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I would guess because the obvious answer is INSEAD... It's the only really prestigious MBA (comparable to M7) that is done in 1 year.

 
Best Response

Do you plan on switching firms?

If so, that may not be the best way to think about this.

Even for MS and MBA programs, it's really helpful to have an internship.

That said, Kellogg, which will give you credit for prior courses against its two year program requirement, comes to mind.

If you're looking to save money, I think the ideal situation is to go FT your first two semesters, intern over the summer, and go PT your third semester, thus reducing your tuition expense.

Also be sure to read through IRS Publication 970, especially taking a business expense deduction for grad school. You may qualify.

 

If you are also willing to consider international: INSEAD (nr 1 according to FT), or Cambridge (nr 5). The last is best value for money, and has a class that's a bit older.

 

Why would you, or anyone for that f*cking matter refer to the FT rankings? Too biased towards Europe, especially when they laughably rank IE Business School over HBS. To OP, Kellogg (for USA) over Cornell, any day. Unless you want to go into consulting, for which INSEAD is like a factory. Sloan Fellows is another great option.

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

At the top end within the US, in order of most to least relevant if you're searching for a "1-year MBA program", you'd have Kellogg's 1Y-MBA program, Columbia's J-Term, and Sloan's MIT Fellows program. Kellogg's and Columbia's are both pretty much standard MBAs compressed into 12/16-month timeframes, while Sloan Fellows can opt for certain other Master's degrees. Caveat here though is that Kellogg's program has the lowest class age of the three, while the Sloan Fellows tend to trend slightly older.

Johnson's arguably in the next tier with its 1-year MBA program, and if you're definitely set on graduating with an MBA within a 12-month period then that could give it additional weight vs Columbia and Sloan. And then there's schools like Mendoza, Goizueta, Marshall... all great schools, and schools where the cohort may also be a little older, so if what you're looking for is a 1-year MBA program with older classmates then they're solid options too.

As others have noted, if you're open to non-US MBA programs, the field widens a lot. Most European MBA programs are 12 months long, and your classmates will also be slightly older. If I'm not mistaken the median age at INSEAD is north of 30, whereas the top US MBA schools' median ages hover within the 26-29 range.

 

I'm biased a an alum, but if your heart is set on going full-time, I would take a look at INSEAD. From a prestige perspective, I would say the brand in the US is as strong as any US school besides HBS/GSB and maybe wharton, plus you get the advantage of the internship if you do the January start. If you already know what you want to do afterwards and don't need the extra year for career exploration, it could be a good opportunity. Down-side would be that you would be in the top 10% age-wise in the class, and at 33 I assume your opportunity cost is pretty high.

I'm not sure how they are perceived, but my guess is (at least from alum), the 1-year Kellogg or CBS may be looked down as "lesser" than the traditonal 2-year program. Maybe talk to some alum from those programs?

In my mind, the best bet is for you to do part-time unless you're looking to switch careers. If not, I don't think the incremental salary bump after graduation will provide enough ROI to justify the lost salary+living expenses of a full-time program, even its just 1 year.

 

This is relevant to my interest. I'll be 29/30 if I apply to MBA and already have a prior masters. My goals are to stay within the same field (healthcare) but wish to jump from industry to consulting. So not sure if losing the internship hurts me, given relevant experience and schooling.

Would it be fair the 1yr FT is still preferable over part-time/weekend/distance MBA options from the T25 (Insead not incl)?

One thing to consider is that Insead will not take FAFSA graduate loans (correct me if Im wrong) for US applicants, if you need to borrow.

 

I would say yours is a pretty common general profile and goals of an INSEAD candidate, maybe slightly older but not prohibitively. There are a lot of people, particular with masters in engineering or science, who want to move from industry to consulting or to the business side of their industry.

If you start INSEAD in January rather than Sept, you get the benefit of an internship (it's only like 7 weeks but at least it's an option). The downside is that you graduate in December, which is off-cycle for most big companies. For firms that do OCR at INSEAD, particularly MBB and tier 2 consulting, they are used to the calendar and it's not an issue. However, if you end up having to work your own job search and didn't convert a summer internship to full-time, it could be a challenge to find something immediately after graduation. Not a huge issue but something to be aware of.

I graduated 4 years ago; when I started FAFSA was approved but only for the campus in Fontainebleau and you couldn't go to Singapore. By the time I was half-way through, FAFSA was approved for Singapore as well. I'm not sure if anything has changed or how the addition of the AD campus impacts things. Alternative funding is also available, check out Prodigy Finance - it's an alumni supported lender. I started in SGP and since I couldn't get FAFSA cash, I took a loan from Prodigy for tuition and some cash from Sallie Mae so I wouldn't burn my savings on living expenses. When I qualified for FAFSA i paid off the others.

 

I would also throw in Insead and Columbia's J-term. These programs are best suited for people who intend on staying within the same industry as the summer internship at traditional programs plays a vital role for career switchers. Also prior work experience will largely influence your post mba employment opps coming out of accelerated programs so don't expect to easily transition into something like PE without pre-mba experience

 

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