UPDATE: This article was originally posted on October 10, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below.
Since 1-year MBAs were first introduced more than 50 years ago, the debate over whether a 1-year MBA is better or worse than a 2-year MBA has raged.
The answer to the age-old question?
It depends on your profile, goals, and expectations for your MBA experience.
That’s why in this blog, we are sharing 8 key factors you should take into consideration when determining if a 1-year MBA is right for you.
We’ve also compiled a cheat sheet on when to apply if you’re targeting 1-year programs to ensure you have every advantage possible during your application.
Key factors when considering a 1-year MBA
Here at Ellin Lolis Consulting, we believe that no two applicants are the same. For that reason, the programs we recommend to each applicant are completely different based on the priorities, goals, and extenuating circumstances that make them unique.
Though the list of factors below certainly isn’t exhaustive, the following criteria are those that most commonly determine if a 1-year program is an advantageous decision for an applicant.
1. Age and seniority
One of the most important benefits of an MBA is your ability to use your business school degree as leverage to earn a higher salary and land a more senior position.
However, as you get older and advance your career, promotions are less frequent. This is due to the simple fact that most organizations have few people at the top calling the shots, meaning it may take years for you to nab an open C-Level position.
As such, if you are on the older or more senior side of the applicant pool (usually 30 is a good cut-off), a 1-year program might be a better option for you, as this will allow you to get back to your career earlier.
This was the advice we gave to one of our former clients, Mark, an MBB consultant whose quick promotions and frequent international cases meant he was quickly approaching 30 yet still had not completed his MBA. Considering his intention to stay in consulting, a 1-year program was a much better option as it would efficiently allow him to build the skills he needed to quickly and successfully step into a manager role while staying ahead tenure-wise of peers who had joined the firm after he did.
Though there is no definitive cut-off date, if you have more than 6 years of work experience, you may want to give a 1-year program serious consideration.
2. Industry
In the modern world, business moves quickly. But some businesses move more quickly than others.
Considering the ramifications, an extended “leave of absence” from the market is an important factor, especially for professionals in the technology industry. Need proof? Try to remember which version of the iPhone you were using two years ago!
Perhaps for this reason, many 1-year MBA programs cater to tech talents. With Kellogg recently announcing its 1-year MBAi program, Johnson Cornell’s Tech MBA, and NYU Stern’s 1-year Tech MBA, a 1-year program might be the perfect option for you if you’re focused on this sector.
Therefore, if you’re one of the growing number of MBA hopefuls who works in tech or plans to transition to tech, you may want to consider a shorter program.
3. ROI
Another key factor to consider is the cost of a 2-year program versus the cost of a 1-year program — and the salary boosts associated with each.
When looking purely from a cost standpoint, 2-year programs are plainly more expensive, especially after factoring in two years of cost of living and lost wages.
Tuition is also higher. For example, tuition at INSEAD, one of the world’s most popular 1-year MBAs, will set you back around $105,000. Meanwhile, Harvard Business School’s tuition for its 2-year MBA will set you back nearly $150,000.
Especially if you’re planning to finance a large part of your education, the extra costs associated with a 2-year program may mean it takes longer to pay back your loans.
As such, it is important to consider what makes more of an impact on you. Will taking on more debt stifle your post-MBA dream of becoming an entrepreneur? Or does a slightly higher salary seem more appealing? Only you can answer that!
4. Summer internships
For career switchers, a 1-year MBA may represent a significant disadvantage, as it does not allow students to complete a summer internship.
For professionals aiming to use business school to rebrand or break into a new segment, having the chance to prove you’ve got what it takes (and having the help of a highly trained MBA career center to ensure you land highly-coveted interviews) can be the key to successfully reaching this goal.
Furthermore, summer internships can be powerful tools to help you land your dream job post-MBA. Bain & Company, for example, hired 90% of its MBA summer interns in 2021, a number that keeps increasing. In fact, one-third of full-time MBA hires at Bain were first summer interns.
On the other hand, if you’re considering working for your family business, thinking about starting your own company, or going sponsored to your MBA, the internship may not be as important. Though there is always value in learning something new, applicants who aren’t planning to break into a new industry may benefit more from getting straight to work, rather than delaying their plans another year just to accommodate an internship.
That’s the exact reason Columbia Business School created the J-Term program, a 3-semester version of their full-time MBA program specifically targeted at applicants who won’t benefit as much from an internship.
5. Location
In general, there are many more 1-year programs in Europe than in the US, though the number of 1-year American MBA programs has increased. This gives you the chance to be highly strategic and choose a mix of lengths and/or regions based on the unique factors that determine which school is your dream school.
Furthermore, since you’ll have less time to establish your network during a 1-year program, think carefully about how important moving to a new geography is to you post-MBA.
For example, we recently advised our client Felipe who wanted to use his MBA and Italian citizenship to shift his career to Europe. Considering his age and the recent birth of his first child, finishing his MBA quickly and getting back to work made him a good candidate for a 1-year program.
