An MBA is the holy grail in the business education world, but actually obtaining the degree can be a tough balancing act.
Luckily, most business schools offer high-quality part-time MBA programs for working professionals who are at a point in their careers or personal lives when returning to school full-time is not the best option. While many part-time MBA students wish to stay on their current career path, some use the degree to shift roles or industries.
Part-time MBA programs offer a way to pursue a degree, with a longer schedule than traditional full-time programs, though you’ll need to sacrifice some free time and add more obligations to an already busy life. Hundreds of schools offer business programs with either evening or weekend schedules. You can expect access to many of the same faculty and resources as the school’s full-time MBA program—but during times that accommodate working professionals.
While most business schools offer both options and accept applicants as either an evening or a weekend student, there is some mutability.
The best part-time MBA programs, according to Fortune
Here’s what you need to know about a part-time program if you’re considering applying.
What is a part-time MBA program?
A part-time MBA program is a way to obtain a master’s in business administration at a slower, more flexible pace. Students may take one to three classes at a time either in the evening, on the weekends, online, or a combination of the three. The curriculum, faculty, and opportunities available are largely the same as a full-time program.
A part-time MBA is designed for working professionals who will remain working at the same time as their studies. However, working is not a requirement, and the degree program can be great for those with family obligations or who simply want a slower school pace.
How much work experience do part-time MBA students have?
Most part-time MBA programs take two-and-a-half to three years to complete, though many allow for self-pacing, which can extend that time. And because these programs are designed for working professionals, many schools report that their part-time students have several more years of work experience than their full-time counterparts.
Part-time MBA students typically have between five to eight years of work experience, as compared to around three to six years for full-time programs.
Additional time in the workforce is one of the benefits of a part-time program.
“The whole idea is that’s the experience that you are bringing into the classroom,” Jamie Breen says of the students who enter the part-time program at UC Berkeley (Haas). Breen is the assistant dean for the evening and weekend (EWMBA) students, and describes this group as being at an inflection point in their careers and at their companies, stepping into leadership roles.
Breen adds that the EWMBA students are exploring questions like, “What kind of shape do I want the rest of my career to be? What kind of roles do I want to play? Do I want to be the functional expert [or] do I want to be a line manager in general management?”
What is a part-time MBA program like?
Though the schedule and timelines may be somewhat different, there is a lot of overlap between the full- and part-time programs at any one business school. Expect a lot of similarities in the core curriculum and elective offerings, faculty and facilities, career services, and on-campus recruiting, as well as (mostly) comparable tuition costs and extracurricular offerings.
“The core (curriculum) is almost identical. You almost can’t tell the difference between the two,” explains Joe Stephens, senior assistant dean at the University of Texas–Austin (McCombs).
Many part-time MBA programs go out of their way to make attending class as seamless as possible. For example, for students at McCombs’s weekend MBA programs, meals are included in the tuition. Plus, for the first semester, lodging is provided for one night a week.
Top schools also aim to create similar extracurricular offerings for the part-time students that are found in a full-time program. “We go out of our way to not make it transactional,” Breen says. “Everything from the way we structure cohorts, to events on campus, the way staff support them, and the way faculty are available.”
Career paths for part-time students
Part-time MBA students might be a little older and a little further along in their careers—and many remain with their companies after graduating—but there is more career fluidity among this group than you might expect, including while in the program. At Boston University (Questrom), 62% of part-time students were promoted prior to program completion. Other students may start their own businesses or even switch to a preferred job during their time.
Suraj Kandukuri, a member of the University of Michigan’s 2021 MBA class, says that when he started in the weekend program, a professor advised the cohort to try to secure a promotion early on in the program and then be positioned for another upon graduation. “A lot of students took that to heart, and I saw a lot of people jump within their own company,” he says, noting that around the one-year mark, many of his classmates also switched companies.
Another advantage to working while pursuing an MBA is the contemporaneous understanding or application of the curriculum. “If you are going into work and you are directly applying cost accounting to the job you have been doing, meaning you already have the full context of the company and its real-world application, that information is going to stick with you much longer,” Kandukuri says. “There is an advantage to not being in the MBA bubble that you get to apply in real-time.”
How to find the right MBA program?
When choosing a part-time program, there may be more limiting factors to that decision, like the inability to temporarily relocate. Still, an aspiring MBA student has plenty of options to consider, including these:
Location and format: What business schools can you commute to two nights a week? Does a weekend program allow you to cast a wider net? How many classes are asynchronous versus synchronous?
Curriculum and concentrations: It’s important to consider what schools are known for—say, analytics—and how that educational focus will advance your career goals. Make sure to also explore what concentrations and electives are available. At McCombs, electives were only introduced in 2023—meaning that prior, students largely took the same coursework.
Reputation: Some students have multiple part-time programs on their doorstep, such as Chicagoans, who can choose between Northwestern University (Kellogg) and University of Chicago (Booth) or Bay Area applicants who have Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and Haas. Prestige is still a big part of business school, and attending a well-known school helps to indicate your skill set level.
Alumni network: Like a program’s strength in an industry, prospective students should research which companies recruit at a school and where alumni land. For example, many University of Washington (Foster) grads wind up at Seattle-based companies like Amazon or Microsoft.
Stephens says the biggest questions one should consider when picking any MBA program include:
- Challenge: Does the program challenge you?
- Opportunity: Will the MBA content, faculty, and network expose you to new ideas and opportunities that otherwise you would never have access to?
- Home: Does it feel like a place you want to learn? Does it feel like home? Does it hit you in the gut?
The path to an MBA may take a little longer, and there may be more to balance, but the part-time program ends in the same place: Whether you spent 21 months or 3 years completing your MBA, it’s still the most coveted degree among business leaders.
Frequently asked questions
Are part-time MBAs worth it?
Yes, a part-time MBA is a tried-and-true way to upgrade one’s career in business. The cost of tuition is lower than a full-time MBA, and students have much more flexibility in their coursework. Plus, because part-time programs are designed for working professionals, students can still keep their full-time job income.
Is a part-time MBA the same as an MBA?
No, a part-time MBA is not the same as a traditional, full-time MBA. Students only take one to three courses at a time, and classes are usually held at night or on the weekends. The curriculum and faculty are typically the same, but the number of class offerings may be less.
How many years in a part-time MBA?
Part-time MBAs can be completed on your own time, but students typically take two to six years to complete the degree. Some schools may have a maximum number of years one can take to obtain the MBA.
