MBAs are largely full-time and of great intensity. The average age is around28 (with at least three-four years of work experience) although there really is no age limit and many people take MBAs in their40s. It is simply a question of showing the school that you are the right person to excel on their course.
Executive MBAs (EMBA) are designed for a more experienced age group, though it’s difficult to assess an average age for EMBAs. Still a general business degree, the EMBA is for a more experienced executive who may not have had the opportunity to take an MBA before. A large proportion of EMBA students have financial assistance from their companies (more so than MBA candidates) and therefore many take EMBAs in order to achieve specific promotions rather than to switch careers. Most courses are part-time, incorporating evenings, weekends and distance learning modules. This allows the EMBA to continue working whereas, in most cases, an MBA will be full-time at the business school.
There is a steadily increasing number of ‘specialized MBAs’ available, the most famous being MBAs in Wine Management Bordeaux, Oil and Gas Management Aberdeenand Sports Management. LiverpoolHowever debate still rages as to whether these MBAs are valuable to employers. Simon Stockley, Dean of the Full Time MBA Program at Tanaka Business School in London, says: “We believe that the MBA is a general qualification and therefore an ‘MBA in’ a subject is a contradiction in terms. At Tanaka we believe that people should think hard about specialized MBAs and the message that this sends to employers as we feel the status of these programs is still questioned by recruiters. We think that they value a general MBA and don’t value an ‘MBA in’ anything.”
However Alain Lempereur, a professor at ESSEC School of Management where he teaches on both the Luxury Brand Management MBA and the MBA in Hotel Management, disagrees: “Specialist MBAs allow less well-known schools to challenge the prevailing wisdom that schools that do well in macro-rankings are best at everything. It can be very difficult for an applicant to ascertain which schools are credible and which are simply jumping on the MBA bandwagon.”
With debate still raging it would be a good idea to find out from prospective employers in a target industry what their opinions are about specialist MBAs. Proceed with some caution and try and get a good grasp on how good the reputation of the course is before entering one.
The2007 Global Recruiters’ Top100 Business Schools Report, compiled by QS and featuring the opinions of489 international MBA recruiters, gave indications as to which schools recruiters believed were the best by specialization. This report shows some interesting results, which are available in full on www.topmba.com/research.
| Core MBA Specialization | Top School (US unless indicated) |
| International Management | INSEAD (France and Singapore) |
| Finance | The Wharton School |
| Marketing | The Kellogg School of Management |
| Information Management | Sloan School of Management (MIT) |
| Operations Management | Sloan School of Management (MIT) |
| Entrepreneurship | IE Business School (Spain) |
| E-Business | Sloan School of Management (MIT) |
| Strategy | Harvard Business School |
| Leadership | The Wharton School |
| Corporate Governance | Harvard Business School |
It’s important to remember that concepts of ‘best’ school may not be appropriate for every individual. There are still unique aspects of each school that candidates will want to find out about. Then, of course there is the small matter of funding a course, and the fact that the top schools are extremely competitive to get into.
A good starting point to find alternatives is QS Search and Scorecard (www.topmba.com/scorecard). Scorecard allows candidates to narrow down a list of schools according to their own criteria, and school specialization is one of the main selection choices. A candidate wanting to find the best school for Marketing in Asia for under $30,000 per year can do this on Scorecard. It’s easy, free to register and worth a look.
Most MBAs have at least a rough idea of which direction they want to go before they start. Others start with one idea and then move into a corresponding field as they progress (some argue that the US-style two-year course is best for this, giving students more time to make such changes mid-course).
There are those who attend business school in order to get a fresh perspective. Julia Bykhovskaia, from Russia, made such a switch away from her marketing ambitions: “I moved to the US in2001 to attend the NYU Stern MBA program. I originally wanted to major in marketing, but later switched to finance. Right after school I worked at BNP Paribas, then as a research analyst at two small brokerages specializing in distressed debt. I currently work as a research analyst at a hedge fund specializing in distressed debt.”
Candidates should pay very careful attention to the quality of a school’s careers office when applying for an MBA.This service will be extremely important in helping a graduate get theirdream job. Find out which companies they are attracting to the school to meet MBAs, what they will proactively do to assist MBAs to get into well-paid and satisfactory employment, and how quickly they will do it. This is particularly important on the European-style one-year courses where candidates get in touch with their career services during the first month of their MBA studies.
There are also opportunities to use your MBA for worthy causes in developing countries. Hundreds of MBAs do this every year. It’s good for getting some great international work experience under the belt and most find the experience very rewarding. MBAs Without Borders is a charity that can help you find work in sustainable development and in developing countries. Check them out at www.mbaswithoutborders.org.
US schools prefer two-year options and the European style tends towards one-year programs, with a few exceptions (London Business School for example, allows you more freedom to time your MBA according to your own time frame). There are big differences. A two-year course may allow an MBA to spend more time thinking about where they want to go, changing their minds within a course, and to developing ideas over a long period of contact time. Naturally, two years out of the workplace and without earning, as well as the tuition and living costs, can add up to a more expensive experience, so budgetary concerns will be different.
One-year courses offer a shorter, sharper shock to the system. They are considered even more heavyweight in that students only have12 months to cram everything in, but many graduates say they prefer this immersion method. It also means a faster return to the workplace and, possibly fewer costs.
Source: QS TopMBA.com
