Part-Time MBAs: Job Fairs for Us, Too

As more part-time students pay their own way, they're asking for the same access to recruiters traditionally reserved for full-timers

by Francesca Di Meglio

Kelvin Gary, an engineer, wanted to explore new career paths. In 2005, as a part-time MBA student at the New York University Stern School of Business' Langone Program for Working Professionals, he had investment banking on the brain and wanted to attend the IB presentations at his school. However, he was turned away at the door and told these programs were only for full-time students.

Disappointed, Gary finally got past security when a human resources representative, who was a friend of his, personally invited him to her company's on-campus event. As a result of the recruiter's help, Gary was able to bypass the school rules and managed to make it to the final round of interviewing with his friend's bank. Although Gary ultimately decided to stay put and not change jobs at the time, the experience with career services prompted him and many other students to demand improvement. Administrators responded—and the program is starting to evolve. "I had an iffy experience, but I know [the school] has done a lot to change that," says Gary, who graduated in May, 2007, and is now an associate manager in resource and decision management at a pharmaceutical company.

Part-Timers Demand Parity

Traditionally, career switchers had no choice but to sign up for a full-time MBA program. But many of today's part-time students are itching for a change—and they're demanding the same opportunities and training as their full-time counterparts. They want to keep their jobs but still be able to use the MBA degree as a vehicle for reinventing their career. In the past, many part-time students received tuition help from their current employers and schools didn't want to encourage those students to use their company benefits to switch jobs. In recent years, however, more and more part-time students are paying their own way, say business school administrators, and tuition, which is upward of $80,000 for a degree program, is the same for part-timers as it is for full-timers. That's why change is afoot at many top part-time programs—but it doesn't always happen as quickly as students would like.

Even though Gary noted that Stern had started to amend its policies for part-time students, others say there is still more work to be done and have been vocal about it on some MBA blogs (BusinessWeek.com, 8/24/07). Candice Osborne, a 2007 graduate of the Langone program at Stern, says that while one of her professors helped her with her job hunt, she did not have the same access to on-campus company presentations or recruiting as the full-timers—a situation that made her feel like "a second-class citizen."

As it stands, Langone students can participate in on-campus recruiting only if they meet certain requirements and only when recruiters request to see both full-time and part-time students. Part-time participants must sign a document promising not to miss a company event once they've attended an information session for that company. They also must go through certain workshops, have an approved résumé, participate in mock interviews, and confirm in writing that they are self-sponsored and do not receive any tuition from their current employer. They cannot participate in recruiting events for internships.