**Note: I have edited this article below to include the Thunderbird 11-month Accelerated MBA.**
While the 2-year full-time MBA remains the standard for a lot of applicants, more and more people are looking for viable 1-year full-time options for their MBA as they place a higher emphasis on the opportunity cost (i.e. foregone salary) of going to b-school.
While the 2-year full-time MBA remains the standard for a lot of applicants, more and more people are looking for viable 1-year full-time options for their MBA as they place a higher emphasis on the opportunity cost (i.e. foregone salary) of going to b-school.
Europe has typically been the home of the 1-year MBA, with options such as INSEAD, IMD, Cambridge, Oxford, ESADE, IE, RSM, Cranfield, Warwick, the LBS Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy and many others attracting the majority of applications.
There are some options worth looking into in the USA as well, and they are increasing in popularity. Here is a starting point for those interested in researching 1-year US-based MBA options. Many of these programs are designed to attract older applicants who have more focused interests and less need for career-changing educational experiences. So, I have divided the list into 1-year programs aimed towards more experienced applicants, and 1-year programs aimed towards applicants of the traditional MBA age.
for more experienced applicants:
working experience: 10-years is required to apply
class size: about 100
(technically an MS in Management rather than an MBA)
working experience: 8 years is required to apply, and the average is 12 years
class size: about 80
working experience: the average is 10 years
class size: about 55-60
for MBA-aged applicants:
One thing that is stressed with most of these 1-year programs below is that you need to have clearly defined academic and/or professional goals.
1-year students also sometimes miss out on key 2-year student experience, such as the summer internship. For instance, at Kellogg, 1-year students spend their summer on campus.
In addition, Goizueta notes here than the ideal candidate for the 1-year MBA has earned an undergraduate degree in business or economics or has strong quantitative background in majors such as engineering or mathematics.
working experience: 4 years (median)
class size: 45 (here is a link to the class profile)
working experience: the current class ranges in age from 23 to 35
class size: 80-90 (they expect to double or triple this number, read more at a Poets&Quants article here)
working experience: an average of 5+ years (compared to an average of 5 years for the 2-year program)
class size: 39
working experience: average of 5 years (the same for the 2-year MBA)
class size: 78
11-Month Accelerated Full-Time Thunderbird MBA
working experience: "To be eligible for the Full-time MBA accelerated program, you must have an undergraduate major or minor in business, have completed courses in accounting, data analysis/statistics, finance and management, or have at least five years work experience including a year or more managing a budget and staff." (refer here). "Either a degree in business or more than five years of work experience, one in management, is required for entry into the Accelerated program. Consideration on the quant portion of the GRE Revised Test (taken after August 1, 2011) or GMAT will also be weighed heavily in making selections for this program." (refer here)
11-Month Accelerated Full-Time Thunderbird MBA
working experience: "To be eligible for the Full-time MBA accelerated program, you must have an undergraduate major or minor in business, have completed courses in accounting, data analysis/statistics, finance and management, or have at least five years work experience including a year or more managing a budget and staff." (refer here). "Either a degree in business or more than five years of work experience, one in management, is required for entry into the Accelerated program. Consideration on the quant portion of the GRE Revised Test (taken after August 1, 2011) or GMAT will also be weighed heavily in making selections for this program." (refer here)
class size: not given (the MBA GM program overall has 548 students, as per this source)
More reading:
If any readers would like to suggest other programs, put them in the comments!
John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com
John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com
