Today’s entry was written by Brenda Harris, a business writer who maintains a site with tons of information about Executive MBA programs. When Brenda and I first connected and I found out about the nature of her website, I knew that she’d be a great person to provide a guest blog posting here. I hope that those of you trying to decide between a traditional MBA and an executive MBA find her article to be useful.
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The Difference Between a Traditional MBA and an EMBA
Author: Brenda Harris, http://executivembaprograms.org/
It’s the degree of choice for most graduates today; they know it’s their ticket to the business world; and this is why they attempt to get into the best B schools in the business of offering MBA degrees. As the needs of the business industry evolved, so did the MBA degree – it took on various avatars and is now offered as either a one or two year degree with specializations in various niches like finance, marketing, human resources, operations research, and even biotechnology. And then there are the various options for people who have some experience under their belt and are looking for some more insights into the business world – the EMBA or Executive MBA belongs to this category.
So what’s the real difference between a traditional MBA and an EMBA?
An MBA:
• Is meant for graduates who have just finished a four year undergraduate degree or for graduates who have a few years of work experience in the business world.
• Focuses on honing students’ management skills and teaches the core disciplines of management.
• Is a full-time course unless you choose to study it online.
• Is offered online by various universities and colleges.
• Is either a one or two year program.
• Does not require work experience as a qualification for admission for most programs.
• May or may not be sponsored by employers.
• Is more theory-oriented with practical experience limited to the second year of study.
• Is not as expensive as the EMBA.
The EMBA on the other hand:
• Is designed for people who have more work experience and who have spent more time in the workplace than in an academic environment.
• Does not include the basic fundamentals of business administration; rather, it stresses on how senior executives and high level business personnel can enhance their thought processes and apply new methods of learning to solve problems and take decisions.
• Is always a part-time course to accommodate the time constraints of busy business executives.
• Can take from a few months to two years to complete.
• Is not offered online.
• Requires a significant amount of work experience.
• Is most often sponsored by employers for their senior management team.
• Is more focused on practical exposure in the field and draws from the collective experience of the professionals in the class.
• Is expensive, but since it is almost always sponsored by employers, cost does not really matter.
• Is usually tied in to a promotion or significant designation change at work.
• Requires a great deal of discipline and dedication to complete because of two reasons – one, you’re going to be balancing work and study at the same time; and two, you’re going back to school after a considerable period of time which makes it harder for you to get into the flow of academia.
By-line: This guest post is contributed by Brenda Harris, who writes on the topic of online executive mba programs. She can be reached at her email id: brenda.harris91@gmail.com .
