What are the rankings for the part-time MBA?

Many people feel that they cannot spare the year or two years of no income in order to take a full time MBA course. There are also some who don't buy the notion that the full-time MBA is better as it gives you more chance to work, read and immerse yourself in the course. They feel that the ability to work during the day whilst taking your MBA course in the evening or at weekends allows you immediately to put into action what you are learning. When that's added to the fact that you can fund your course through the salary that you are earning and also have living expenses coming in as well then you can see why some people choose to take a part-time course.

Obviously, if you are working and studying at the same time then you will have a time problem, in that you may find it difficult to be getting up, going to work, spending all day at work then going to classes in the evening and the weekend and finding time to do the reading and the writing that you will need to do on an MBA course. You need to add to that time with your friends and time with your family and time to carry out any hobbies. Something will have to give, and it will first be your hobbies, which is fine, then it might be your friends, which you may not feel so comfortable with, and finally your family. You have to ensure that this doesn't happen, because it is generally accepted that the best form of support for MBA students is that which comes from their family.

So, how are part-time MBA course ranked? Well, it's probably true that the overall reputation of the business school helps. After that they will be talking to alumni of the school 3 years after they have graduated to find out how the MBA course has affected their career. Has their salary grown? Have they got up the career ladder? Have they achieved out of it what they want to achieve? Then there are measures of course diversity - which is more difficult with part-time courses as it is difficult for international students to get a job in the country where the course is. However, the best international students WILL be able to get a job, so if the course has international students, it is likely they are of good calibre. There are also measurements of the amount of women on the course and in the faculty.

The top 10 schools are: Wharton, Chicago , Fuqua, Columbia , Stern, London Business School , Kellogg, Instituto de Empresa, Hong Kong UST and Goizueta. Imperial in London is top 20 and Cass is in the top 25.