Kellogg School of Management – Evening & Weekend Program

Kellogg offers a Chicago-based Evening & Weekend MBA program for students that want to propel their professional development and leadership capabilities without putting their careers on hold. Students can apply what they learn at work the very next day.

Northwestern Kellogg has had some form of part-time business education since 1908. The modern-day Evening & Weekend MBA program traces its roots to 1972, when the school’s full-time MBA moved to Evanston, Illinois, leaving E&W to grow in Chicago.

Essentially, there are two programs – Evening, and then Weekend – and students can move seamlessly between them. Students are given the freedom to mix and match classes across the week, as the program’s cohort model offers courses from 6-9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 12:00pm and/or 1:30-4:30 p.m. on Saturdays at Kellogg’s downtown Chicago campus.

Kellogg E&W MBAs take core curriculum courses that focus on foundational management skills along with optional majors and pathways that fit their interests and career goals. The typical student is on average 29 years old with 6 years of work experience.

The E&W program has two paces; traditional and accelerated. Traditionally, students need 20.5 credits to graduate, with one course equaling one credit. This includes nine core courses where students are grounded with a solid cross-functional baseline of knowledge. For students who already have a background in business and who have taken some of the business prerequisites, accelerated is a good fit, with 15.5 credits that can be completed in as little as a year and leverage coursework in statistics, operations, marketing, and economics.

A complete application to the E&W MBA Program includes an online application, essays, test scores, transcripts, interview, letters of recommendation and application fee.

In addition to the curriculum, Evening and Weekend students are introduced to a unique leadership program specific to this program: The Kellogg Leadership Journey (KLJ), which was recently redesigned to accelerate students’ leadership development through three distinct phases throughout their time at Kellogg (Orientation, Leadership Immersion and Capstone Immersion).

There’s a variety of global experiences available as well, such as the Global Initiatives in Management course, available to all in the B-School, including Full-Time, Evening & Weekend and Executive MBA students.

“Through Global Initiatives in Management, I took 10 weeks of class at Kellogg and spent two weeks studying global energy markets in the Middle East. I had firsthand conversations with global business leaders and learned how politics, economies, and standards of living in Israel, UAE and Jordan vary greatly due to energy resources. I always took my access to energy for granted. Kellogg exposed me to a whole new world, and it forever changed the way I think. It’s a perfect example of the Kellogg experience,” says Bruce Klink, E&W MBA on Kellogg’s site.

Kellogg offers several other opportunities for student engagement and collaboration through global and experiential opportunities including an analytical consulting lab, an asset management practicum, and many clubs, competitions, and networking events. The E&W program at Kellogg ultimately gives students the opportunity to make critical changes and advancements in their career journeys.

“Kellogg changes the trajectory of your career and life in the best way. It offers new opportunities, relationships, and capabilities that you never imagined. It is an extraordinary offering: the ability to develop the mindset of a global leader,” says Klink.