So for Wharton, which option has the smartest/more knowledgeable people, on average?
I mean, if I want to have the best and more enlightened financial debates with past classmates for the rest of my life, would it be better to do the regular MBA or the Exec MBA version?
Assuming:
Coursework: Same
Internships, job opportunities, status, etc: Don’t care
Admissions process: Regular MBA accepts less people and is tougher on GMAT and stuff. EMBA students are 40-somethings that already succeeded in their companies. They have already proven themselves to some extent and they probably know a lot about finance and strategy already. Is it enough to compare them against the selective MBA crew?
I am biased because I tend to think the EMBA crew has an inherent advantage. If I study with them, I’ll be always hanging around with people who are probably a little further along in their career (they’re older and are doing well).
But wherever I look people tend to praise the regular MBA crew more, so I’m probably missing some key stuff.
I know people at both programs. You will find impressive people in both for sure, but on average the caliber of the regular MBA is far higher. Wharton gets real superstars: those who excelled at top undergrads, great GMAT, record of achievement at the most prestigous firms across industries, etc. They’re the future business leaders of the world. In terms of overall caliber and quality of the network, it’s no contest.
In all seriousness, one poster once upon a time suggested that the EMBA is less about academics and more about looks.
Think about it. If I’m 45 and already a high-level executive in Company XYZ, what does it profit me to get a weekend MBA? I already know 95% of everything I need to know, and the other 5% probably can’t be taught in school.
But if I go to Wharton for a part-time MBA, then 1.) Company XYZ gets an Ivy-educated high-level executive (read, more billings); and 2.) the school gets to charge tuition, and gets to show that one of their graduates works as a high-level executive at Company XYZ.
I think the real benefit of the EMBA accrues to the school’s reputation and Company XYZ’s P&L. Probably very little of it accrues to the student.
No need to distinguish one program from another on the resume; however, it should be very easy to tell even with a cursory review of one’s resume or LinkedIn page whether it was a full-time program or something else. The giveaway is that full-time MBA students don’t have concurrent work experience (maybe school year internships, but those would be noted as such).
I think it depends on what you want and your personal circumstances.
First–is all this just hypothetical? Or have you been accepted to one or the other?
Is your employer going to foot the bill for the EMBA?
If so, do you have to stay at your job for another five years? Is that a good or bad thing?
Do you want to change careers?
Do you have another job in mind?
Do you just want the prestige of an Ivy MBA? If so, does EMBA = regular MBA in YOUR opinion?
Have you talked to any recruiters or others with real knowledge of the hiring process? Do they see a difference between an EMBA and regular MBA? What do they say about it?
I think I wrote too much in the first post and so the message was lost. All I want to know is:
I don’t care about anything else.
I want to gather around people who are smart about investing. Nothing more.
The best thing would be to have frequent dinners with Buffet, Soros, Einhorn, maybe Icahn and Ackman together (wouldn’t that be fun?). Since that’s not gonna happen, I’m thinking about paths for the next best thing - one would be an MBA.
I also thought about CFAI conferences, Value Investors Club if I can get in (Numi mentioned it recently in a very positive light), I don’t really know… I’m just thinking out loud in the forums, and started asking about the MBA so the thread wouldn’t be all over the place. Maybe later I’ll make the “all over the place thread”.
Any inputs?
PS: Of course AF is better than anything in the universe for financial discussion and life in general - nobody can ever hope to replace you guys, but it’s always good to have some backups.
Seriously? You’re talking about quitting work, possibly moving to a new city across the country, spending $150k, and sitting in a classroom for two years just so you can sit around and pontificate which stocks to buy? And you really think that these people in the class will want to sit around the campfire pontificating with you for the rest of your life?
I don’t know if he’s trolling or not, but you underestimate how transformational the elite MBA experience is. For 2 years you’re surrounded by the smartest, most accomplished, and interesting people you will ever meet. You guys study together, party together, travel together, network together, and yes, even date. The MBA experience is extremely intense, resulting in the formation of lifelong relationships, both social and professional.
I can tell you for a fact that even if I were making $500K/year, I would gladly give that up to attend HBS, Stanford, or Wharton. The experience you get at those schools is something money cannot buy.
Well, it’s nice to know that someone here holds such top MBA’s in high regard! I think “transformational” is a strong word, but I guess it all depends on where you come from and waht your vantage point is. I think people have different reasons as to why they will or won’t attend a top business school.
As a “non-hacksaw” graduate myself, what I will say is that if I were raking in $500K/year, I would NOT go to business school unless I really hated my job. Recruiting is a major pain in the butt and the opportunity costs are tremendous. That’s not to say that I didn’t learn a ton in business school – I have other threads on the forum where I talk about a very positive experience, and one where the NPV over a long haul will be positive for both financial and personal reasons. However, the economic impact becomes very real after two years of paying tuition and carousing around the world. People that are earning that pay grade before business school are successful enough in their field and are already running around in the right circles.
For people that are successful enough to have made $500K annually before business school, they’re probably doing something really right before school. Don’t get me wrong, I had friends and classmates that came from family wealth or who were top tier at their elite PE firms. The latter cohort could make close to $400K per annum if you include phantom equity and co-invest during their second or third year as a pre-MBA associate, and the ones that were sponsored by their firms ended up doing even better. However, those days are long gone with the credit crunch and were very exceptional to begin with, so in most cases, I would recommend anyone to do a careful ROI before going to business school since almost everything good in life has a cost.
Lastly I realize the $500K was probably an arbitrary number, but it does have some grounding in reality too.
Crazyman, I’ll say that the Value Investors Club is very worthwhile. Stocks (especially small caps) definitely do trade on pitches that are posted there, and the discussions that follow tend to be interesting. Definitely worth an application.
Greenman: You don’t know my reasons. If I don’t care about anything else, maybe it’s because those other things are irrelevant to me. Maybe I have a billion, maybe I’m just thinking out loud, maybe my very specific company will pay me to do whatever I want as long as it improves my skills/their results.
What I can tell you is that I’m willing to do great efforts if they make me a better investor.
I also think that people who like investing will be very pleased to discuss investments every now and then, as long as I have something interesting to add to the conversation. Assuming I do, I’m pretty sure some guys here like Numi and Palantir would be glad to talk investing over pizzas or whatever.
And I don’t mean stock tips - I mean opinions, ways of thinking, approaches, just-for-fun analysis. Those are things that we do every now and then even here on AF…
Numi: Thanks. I’m going to take a more careful look at VIC. I think it’s Greenblatt himself who judges the applications (one of the top long term track records in the US, they say on the site). I’d better work hard.
Palantir: Thanks. I’ll send you an e-mail. Thinking about it, Columbia may be even better for my purposes - the 40 students selected for the VI program will be very capable people that are certainly interested in investing. Columbia GEMBA program (a week a month in NY) would be awesome for my schedule/work-life balance, but is less focused on investments.
I just stumbled upon this thread and I too am immensely interested in understanding the differences between the Wharton MBA and the Wharton EMBA.
Now if I’m not mistaken, the regular MBA campus is in Philly, but the Executive MBA program is run out of a separate satellite campus in (strangely, since it is University of Pennsylvania) – Hackensack, NJ. Is that also what others understand about the differences?
The Wharton EMBA has 2 campuses: SF and Philly. Classes are held on Fridays and Saturdays. Wharton MBA does not have classes on Fridays, so that makes it convenient for EMBAs. The main difference is that EMBA is for people who are further along in their careers and are not looking for a reboot; most of them are being sponsored. I do think EMBA have access to on-campus recruiting but not sure how many of them take advantage of it. In terms of the caliber of students, I have already expressed my views on that.