MBA vs. eMBA -- do recruiters view it differently?

I'm a former banker now at an internet startup in San Francisco. I was considering applying to Wharton's eMBA program here in SF so that I can keep my job while I'm doing the MBA. I just joined the company and I think it would be faux-pas to let them know i'm applying to b-school this fall after I told them "I would be sticking around" during my interviews.

One concern I have is how recruiters -- particularly late-stage VCs, hedge funds, etc. view eMBA. Are you equally as competitive for jobs or are you viewed as a backwater / backdoor MBA candidate?

Answers appreciated.

 

Hedge funds will break down into 3 buckets:

  • Small / mid-sized funds: Can you make money? If so, cool. You don't need an MBA. If not, the MBA probably won't help you get the job.

  • Large Funds: You might need an MBA, most funds would not care about MBA vs. eMBA. With the Wharton program it's the same degree anyway.

  • Large "Prestigious" Funds: You need to have full-time MBA from a top 3 or 5 school.

The last one is the minority. If you are going through recruiters, it will not be the minority however because these are most of the jobs that recruiters are called upon to place (small funds don't use recruiters as often) -- in that case, brand matters a lot.

The other issue is that you would miss out on a lot of on-campus recruiting and would have to do the leg work yourself.

So it depends on what kind of firm you want to work for and what your long-term goals are, but for the most part, it probably won't make much difference in the hedge fund world. What a lot of MBAs figure out pretty quickly anyway is that you can either hit a 100 mph fastball or you can't, and they just spent two years in school learning how to hold a bat but never actually took any practice swings. That's not invaluable, but there's not a ton of correlation between studying some (incorrect) academic finance theories and actually making money in the market.

 
Best Response

They key question that needs to be answered is: Do they give you the same degree as the full time students?

Universities care a great deal about the value of their brand and go out of their way to protect diluting it. The more prestigious the school, the more true that this is. Many schools have weekend programs that they might label as being for 'Executives' but the students there earn the same degree as the FT students. A program like that is definitely worth your time. What you want to avoid is any possible perception that your degree has been watered down.

How do I know these two important facts? For the first, my father runs a major research university. Second, I graduated from one of these 'weekend' programs and got 4 BB IBD offers through on-campus recruiting.

 

Hi,

May I ask your one question on Warton Executive MBA program? I am currently working in risk management at a big bank and considering Warton Executive MBA program for possible transition to IB/PE/HF/VC. I am concerned that Executive MBA program would not offer as many as career fair/opportunities as full-time MBA program. From your post, it seems that it is not a concern. Could you share more insights ? Thanks.

Bruce

 

Hi DKN -- I'm local and worked for a few investment firms here in the Bay Area. Wharton's SF program is definitely carries prestige and is considered rigorous. I wouldn't worry about quality of the education, especially as Wharton Philly will be allowing some of the full time students to take courses for one term in SF. Those students will be mostly interested in entrepreneurship, but I think you'll see more of that in the coming years.

I don't think anyone would consider you a back-water/back-door candidate because you wanted to stay with your cool job in San Francisco. Have you looked at Berkeley's EWMBA program too? The eMBA tends to attract an student population with about 10 years of work experience, while the Berkeley PT program has median work experience of about 7 years -- and shows the middle 80% with 4-12 years.

You will receive an MBA degree from either school, there's no caveat or anything, by the way.

You are in a great spot to be a former banker and working at a startup. I hope it's fun!

Betsy Massar Come see me at my Q&A thread http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/b-school-qa-w-betsy-massar-of-master-admissions Ask away!
 

I think it's harder for EMBAs to have the same opportunities as FT, both from recruiting and time. It takes a lot of time (unless you are super focused) to recruit on the same level as FT, and if you're squeezing that in with work that would be a bit suspect to your coworkers.

 

Traditionally, EMBAs were largely catered towards individuals in corporate positions who were basically required to have an MBA for upward management mobility. So their companies would pay for the EMBA at night / weekends and the employee could continue to work. Employee got a free education and the company retained an employee with additional relevant education background. Not all EMBAers fit this description, but it was pretty prevalent and it was my father's path.

Nowadays, many schools such as Wharton and Booth are revamping their EMBA programs to cater to a broader class of individuals. Nonetheless, if you gain acceptance to a full-time top 7 program, it would be very difficult to pass it up for an executive one.

While you can still put the MBA degree on your resume either way, most people will tell you that the value of business school comes from the relationships and industry contacts you build while you are there, not the extra line on your resume. As I have completed neither yet, take my advice with a grain of salt though.

 

Can anyone tell me how is the Columbia Sat EMBA program? In terms of reputation and networking opportunities? I am in finance (derivatives pricing+risk) and want to move to buy-side. Do you think it will be difficult to make this switch (although its not too drastic) to buy-side. Think about buy-side middle office pre EMBA to buy-side client facing (or on track to managing money) kind of roles post EMBA. Thanks.

 

Hi ImPossible,

Executive MBA programs normally look at candidates who have more than ten years of work experience, extensive career advancement and managerial experience. In your post, did you mention you were considering applying after 4-6 years of work experience, or were you referring to a traditional MBA program?

Best,

Conrad and the Stacy Blackman Team

www.StacyBlackman.com
 

Can anyone tell me how is the Columbia Sat EMBA program? In terms of reputation and networking opportunities? I am in finance (derivatives pricing+risk) and want to move to buy-side. Do you think it will be difficult to make this switch (although its not too drastic) to buy-side. Think about buy-side middle office pre EMBA to buy-side client facing (or on track to managing money) kind of roles post EMBA. Thanks.

 

For what your friend is wanting to do, being in the EMBA program will make things tougher not because of any "prestige" issues but because he won't have access to OCR for internships. This will especially be true for consulting where hiring is very OCR-focused and full-time classes are largely constructed from the intern classes. For IM, it's just tough because they don't love career-switchers anyway but in the end it's probably more doable because recruiting is less structured and a lot more of it is off-campus. I'm a full-time student at one of the schools you mentioned, and I know some EMBA students who actually left their full-time positions when they had a year left in the program in order to do internships they got through networking. I'm not sure if that's an option for your friend based on what you wrote, but it's definitely doable.

 

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