Need for Speed Drives New Stern P/T MBA

When students are on a three-year completion schedule, they’ll usually take two courses, on two nights per week. The two-year schedule entails three courses, either on three weeknights, or two weeknights and a Saturday.

COST VARIES BY COMPLETION TIME

The cost of the part-time MBA will vary by completion time; since it’s based on a set number of credits, and is meant to be finished in two years, it will end up costing those who finish on time less than those who take three years or more, because of additional registration fees and other costs, including potential tuition hikes.  Stern’s part-time MBA requires 60 credits; the per-credit cost is $1,930, putting the base cost around $116,000.

Although there are no additional resources dedicated to the accelerated part-time MBA aside from the recommended schedule, students will be able to avail themselves of help from academic advisers, tutoring, professors’ office hours, and the office of student engagement which can provide support to students with life issues, Gallogly says.

The program is aimed at working professionals, and Stern’s part-time MBA students typically have about five years of work experience; average age is 28.

Stern’s move to offer a fast-track part-time MBA comes as part-time MBA program enrollment continues to slip country-wide. In 2014, 54% of part-time MBA programs surveyed by the Graduate Management Admission Council reported declining enrollment, compared to 53% in 2013. It’s too early to tell whether the 44% of programs that in 2014 reported increased applications over 2013 hints at an upswing or is merely a statistical blip.

Isser Gallogly, NYU Stern School of Business assistant dean of MBA admissions

Isser Gallogly, NYU Stern School of Business assistant dean of MBA admissions

“It’s been a steady decline since the peak in 2008, some of which I’m sure is cyclical but some of which may be more systemic,” Gallogly says. A stagnant U.S. economy, shrinkage in the financial industry, leveling-off of salaries, reduced employer sponsorship, and tuition increases appear to be primary factors behind the weakened demand for part-time MBA programs, Gallogly says.

Truth be told, however, Quick Carl is unlikely to apply for Stern’s accelerated part-time MBA program, and not because he’d be biting off more than he could chew. Carl always bites off more than he can chew. So he’s more likely to go after the fast-track Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management part-time MBA, which launched in summer 2012. That program can be finished in 1 1/4 years for students who have completed, at the undergraduate or graduate level, five of six courses in accounting, finance, economics, marketing, operations, and statistics (no problem for Quick Carl: his actor alter ego Christopher George had a BBA from the University of Miami).

MBA CAN COME EVEN FASTER AT KELLOGG

“The fact that the students have had significant academic business training before arriving at Kellogg allows them to move more quickly through the program and focus on the elective elements that align with their professional goals,” says Elizabeth Ziegler, Kellogg’s associate dean of MBA operations.

Demand for Kellogg’s part-time accelerated MBA has grown since the school started it, Ziegler says. The school did not provide enrollment numbers by Poets&Quants‘ deadline.

Other schools also offer accelerated part-time MBAs. For example, the U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business’s evening and weekend MBA program is intended to take three years, but students can complete it in 2 1/2 by taking a heavier course load or a summer course. The program must be completed within five years.

The UCLA Anderson School of Management’s part-time program can be finished in 2 1/4 years instead of the typical three years by taking more electives per quarter of taking one-week “block electives.” Anderson imposes a four-year maximum on its “fully employed MBA” part-time program.

DON’T MISS: WHY INTEREST IN PART-TIME MBA PROGRAMS IS SAGGING

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