the day programs but they also don’t require you to quit your job to go back to school. It really depends on your situation and the schools you are targeting. If I had a really good job, I wouldn’t quit to go back to school given the state of the economy. If I had a crappy job that I would have no regrets leaving and got into a top 10 school, I would quit. If you need income, then evening is probably a better option. When you say “part-time”, are you referring to evening programs or to just taking a class here and there? The program I went to was in the evening but it was full-time so you finished in 2 years. You had to do summer classes and weekend classes on occassion to finish in 2 but it was doable.
first of all, you’ve overcalculated your opportunity cost. if your employer is only paying for $8k/yr, then that is the only opportunity cost as far as tuition is concerned. also, if you’re working a relatively busy job, don’t underestimate the opportunity cost of leisure, cuz you won’t have none. serious. i’m not a workaholic, so that’s pretty valuable to me. if you have outside interests, you need to consider like family, hobbies, etc. you need to think about the impact of going to school and working at the same time on that. second, if you’re switching careers, i personally wouldn’t even consider part time. sure, it could be done, but it could be done a lot easier going full time. this is also a consideration with respect to your current employer paying. is he going to make you stay on an extra year or two b/c he helped foot the bill?
Basically, it depends on how fast you want your career to change. The faster you want it to change, the more sense full-time makes.
Okay guys, lot of good advice… Again, thx to you all for the input. mlh9 - my current employer gives 8k per year to pretty much any employee, so there is no commitment to work for them after MBA. But, I am basically on the fence, because my current job is actually quite good (good comp and benefit) and pretty challenging but it is still a technology job. I am thinking about changing to finance (but probably not for next couple of yrs). So, I am a little reluctant to leave the position for full-time MBA. It does seem though that changing career will be a lot simpler with full-time MBA. Also, one of the schools I am looking at in NYU Stern’s part-time program. Can anyone who is currently in the program or has completed provide any feedback with this choice?
I changed careers - the process has been far more difficult than I ever anticipated. Part-time - you may not get access to on-campus recruiting.