Hi all, I am looking for a part time MBA that allows me to work and study at the same time. I have seen this and quite like it. However I was thinking of changing to a consulting role after graduation. I understand most top consulting firms don't like graduate of online programs too much. Is this true. Has anyone who has done the blended/online program successfully/unsuccessfully moved to the consulting track?

This seems like the sort of question to pose to the IE admissions office. The odds on a IE GEMBA alum reading this post are quite low.

Well Duncan,
I like a non-I.E BS biased opinion, and that can be kind of hard to get if the school you are interested in is not the traditional recruiting grounds + not very well known in the part of the world you are in.

Distance learning programmes do not often lead to career changes. That is what the full times programmes are better at. It will be hard to find someone who had made that transition and the school will be best placed to know if anyone has done that. But, either way, the outcome is biased. Speaking to someone who had that outcome doesn't tell you how likely you are to have that outcome.

To change career, it's easier to take a full time programme that places lots of people into that career.

Thanks for your candidness, Duncan. I have heard of people telling me that too. I guess then I have to decide if I want the cheaper and more convenient option with lower chances or the more costly one.

I'm really not sure if a part-time MBA is a more convenient route to a career change. Lots of people in my EMBA class changed company, but very few - maybe 5% - changed industry. That's why part-time MBAs don't include the transition-enabling elements like internships, projects and extensive elective options of a full-time MBA.

If you look at cheaper MBA options than the IE Global MBA (like the full-time programmes at Cambridge and Cranfield), you can spend half a year or more on those transition elements, and that takes you a long way into the process. You also have the possibility to really drill down into areas like consulting, operations and so on -- every management niche is supported.

Hi all, I am looking for a part time MBA that allows me to work and study at the same time.

Hi Guys, I apologize for replying seemingly out of the blue(seems email from this site gets into the trash automatically).

I am loath to drop my job at the moment to sign up for a full-time program (cambridge or cranfield) at this stage(I am 35 but have only about 7 years work exp) since it might jeopardize my position with this company. It would be nice if I have confidence abt job prospects in country but UK is really bad rite now (I know cos I graduated from U of Birmingham)

Part-time and distance MBAs are 2 options I like. I go for the distance one as it does not involve uprooting my self and settling in another country. The concern is what kind of prospects does a distance program offer me (vis-a-vis a full time /part time) and what drawbacks does it come with(low quality of transmission, recognition, etc)

You have a few questions to weigh up, and two big facts.

First question, is how hard it is to get a job really the cause of your concern? I'm in Britain and, certainly, it's a challenging position. But that's in contrast with twenty pretty easy years in business. It's really not that bad if you have good skills and experience which can be transferred, without or without an MBA. I'm not sure where you are or what citizenship you have but, from your North American spelling, I assume you're there and are some specialised 'knowledge-worker' outside the consulting industry, maybe in IT or energy. You need also to think about which geographies you can most easily make this transition in.

Second question, what sort of consulting work, for what sort of firm, do you want to do? The big strategy consulting firms (McKinsey and the B's) hire full-time MBAs because they have the flexibility to adapt to their pace of work and methods. You won't fit that role, but perhaps your work experience makes you fit as an experienced hire or into another firm.

First big fact: Generally, the full-time and executive MBA experiences are more different than anyone at a school will admit. There are very few schools where the full-time and part time experience is more of less the same: London, Cranfield, Wharton... that's more or less it until you come into the second and third tier of US business schools which have part-time MBAs separate from EMBAs. Consulting firm recruiters know this, and they know that EMBA graduates just don't have the quant skills, peer-team skills and tempo of the full-time students. EMBA graduates bring other things, like leadership, prior experience, maturity and the orthogonal experience of non-business life. If you want to move into a classic consulting firm, and you are not already a consultant, the full-time MBA at a school that feed into those firms will make that transition twenty times more likely of being completed successfully.

