MBA and e-MBA

I had a wonderful opportunity to talk to the admission staff of one of the nation's leading MBA programs about the plus and minus of a part-time/evening MBA program vs. an executive MBA program vs. the full-time program.

What I have learned is the full-time program is great for younger individuals who wants to relive their college lifestyle and make a significant career switch.  Part-time programs still allow you the flexibility to make a career switch later on in the program, but allows more individuals who are more senior in their career's to not forgo the salary lost if they go full-time.  Essentially, if your pretty far ahead in your career and you are willing to forgo the "networking", which from my couple interactions with full-time students seems to be just a lot of partying and drinking, you're probably better off going to a part-time or executive program.

One of the biggest barriers for me not going back to business school was the opportunity cost.  Because of the progression of my career, I had essentially priced myself out of most full-time MBA programs fairly early on.  This was not an issue until later on where I discovered that the ad-hoc foundation I have build for myself, although manageable, seems like it can be approved.  As I take on more senior roles within a company, I would like to have a solid foundation to build on, and this is where the part-time/evening and executive programs come in.

The ability to apply what I have learned the weekend before immediately to my career is a nice plus.