US Army Officer - considering 1 vs 2 year program
I've been in the Army going on 4 years, and I recently decided to get out and go to business school. I would not be getting out for about another year and some change, and I still need to take the GMAT.
I want to work in London for personal reasons. Thus, I was considering going to business school there. From what I've read, LBS is the best school in that city and is a 2 year program, but there are several smaller 1 year programs. I would be a career changer into a field like finance. Would it be detrimental to my career prospects to do a 1 year program instead of 2 year? And if I decided to move back to the US down the line, would having an mba from a b-school abroad hold me back?
I can't speak to London, but I can' speak to the officer to B-school route. Shoot me a PM and we can talk on the phone this week.
What I will say is don't do a 1-year program if you can help it. Those are generally designed for students who aren't career switchers who already have advanced certifications in their intended industry. It's going to be particularly detrimental for IB due to how internship focused recruiting is.
You definitely want to do a 2 year program coming from the military; the extra time to explore career options, learn the lingo, and intern are invaluable to us military folk (and career changers in general).
I'd also be cautious about going abroad; I'm pretty sure the GI bill won't cover it. Although if you were ROTC you won't be eligible for that anyway.
EDIT: A quick search at the VA website indicates the GI bill will cover foreign schools. Double check your program is on the approved list first.
Thank you both for your comments. If it matters, I care more about getting a job in London post graduation than the salary. Unfortunately, there's only one school there (London Business School) that has the 2 year mba program.
Have you looked at other British schools (Oxbridge)? They place pretty well in The City. Remember, the EU education system is quite different than the US one; an MBA is not as common a degree out there.
I'd echo what others have said here. Go with the 2-year program ideally. With that said, there are quite a few 1-year programs in Europe, partly because of what others have said here - it's designed mostly for those who aren't changing industries (moving up the ladder within their own industry), and that has historically been more commonplace amongst European young professionals than those based in the US.
All in all though, the pros of a 1-year program from a UK/Euro school outweigh the cons of going to a 2-year program in the US outside say the top 8 if your main goal is trying to find work in London right after school, simply because you'll have an easier and more convenient time when it comes to recruiting. Again, there's simply fewer options in Europe when it comes to 2-year programs (in fact, off the top of my head it seems most are 12-18 month programs).
Basically, it's a long-winded way of saying the 1 vs 2 year thing isn't as important as going to b-school in the region where you want to work post-MBA. So apply to LBS, and look at INSEAD, Oxford and Cambridge -- as these schools give you better local access to London-based jobs than say going to a US school.
As for coming back to the US down the road, that shouldn't be a problem. The further out you are from school, the less it matters (and frankly beyond say 10 years, it won't matter even if you want to b-school at all, since it's about your entire body of work as a professional; by the time you're in your late 30s/early 40s, no one cares where you went to school when you were in your 20s.
Well, LBS is definitely the most prestigious MBA program in London, but the other posters were right that Oxbridge are fantastic options too which place very well (no big surprise there) in London. I don't think the 1-2 years matters that much, but rather the job that you can get at the end. The amount of time it takes you to get that job is more of a personal preference. (although as some mentioned, you may want to take a bit more time off to just chill... but maybe not). Other than that there's LSE, which doesn't offer an MBA (yet :) ) but has other Economics/Finance Masters which are very well considered.
Best of luck
As a back-up option, consider going to a US 2-year program and then doing an exchange program in London. Some top schools do exchange with LSE and LBS and I think they also do recruiting trips over to London to place some of their students in internships and FT. An added benefit if you go with this domestic option is you can still pull Yellow Ribbon which is not available for foreign schools which could be a lot of cash to walk away from. Also, thank you for your service.
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