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Program Advantages

When you are getting an MBA, a one-year program can save you considerable amount of time. It is especially perfect for students who wish to pursue specialized study that will help them advance in their current career or field.

Most one-year MBA programs reduce core requirements and allow customization of courses through electives and concentrations.

Program Disadvantages

Unfortunately, some employers who require an MBA frown upon the one-year MBA. Do your research before choosing this program. Also realize that internship opportunities are much more limited within a one-year program.

The primary difference between one-year and traditional two-year programs is that with the shorter version, there is little if any overlap with undergraduate business curricula. Thus, it is highly recommended that students who decide on a one-yean program should enroll soon after receiving their undergraduate degree and be able to satisfy all core business course requirements. However, some one-year programs require from two to five years work experience in lieu of the traditional first-year MBA core study courses.

In most cases, one-year elective courses are all but tailored to the applicant's career, so that the graduate can re-enter the workforce as quickly as possible. Classic two-year programs most often focus on elective and specialized course work in the second year after completion of core requirements in the first year.

While the two-year programme is best suited for greenhorns, for experienced professionals, the one-year programme promises to do the trick. The nature of the offering also means that the one-year programme has begun to attract a really diverse audience. Says Rangnekar, "Doctors, lawyers, deep-sea divers, airline crew and defence personnel are just some of those who come with no background in corporate experience, hoping to make a career shift with the MBA." Kulmeet Bawa, 35, Business Head, Defence at Sun Microsystems effectively crossed over when he left the army to do an MBA. "Before I did the MBA, the only jobs I got were conventional ones that were supposed to be best suited for defence personnel - security agencies, logistics, operations and the like. But the MBA broke the traditional mindsets of employers," he says.

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* Contributed by -
Oumkar Umesh,
Senior Correspondent - The Observer of Management,
Article Published in Vol. 1 Issue 12 December 2006.