Should I do an Executive MBA or a full-time MBA? What if I'm working in a great job?

SGT Thomas Sullivan I got my Executive MBA while I was in the Navy. It worked well with my schedule. You have to make the decision that is right for you and your family. What I will say, is that there are a couple of things I would have done differently with my executive course. 1) I would have gotten more of the financial classes that are offered mainly in the full MBA. When I went job hunting afterwords, it was one of the consistent knocks I received in the contracting world. 2) I would have networked better. Granted, I was still in the Navy, and had a few years to go but I did little networking while in the course. Consequently, when I did get out, all my contacts were stale. 3) Find a mentor in the biz community that can help you with what they are looking for at that time, and have them review your CV/resume. Hope that helps, and keep charging!

SGT Sullivan. This is a great question. I'd be happy to chat with you over the phone about this! Please feel free to call me @ [login to see] or ( [login to see] .edu). I'll start by saying that term "Executive MBA" is not used consistently between Universities. In some cases, "Executive" is the name given to an institution's Part-Time MBA. In other cases, such as at University of Maryland's Smith School of Business, the term is applied to a specific delivery format of our MBA. At UMD, our Executive MBA is a lock-step, 19 month program with a cohort of individuals who largely hail from Senior Management functions within an organization and bring with them approximately 15 years of professional work experience. Moreover, our curriculum is set by the E-MBA program faculty, with few opportunities for students to choose electives. Our Full-Time MBA program is a traditional program provides that provides students with a fully immersive experience and gives them the flexibility to tailor their curriculum to a particular concentration area, such as Finance or Marketing. Additionally, a summer internship between year 1 and 2 are critical to the experience of all of our Full Time MBAs. Our average age does tend to skew younger, around mid-20's, but it is not uncommon for students in our program to be in their 30's (many of our Vets - including me - have found themselves in this situation). At the Smith School, we also offer two other program formats; these include our Part-Time MBA program and our Online MBA program. Both of these programs provide flexibility for our students to study at a pace that suits them and customize (to some extent) the courses that they take. The beautiful thing about all of our programs is that the courses are the same across all of the formats and the same faculty members teach across all of our programs. There is no "watered-down" MBA at Smith! I'll conclude by saying that the right program choice for you depends on a lot of factors, such as your personal financial situation, your Veterans Education Benefits, career interests (are you a career changer or ladder climber?), current professional situation and your family situation. B-School is a rigorous and intensive journey, by design. That said, pursuing an MBA can be one of the most worthwhile decisions you will ever make. I always suggest that Veterans who are considering going back to school connect with others who have done it before. I'm happy to be a resource for you.

When I did my MBA, they jealously guarded the Executive MBA entry. It was limited to people who were no kidding executives that brought decades of hard business experience to the program. I was denied entry and routed to the regular MBA program. I did make friends with some of the Executive students, and I would have been out classed.