Second big fact: Things happen when you are committed. And commitment means focussing on something to the exclusion of the alternatives. It means giving up the fear of losing the other options you have decided against. That's why burning bridges really works. If you feel ready to move out of your firm, and change industry, then either start on that in a committed way or really examine your true motivations, get a clearer idea of your goals and think about how you, and the people around you, can increase the drive needed to make it happen. But I don't understand why you are so worried about your current position that it compromises the most effective path forward for you: if you want to change career, research how people make that change, set course and move ahead.

Agreed on Duncans points. One thing that could be added is the fact that you might be too old (yes too old) for the career in Consulting. They have a cut-off point for age and also realize that people your age might be partner while you have to start as a consultant (and work yourself up).

Niels
MBA Q&A

You have a few questions to weigh up, and two big facts.

First question, is how hard it is to get a job really the cause of your concern? I'm in Britain and, certainly, it's a challenging position. But that's in contrast with twenty pretty easy years in business. It's really not that bad if you have good skills and experience which can be transferred, without or without an MBA. I'm not sure where you are or what citizenship you have but, from your North American spelling, I assume you're there and are some specialised 'knowledge-worker' outside the consulting industry, maybe in IT or energy. You need also to think about which geographies you can most easily make this transition in.

Second question, what sort of consulting work, for what sort of firm, do you want to do? The big strategy consulting firms (McKinsey and the B's) hire full-time MBAs because they have the flexibility to adapt to their pace of work and methods. You won't fit that role, but perhaps your work experience makes you fit as an experienced hire or into another firm.

First big fact: Generally, the full-time and executive MBA experiences are more different than anyone at a school will admit. There are very few schools where the full-time and part time experience is more of less the same: London, Cranfield, Wharton... that's more or less it until you come into the second and third tier of US business schools which have part-time MBAs separate from EMBAs. Consulting firm recruiters know this, and they know that EMBA graduates just don't have the quant skills, peer-team skills and tempo of the full-time students. EMBA graduates bring other things, like leadership, prior experience, maturity and the orthogonal experience of non-business life. If you want to move into a classic consulting firm, and you are not already a consultant, the full-time MBA at a school that feed into those firms will make that transition twenty times more likely of being completed successfully.

Second big fact: Things happen when you are committed. And commitment means focussing on something to the exclusion of the alternatives. It means giving up the fear of losing the other options you have decided against. That's why burning bridges really works. If you feel ready to move out of your firm, and change industry, then either start on that in a committed way or really examine your true motivations, get a clearer idea of your goals and think about how you, and the people around you, can increase the drive needed to make it happen. But I don't understand why you are so worried about your current position that it compromises the most effective path forward for you: if you want to change career, research how people make that change, set course and move ahead.

"Agreed on Duncans points. One thing that could be added is the fact that you might be too old (yes too old) for the career in Consulting. They have a cut-off point for age and also realize that people your age might be partner while you have to start as a consultant (and work yourself up)."
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Hi Niels, thanks for let me know. I have encountered conflicting opinions, one of which, whose owner did exactly that i.e. graduated when he was 35 and joined a major consulting firm albeit as a new hire working his way up. Hence I like to find out from this and other forums what the stumbling blocks are e.g. cut-off age and the chances.

Yeah, there are always exceptions to the rule. Just this is the general rule. I am not saying it is impossible and I don't want to discourage you from doing it.

Lastly, Duncan has a point when he says that it is easier on a Full-time program to switch careers (due to internships etc) than it would be on a PT program. So, please consider FT as an option. You are not too old for that and there are people with families doing that. IE has a great landscape for that.

Niels
MBA Q&A

I'd also add that it might be easier for you to move into a consulting business via either
- a business development role for a consulting firm
- working for a smaller consultancy, which doesn't do most of its hiring from MBAs.

Thanks for the information. I too have considered starting out through a smaller firm, but I haven't heard much of moving through a business development role. How does this play out, could u shed more light on this?

Well, you've said that you'd like to move into business development or management consulting. Two obviously viable routes, from the semiconductor industry, are to move diagonally
- into management consulting for the semiconductor industry, and then into generic MC, or
- into business development for the semiconductor industry and from there move into BD for MC.