MBA @ Wharton: Comparing Wharton's MBA Program for Executives and the Fulltime MBA

We have had quite a few prospective students visit our class. One question that has consistently come up at least in my conversations is exactly how are you equivalent to the fulltime MBA and how are you different? In other words, for the marketing aficionados, what is the point-of-parity (POP) and the point-of-difference (POD)? :-)

I've spent a bit of time thinking, talking and probing the differences. Here's a short analysis. You may find it useful to contrast this with the official comparison.

First, let me make this crystal clear. The academic rigor of the MBA Exec program is unquestionable. Having applied to and having sat through classes (including an entire weekend) in several other schools, the quality of instruction and the rigor has very few parallels if any. The course content is not exactly the same but its very similar to and just as rigorous as the Wharton fulltime MBA coursework.

So its simply NOT a watered down MBA program for the working professional. You certainly want to keep that in mind before you apply. You will find yourself testing the limits of your ability to balance when you are in this program.

Here are some other parameters.

• Opportunity Cost: Taking a break from a fulltime job incurs a significant opportunity cost: two years of lost salary, experience and on-the-job networking. In addition, you're going to have to pay the regular tuition plus living expenses in Phili. The flip side is that in the MBA Exec you lack a sense of complete immersion. You have to evaluate the opportunity cost taking into account how far you have advanced in your current career path and what it is you want to do in the longer-term (post MBA) and how badly you want to do it.
  
• Cohort: You are generally looking at a slightly older crowd (very young in spirit, of course!) with families and such. I will also say just the numbers (800+ in the fulltime program versus 100 in the MBA Exec class) make the fulltime cohort much more diverse in terms of experience, goals etc. That said, remember that the MBA Exec cohort can give you a run for your grades.
• Career Support: You get access to career management services if you are not a sponsored student. If you are sponsored and want access to the MBA career management services, your management will have to write a letter allowing you to make use of career services. Remember that career management for more experienced candidates in the Exec program is a bit on the experimental side. The career management office is used to working with fulltime MBA candidates. Repurposing their services for the needs of an older, more experienced class is yet to happen.
  
• Networking: With your own cohort, there are plenty of opportunities to network both in and out of class. Your spare bandwidth is the only constraint. Outside of your cohort, its a bit more challenging. The fulltime MBA candidates have a) many invited speakers, b) student run conferences (Wharton Private Equity Conference, Wharton Technology Conference etc), and c) internship opportunities. They also have several clubs that help you with skills improvement, interviewing, resume building etc. Career treks organized by student run clubs are generally focused on internship opportunities for fulltime MBA candidates.
• Electives: Wharton boasts of the largest faculty among all business schools and perhaps as a result of that, I believe Wharton students have access to a very large and diverse set of electives to choose from. This continues to be true for Wharton MBA Exec students, when you compare some of the other Exec MBA programs. The specific set of electives offered are based on a voting process. Therefore, simply due to varied demand resulting from a larger and more diverse class, the fulltime candidates have access to more electives than the MBA Exec students do.
  

A few final points on this subject:

• I believe you can apply to both programs. If you get into both, you can perhaps postpone your decision a bit.
  
• While I can't comment about the official line on transfering from one program to another, I know of people who have done the following types of transfers. In general, it could be very challenging adjusting to a completely different cohort. In the case of a transfer to the fulltime program, you could get quite disoriented if you land up there in the second year. YMMV, but having done some asking around, I would not recommend that.
  
• MBA Exec West (SF) to MBA Exec East (Phili)
• MBA Exec West (SF) to MBA fulltime (Phili)
• MBA fulltime (Phili) to MBA Exec West (SF)

To sum up the decision making process, I'd say if you are trying to move into a career that is a marked departure from what you have been doing (i.e you are not looking to rely upon or strongly leverage your past experience), go for the fulltime program. For example, if you want to move from tech to i-banking, the simplest route is to join the big gang of 800 fulltime MBA students in Phili. But before you do that, make sure you familiarize yourself with the lifestyle of a typical post MBA i-banking job. Note also that career opportunities private equity are very hard to come by and the recruiting process may not help you much. That said, not having to balance family, a fulltime job and the courseload, does give you the time to network with the PE community.