In a hurry?

• Candidates who might be considered a bit “too old” / to have a bit too much experience for the TYPICAL 2-year Full Time MBA, but who still want that Full-Time experience, should seriously consider a full-time, one year MBA, such as the one that Kellogg offers
• In order to qualify to apply, you MUST have taken (or PLAN TO TAKE, PRIOR TO ENROLLING) classes in 4 subjects, at the university level (more details below):
  • Statistics
  • Economics
  • Marketing
  • Operations
• The PROs of this program are:
  • It might be an older / “more seasoned” candidate’s best chance of acceptance to a top MBA
  • You still get the benefits of the “Full Time Experience” (classes, clubs, community), even if for only 1 year (which you would not get via the usual program recommended for older candidates, the Part-Time MBA)
  • You’ll be FINISHED in only a year, vs. a part-time program which might take around 3 years
  • You still graduate with a Kellogg MBA
• The DOWNSIDEs of this program are:
  • No Summer Internship — this means that, realistically, large career-pivots may not be possible
    • That having been said, I’ve had clients in the past do school-year projects with a company that help them get a job after graduation
    • I’ve even had clients able to successfully recruit for the elite “MBB” management consulting roles from the 1-year program — note though, that in that situation, the person spent months prior to enrolling prepping for consulting interviews!
  • Recruiting will start ASAP; you’ll need to be ready to hit the ground running once you enroll
• Sometimes, when I bring up the downsides of the 1-year program, someone will say to me “But.. I PREFER the 2-year program“, which is totally fair, but also… if your experience level will preclude you from getting accepted to the 2-year program, this might be the option open to you to work with.

You’ve been working hard at your career, rising through the ranks, making terrific impact… when it starts to hit you: “I need an MBA to advance to that next level.” Maybe you’ve been working for maybe a decade or more, have learned how to manage a team, and are feeling pretty good about making the investment in getting an MBA… but then you start to look into it, and you realize to your dismay that you’re about 5 years “too late” to apply.

Or MAYBE you have your own company / a family business you’d like to grow, and want the knowledge of the MBA to do so, but the thought of taking 2 years out feels like just too much time away from the business.

Or MAYBE you’re within the more typical experience range for the 2-year MBA, but you already did a degree in business (e.g. a bachelors; perhaps an MiM) and the thought of re-visiting content you already know in the Core Courses just feels like a big waste of time.

Regardless of your reason, the 1-year MBA at Kellogg, similar to one-year MBA programs at other schools, and the January / “J-term” option at Columbia, can be a terrific route to getting an MBA from a prestigious program.

One thing that I appreciate about the admissions team at the Kellogg 1-year program is that they are quite open about the fact that you need to have certain coursework in four topics under your belt in order to enroll. Note that I said “ENROLL” and not “APPLY”. It IS theoretically possible to take the four courses required prior to enrolling — since the program starts in June, and not August, keep in mind if you’re planning to apply in Round 2 that you either might want to get started ASAP on those courses, OR just consider that 4 courses in only a few months might be a bit tight.

What are the four courses I need to have college-level coursework in?

• Statistics
• Economics
• Marketing
• Operations

How can I be sure that my existing coursework covered all of the stuff I’ll need to know?

Here are links to PDFs where they describe in more detail:

• Statistics
• Economics
• Marketing
• Operations

I took Advanced Placement (AP) courses in Statistics and / or Economics in high school; am I exempt?

ONLY if you took a MORE advanced course in college that built upon the AP knowledge. Put another way — you still need A class in those subjects, the AP only bought you advanced placement (as the name implies!) but it’s not viewed as a full substitute.

How can I be sure that I meet the requirements? Where can I get more info on how to complete the requirements if I don’t yet have them?

[email protected]

How will my application strategy differ vs. if I were applying to a 2-year program?

While in ApplicantLab, I teach the perils of applying with a big “career switch” story in your application, for the one-year program, the career vision needs to be EVEN MORE tightly associated with your current path.

Wait, will I literally be UNABLE to make ANY sort of big career switch with this program?

YES you CAN make a career switch in real life, but realize that it will be A LOT HARDER, and/or you might need to make “baby steps” towards that switch. I’d advise you to, if you get into this program and want to do consulting, banking, or tech recruiting on campus, that you start prepping THE DAY YOU GET YOUR ACCEPTANCE LETTER, signing up for a service such as Archer Case Prep software if you want to work in Management Consulting, for example.

Ok, I’d like to give a shot at applying, but I’m not sure what to say in my essays, nor how to optimize my resume so that it makes admissions readers go: “Hey! This candidate seems great!”

I’ve got you covered! Sign up for ApplicantLab, where, for less than the cost of one hour with a one-on-one consultant, you can get access to a FULL SUITE of tools to help you build your best application!