http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/campus/wharton_west/ Wharton | San Francisco extends the reach of the School’s programs, offering the unequalled depth and breadth in management education of Wharton’s 250+ faculty to the western U.S. and Pacific rim countries. Located near the heart of San Francisco’s business district, Wharton | San Francisco offers the MBA Program for Executives and Executive Education courses, conferences, and custom programs for companies. MBA Program for Executives The Wharton MBA Program for Executives is the same program, faculty, and degree as Wharton’s top-ranked MBA program, designed for working executives in the western region. The programs at Wharton | San Francisco have the same admissions requirements, offer the same curriculum, and are taught by the same Wharton faculty as programs based on the main campus in Philadelphia. … I believe it’s a 2 year program, school all day Friday and Saturday. They say it’s the same degree, but is it really? I’m guessing it costs the same (over $100k). Here is my background: 34, married with two kids. CFA, Portfolio Manager Decent, not great, undergrad. Work will not pay for it while I have a mortgage. Don’t need it at all for work now; but who knows in 5 years? What are your thoughts on this?
That’s a lot of money to shell out for a degree that may or may not be useful to you in the future. If your employer was going to pay for part or all of it, it’d be a no-brainer. Are they going to give you the vacation time?
Why would you want to get an MBA? Career change? Security? I think with your PM experience, your book will speak for itself. Can’t see how shelling out 100k for an MBA will help…if anything, interviewers might question your motives for doing such a move.
Will your work sponsor your studies? Its more about the connections you make that will help you in 5 years.
My boss is a Wharton EMBA. She says that EMBAs had access to FT OCR. You may seem unimportant to you, but it shows how much the program values its embas. Some EMBA’s even took BB Associate offers. That’s pretty awesome. They don’t even call the degree an EMBA – you leave with an MBA. Let’s face it – a course with Jeremy Seagle is pretty nice, whether you do it on Saturday or Tuesday. On her resume and on the firm bio, it says that she has an MBA from Wharton. No mention of whether she was pt/ft. EMBA programs will never compare to FT programs in terms of switching careers or jumping from analyst to associate level. However, they me be a good deal for a seasoned pro who just wants to add a big brand name.
^Yeah, I think my only motivation would be a) Tell people that I went to Wharton (marketing) b) Security---->but I think the CFA might be enough. I’m guessing my work will give me the time off (Fridays), but will not pay. Now, my wife on the other hand…
Stuff like that matters even for a PM. Big clients (insurance companies, pension funds, bank wrap programs & their consultants) like to see PM’s with pedigree. The Whartons label will help. It would also help him move from a small shop to a huge one. Is it worth $100K? I don’t know about that. If the employer would pay half, than I would jump at it. It would be worth something. Especially if his shop shuts down and he’s looking for a job in 5 yrs. You always have to prepare for the worst in finance.
Wharton West EMBA is the same MBA degree as the regular Wharton MBA program – same number of hours, same class requirements, same teachers even. The dynamics will differ in that you won’t have the on campus experience, obviously, but you can still bond with your class. My friend went through the program and loved it, and there are a lot of blogs on the net where people rave about the experience. My take is that the program is worth it depending on what you want to do. I am thinking about doing it in a few years despite the cost since I think it would help me raise capital in the future to have Wharton on my resume. It’s a significant cash cost obviously, but the cost is irrelevant if it helps me raise even a “small” amount of capital under a 2 and 20 structure. I think it really depends on your situation – what is your long term career goal?
If you want marketing, go to Kellogg 1Y MBA program (if you qualify)
Shouldn’t it be “Wharton Whest”?
I live in SF, my kids go to school here and there is no way I could move and go to Kellogg. I guess the only other program that I would do is the Columbia/Haas program. I have two friends that also went through the program that rave about it also, but their companies paid for it…mine won’t. I would like to stay in PM, or something else where the CFA Charter shows some weight…