Though there are excellent 1-year programs at top-ranked schools like Kellogg, establishing a network in the Chicago area and then trying to leverage this network to land a job in Barcelona would be much more complex than it would be if he were attending a Spanish business school. For that reason, he targeted western European business schools before deciding to attend IESE.
Though you definitely can move around after your MBA, programs tend to have stronger connections in the region and country in which they are located. For this reason, if your goals make it so building a network in a specific region (like Silicon Valley, for example) is crucial, you may want to opt for 2-year programs if no suitable 1-year programs are present in your target area.
6. Networking
Another factor to consider in this process is how important networking opportunities are for you. While you will certainly create new connections in both 1- and 2-year programs, the depth of those connections may differ.
A 2-year program allows you more time to broaden your network, both on- and off-campus. What’s more, it gives you access to first-year students during your second year, essentially doubling the number of people you can meet. It’s also important to remember that the lack of internship opportunities for 2-year programs limits the people you can connect with during that experience.
However, this certainly doesn’t mean you can’t reach your networking objectives, especially with a solid outreach plan in place, in one year. Additionally, instead of a summer internship, 1-year students can spend this extra time focused on finding and curating networking opportunities.
7. Eligibility
Though 1-year programs often have the same eligibility requirements as 2-year programs, certain programs do have additional requirements that candidates must meet in order to apply.
One of the best examples is Kellogg School of Management’s 1-year Accelerated MBA program. As the degree offered is the same as for the full-time MBA, candidates who are admitted into this program must demonstrate that they have a strong enough business foundation to skip introductory-level courses.
For that reason, we recommend you fully research your program of interest and confirm eligibility before you start your application.
8. Time to explore
Though we suggest you present clear goals for your career when preparing your MBA application, the truth is that many applicants just aren’t 100% sure what they want to do after graduation.
If this sounds like you, you may want to avoid 1-year programs. In most 1-year programs, the first semester is spent covering core curriculum classes on topics such as corporate finance, strategy, and leadership. Students then have the opportunity to choose elective classes on the topics of their choosing during the second semester.
If your goals are crystal clear, electives might not be as important to you. However, if you’re planning to use the MBA to try out different areas and see which you like best, or if you plan to deep-dive into an area in which your current skills are minimal, it could be highly beneficial to have more time to explore these areas through elective classes.
All in all, there are critical differences between a 1- and 2-year MBA. Considering how important this decision is to your future career plans, we recommend you dedicate significant time to reflecting on your goals before you decide to start studying for GMAT or writing essays. The MBA is a unique chance to reposition yourself and set yourself up for a fulfilling career and life in the long run, so make sure you don’t rush into making these critical decisions.
Applying at the right time is key
In Europe, where the majority of 1-year MBA programs can be found, application rounds often function differently than they do in the US.
For example, INSEAD, a highly sought-after 1-year program, offers 2 intakes per year: one starting in January and one starting in September. For each intake, the school offers 4 different application rounds, meaning there’s an active round during most of the year.
Cornell Johnson’s 1-year Tech MBA, on the other hand, follows the traditional US application schedule, with rounds from August to February for a single intake each August.
That means that if you plan to target both European and US-based programs, you need to carefully consider how you will line up deadlines to ensure you don’t have to pay a hefty deposit on one of your safety schools before getting a response from your top-choice program.
For this reason, we suggest trying to align all the deadlines as much as possible and check how long you have to pay the deposit after receiving your admissions decision, as you often have less than 2 weeks to fork over thousands of dollars.
If you’re not able to perfectly align the notification dates, prioritize either more competitive programs or your top choice schools. There’s no right answer, but we suggest making sure you’re able to hear from the programs you’re most interested in before you have to commit to other programs.
Consult with an MBA expert
We are known to deliver the most complete and effective MBA consulting services in the market because we know an MBA is not simply a one- or two-year degree, it’s an investment in your future.
That’s because we care about each and every one of our clients and are committed not only to getting you results but to being your partner and advisor at each step of the process. Whether it is figuring out if a 1-year program is right for you or how to phrase an email to the admissions staff to negotiate scholarships, you can count on us for even your smallest questions.
According to our client, Bruno, this personal touch was the key to overcoming the odds to land a spot at Chicago Booth: “I am completely satisfied with all the support provided by Ellin Lolis MBA Consulting. I made the right decision to have the complete support package. Ellin’s best support was that I felt she treated my application as if it were her own, and it was really important to keep me calm and confident in the outcome. Each step, she was always prepared and supportive, giving me confidence that my dream could come true.
Most importantly, Ellin helped me discover the perfect school for me, INSEAD. Today, I’m completely happy to be a part of this community. I am excited to be part of a school that is completely concerned with academic excellence and to form leaders who think wrongly. So I hope INSEAD can help me become a better professional to help my country in the future.”
Ready to put the Ellin Lolis Advantage to work for you? Apply to work with us today!
Real MBA Essays That Got People In
School-specific sample essays that got our clients accepted
