When Part Time Is the Right Time

Maybe a full-time MBA program isn't best for you. Chicago's dean of part-time programs offers some advice

Confused about whether you want to pursue your MBA on a full-time or part-time basis? You're not alone. In fact, over the past five years the percentage of GMAT test-takers undecided about which type of program they planned to attend nearly tripled, from 2.71% in 2001 to 7.9% in 2006.

BusinessWeek.com reporter Kerry Miller spoke to Kristine Mackey, associate dean for Evening and Weekend Programs at Chicago Graduate School of Business, to get some advice for applicants. Here are edited excerpts of the conversation:

What are the major questions that should be going through someone's mind when they're choosing between applying to full-time or part-time MBA programs?

I think the first question is: "How happy am I in my job?" "Is my job enriching and should I keep it while I study, or is it not enriching enough?"

When you're cruising along in your job, you're loving your job, you think there's places to go and things to learn in the job, and you're still jazzed about it, maybe you don't want to get off the train. But when you're at a point where you're sitting in a sea of cubes and every day looks the same and you can't imagine where you're going next, then it makes a lot more sense to get off the train.

What full-time students are getting that the part-timers are not getting is the luxury of immersion. So a lot of that's lifestyle. "At this point in my life, do I want to get off the train and really immerse?" And then the second question might be money: "What does it mean for me financially?"

When is it generally a good idea to take on the financial risk and go to a full-time program?

I think it makes perfect sense for people who want to go into some industries where that boost is more likely to come by you going through all the traditional recruiting stuff, meaning investment banking and consulting, though I'd really caveat that with some sectors of investment banking. Because now, with all these new sectors coming up—venture capital, private equity—they don't operate in the same way. But traditional I-banking.

Do you see a lot of people who say: I'd love to do this as a full-time program, but I'm not willing to take on that financial risk?

There are a lot of people with families that are taking the risk and just getting off the train, but I do think it's a huge question. People without a safety net don't feel comfortable giving up that income. I think for a person with a lot of undergraduate loans, they're $120,000 in debt, for that person, I think there's a bigger question: "Can I give up the income and take another loan simultaneously?"

How does the availability of financial aid differ between full time and part time?

Loan aid is the same. There's more merit aid in the full-time, but merit aid is such a small portion of our overall aid in any graduate school that I don't think that's really as big of an issue. I know some of my students have run that analysis, saying, "Here's what I would get if I went full-time vs. here's what I would get on loan, plus my employer would pay half, plus I wouldn't lose my income," and the aid has to be pretty good for it to make a difference. It has to be pretty much merit aid and there has to be enough of it to make the financial analysis tip the balance in favor of full-time.

Is there a certain type of person who, money aside, would really be better served in the part-time program?

Again, I think people who are in a situation where they just love what they're doing and they can grow. I don't know if people realize what a rare thing that is. If you've got it and all you want is broadening, then don't give up.