How Do You Evaluate an Executive MBA vs. an MBA Program?

If you’re just beginning your MBA research, you will no doubt come across different MBA program formats to choose from, such as full-time or executive MBA. Chicago Booth offers three different MBA formats: the Full-Time MBA Program in Chicago at our Hyde Park campus, the Part-Time MBA Program at the Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago, and the Executive MBA Program at our campuses in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong. In this blog, we’ll go over the key differences between the EMBA and Full-Time MBA Programs.

How is an Executive MBA Program different from an MBA Program?

The key differences between an Executive MBA Program and a Full-Time MBA Program involve timing, location, and career profiles. Executive MBA students are further along in their careers and continue to work while enrolled; Full-Time MBA students are less experienced and take a two-year break from working while studying.

Chicago Booth’s Executive MBA Program is a 21-month part-time program that allows students to participate in classes while remaining in their jobs. It is a global program offered across our campuses in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong. Students select one campus as their “home campus” where they will commute to throughout their study. EMBA students also spend time at each of the three global campuses during the course of the program. Typically, EMBA students are senior professionals with 8-20 years of work experience.

In the Full-Time MBA Program, students take a career break for two years and live in Chicago for their MBA experience. The program lasts 21 months with a summer internship midway through. In addition to their studies on campus, students have opportunities for international travel and can even study abroad for a quarter. Some students expand the scope of their education by doing a joint or dual degree with the University of Chicago’s other graduate programs. Full-Time MBA students are usually earlier in their career with three to seven years of experience.

Is there a difference in the MBA curriculum or degree qualification between the two programs?

If you're wondering whether an executive MBA degree is equivalent to a full-time MBA degree then the answer is yes! At Chicago Booth, we offer one MBA degree with the same world-class faculty, the same rigorous courses, and the same powerful, global network.

There are some differences in how the courses are delivered. In the Executive MBA Program, students follow a lockstep general management curriculum, taking the same classes at the same time. They also travel across campuses for international session weeks and electives course weeks.  The intense amount of time spent with a local campus cohort and global classmates leads to a tight-knit student community.

The Full-Time MBA Program offers a unique flexible curriculum where students can design their own course of study. The ability to select your classes and when you take them allows students to build directly on their existing knowledge and skill sets to achieve their specific goals.

Both programs cover the same core courses including LEAD, an experiential leadership development program that helps students build lifelong connections and gain leadership skills to enhance their interpersonal effectiveness.

A common thread that runs through all Chicago Booth MBA programs, irrespective of the MBA format, is the Chicago Approach™. This approach to business education provides an evidence-based framework rooted in the fundamental scientific disciplines at the heart of business—economics, accounting, psychology, sociology, and statistics—which allows students to define problems, ask better questions, and develop better solutions. This unique and powerful problem-solving methodology is shared by all of our MBA students.

Which MBA program should I choose based on my goals?

One way to tackle this question is to look at the data. We asked incoming students from 2021 to provide their primary reasons for joining either the Executive MBA Program or the Full-Time MBA Program. Here’s what they had to say:

Motivators for a Full-Time MBA

Learn More about MBA Programs at Chicago Booth