Poets and Quants

why fuqua offers so many MBAs? daytime, executive, cc, global, and so on… you know this can distract the attention from the flagship full time program and might be harmful for the reputation?

as you know, the admission requirements for many forms of duke mba (except full time) are easy and don’t require things like gmat. the competition is much less. This will affect the quality of the graduates. just my thought though!

@BlueDevil11,
I agree fully with your post. It is common to try and compare MBA programs for executives to traditional full time programs. As you rightly point out, each respective type of program serves an entirely different set of consumers and together, all of the programs, end up enriching the entire business school in a multitude of ways, including with respect to networking and job placement. Each program has its own admissions standards and each is highly selective and self-selective in its applicant selection. Many top executive MBA programs (Duke, Kellogg, NYU, Cornell, UMichigan, Chicago by waiver, and Darden by waiver,as examples) have determined that GMATs are not very predictive of success for their applicant pools of 35-45 year olds who may already have a C-Suite job and are 20 +/- years out of undergrad. For Full time programs, the opposite is true.
For example, a senior executive with say 12 years of management experience, who never pursued an MBA for whatever reasons earlier in their career, would not gain much or contribute meaningfully in a traditional full time program with younger professionals 2-5 years out of undergrad. In this case, most of the full time, and less experienced professionals, may actually hope or aspire to one day have the job that this more experienced professional already has – not a great match-up. Conversely, a less experienced professional/rising star would equally be a fish out of water and not have a meaningful contribution when placed in a program with senior executioves with 10-15 years of average management experience.
A common thread exists though between both examples – a need/desire to gain a better business tool kit and skill set through education. For senior executives, many are leaving a micro area that they have specialized in over their career for many years and are beginning a move into a more General Management role that requires new skills never learned or needed before. For less experienced professionals, a wish/want/desire for a change in career direction, or a desire to beef up credentials to distinguish oneself to be firmly on the best track possible within their respective organization is called for…
Duke (and many other schools) have done a terrific job offering a menu of options that do not cannibalize at all, but serve very specific and different segments, as you point out. All programs offered lead to and earn the same MBA degree – there is no such thing as an executive MBA degree – it is only the format of the program, catering to different groups.
In the end, I believe having senior executives from great companies, and less experienced professionals/rising stars together at one school creates opportunities for hiring and the exhange of ideas that can be very beneficial to all types of sudents involved and the BSchool.
Thx

“choices are not a bad thing”….OK.. neither the elitism!

HBS has a hugely successful and prestigious exec Ed program that offers three certificate programs (AMP, GMP, and PLD). HBS bills it PLD program as their version of an exec MBA. It is a great program and highly regarded. HBS is also building a new building (Tata Hall – sp?) to house its burgeoning executive programs. Many execs prefer though an MBA to a certificate – it is a personal choice. Wharton, Booth, Kellogg, Cornell, Columbia, Duke, MIT Sloan have all elected full MBAs for execs – why? Schools decide for themselves but HBS is def in the exec market and sees the benefits as well. To each their own . Choices and options are a good thing. No one righ or corrects choice – just the right choice for the individual or school in question. Thx!

Then we agree fully that HBS offers certificates and not degrees for their exec Ed programs. We also agree that Dartmouth does not offer an executive MBA program. In think we disagree on whether or not it enhances or diminishes the value of a BSchool. If Dartmouth and HBS are your barometers than one would conclude one thing. Conversely, if Wharton, MIT Sloan, Columbia, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Duke, Darden, Michigan, Cornell and many other top schools are a good barometer than one would conclude quite another. To each their own. Many great options out their for all different folks. Thanks for the dialogue!

Kellogg, Wharton, Columbia, and Berkeley all offer them. I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions based on Stanford and Harvard alone. InterestedParty already pointed this out though.

Thank you for your post! You nailed every single point; extremely well written as well. Best to you,

I see fuqua marketing team style

Then we both agree that Stanford does not offer an eMBA. Stanford does offer a one year master in management – kind of an accelerated MBA in my mind – but it is not an actual MBA.
I think as I pointed out in an earlier post, we likely disagree on whether such programs enhance or diminish BSchool value. If one thinks HBS, Stanford, and Dartmouth best define this topic than one would conclude as you may have – which is absolutely fine – no issue on my end. However, those three schools, while admittedly 3 of the best, and I think HBS and Stanford are indisputably the best, reflect a very small group, and they and others have no actual proof of such claim, aside fom a clever marketing piece – about brand dilution. It may or may not be true – and I really do not have issue with whatever such proof would conclude.
It is interesting to note though that so many other top and world class bschools have concluded something so different than these other 3 – again with no proof of what they say either. However, and repeating again what I posted earlier; if one believes that Wharton, Berkeley Haas, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Darden, Michigan, MIT Sloan, UCLA, and globally, INSEAD, IE, IMD, LBS, Oxford, Cambridge, CEIBs, and HEC Paris are also gigolo good barometers than one would conclude the opposite. To each their own! This is getting repetitive…everyone can grandstand with great examples. In the end, I believe that it is great to have a variety of choices that fit a variety of needs. Thx!

Stanford has a Sloan Masters program (so does MIT) for experienced professionals. Its basically an EMBA program.