Tag Archives: Part-time

Interview: John Mooney at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business

John Mooney

John Mooney

Part-time MBA programs can offer flexibility and value for working professionals. John Mooney, associate dean and professor at Pepperdine’s Academic Programs for Working Professionals, says that the benefits don’t stop there.

What are some of the advantages of part-time MBA programs?

For one thing, it’s a far more immediate learning. Theories of learning have recognized for many years that the quality of learning improves dramatically when you move beyond passively consuming new knowledge and are able to apply it immediately. And that’s the big advantage for working professionals.

The other big issue about MBA programs for learning professionals is the affordability issue. If you’re going to do a full-time MBA program, it means that you have to make a conscious decision to stop working. And that implies a loss of income for the duration of that program.

And with part-time programs, students also get to continue progressing in their career. Many of our students tend to get promoted before they finish, and that’s a clever strategy on the part of employers because as an employer, you don’t want  somebody to finish their MBA and then decide they want to go somewhere else.

Continue reading

Interview: Cynthia Wharton of South Carolina Moore

Cynthia Wharton

Cynthia Wharton

For prospective students in their thirties and forties, an MBA can be a great way to remarket yourself, says Cynthia Wharton, director of Employer Recruitment and Outreach at the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

Do you get a lot of older students in your MBA programs?

Traditionally, we have several programs that attract older students. Part-time MBA students have the opportunity to work; classes are in the evenings and on weekends. Students may want to gain additional knowledge through an MBA program, but not let go of a job if they have one. In other instances, students may want to be in job-search mode during the day and continue with their schooling at night.

In our traditional MBA program, we do see some older students come through. The mean age is around 27-28 at Moore. Some years it can be a bit higher or lower. We aim to find students with at least two to four years of work experience.
Continue reading