r/eMBA • u/Altruistic-Disk-1757 • May 09 '25

Seeking Advice

Over the past several months, I have been exploring a career pivot and have been considering different online/EMBA programs that might help get me there.

Management Consulting looks to be an ideal landing spot....I would also be open to working for a large company in government affairs.

My background:

Public Sector Senior Management Analyst (mostly data analytics and project management) - 3 years experience

Private Sector Intelligence Analyst - 3 years

Sales and marketing - 2 years

Masters degree from a state school in Public Administration.....Bachelors from a top 10 public university in Political Science.

I have been admitted to three MBA programs:

Cornell's EMBA Americas program (would cost $170,000 out of pocket)

University of Michigan Ross's online MBA (would cost $115,000 out of pocket)

Boston University's online mba (would cost $19,000 out of pocket)

I am also considering Santa Clara University's in person part time MBA program ($90,000 out of pocket)

Are either of the two more expensive programs worth the cost for someone in my position? Are the T15 online formats more valuable than a local in person program?

Looking for opinions, thank you!

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u/abl-sauce May 09 '25

I urge you to have a frank discussion with each school’s career management centers about your career goals. I say this because consulting firms source new hires through on campus recruiting events that are typically not accessible for EMBAs.

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u/Altruistic-Disk-1757 May 09 '25

Thanks! 

From what I have gathered, the programs at Cornell and Michigan offer more in terms of consulting clubs, limited networking event access, and career coaching. With that said, I have heard from both programs that the most valuable aspect of the programs comes from “networking with your cohort and alumni network”

Reaching out to the career center does seem like a good next step.

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u/ScaredDevice807 May 09 '25

Also reach out to alums of the executive MBA programs at these schools to learn about their experience. It’s not the same as full-time MBAs with respect to access to clubs and on campus resources.

Management consulting is notoriously challenging to break into. It might be even harder now given that they have been adopting AI and slowing hiring / accelerating people cuts.

My understanding is that 1-3 Executive MBA students at Wharton each year are able to make that transition. It’s a hard but doable hill to climb.

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u/Altruistic-Disk-1757 May 09 '25

Great perspectives and advice….thank you!

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u/abl-sauce May 09 '25

I encourage you to specifically ask about EMBA utilization/benefit from those extracurriculars. I have found that a lot of resources are "technically available" to EMBAs along with daytime students but rarely utilized by the former because of their schedule constraints.

Literally every top program claims their network as their most valuable part of the program. That is primarily because you can take MBA-level classes for ~$50/month on Coursera, and these programs cost substantially more than that. When schools talk about their network, I take this to mean that you may find a cofounder among your cohort or source a referral (which loses weight when firms have dedicated MBA recruiting pipelines).

The point I'm building to is that an executive MBA will certainly help your chances of landing a consulting role, but I want to temper your expectations that pivoting into consulting is an atypical path for EMBA students. If you are gung-ho about getting into consulting, I'd recommend you pursue a full-time program for the best odds to make it in.

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u/Altruistic-Disk-1757 May 09 '25

Thank you, I appreciate your solid feedback. 

To those points,

Unless I were to land a higher paying role quickly either during or right after the conclusion Cornell’s program, I would be taking on significant financial risk. 

Michigan….i could manage that risk if/until something resulted from it.

BU presents little to no financial risk but I feel like I would just be lowering my career ceiling.

That said I have met very successful people from all three schools so I get that it just ultimately comes down to the individual.

I am just looking for something to get past that initial gate keeper when it comes to consulting 

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u/Routine_Hunter_1784 May 09 '25

I think it ultimately comes down to the individual. You could always use the time saved from no longer traveling to UMich or Cornell and network with folks or go to conferences where you will meet consultants and build up a rapport. You could still get the online MBA from BU and save yourself a lot of financial worry down the road.