EMBA: The selection criteria

- Brand and Brand ethos

The most common mindset when doing school research is that you should simply get into the best school, the one with the best brand. It's not necessarily bad advice (who would advise you to get into the worst school?) but it's a bit short and simplistic. Instead of doing the not useful thing of spending hours browsing through forums where people argue endlessly over which school is the best as if they were 16 year olds, I'd encourage to think about your own personal brand (what it is, what you want it to be) and the school own brand would align with you. There are great brands, good brands, and brands with little impact in the business school world, that's for sure. However, if you're doing an exec MBA, it's very probable you're not a 20 something and you're past the time when all paths are open and it seems impossible to choose one particular option. So do you need a brand that will define you or a brand that will fit who you (already) are? Are you planning to switch careers, are focusing on a particular field, do you want a school that focuses on entrepreneurship or on finance, do you want to be part of a school with the biggest network possible or a smaller school with a smaller but more approachable network?

- Standalone Business School or University Business School?
Some of the top Business Schools in the world (INSEAD, LBS, HEC, IMD etc) are stand alone schools meaning they're not attached to a university (or only very loosely) as opposed to Harvard, Stanford or Cambridge and Oxford. This can change the atmosphere of the school and the configuration of the network

- International campuses, international links
So the school you're planning to attend claims to have several campuses and/or international alliances. That's great but dig deeper: It's great to have several campuses or an alliance with another school but what will it mean for you? Will be you be able to take advantage of it? What will be the additional costs associated with studying on that other campus? Is it in a location that is of strong interest to you or will it be just a very expensive type of vacation?

- Network (type, size and composition)
That's an extremely important criteria for most candidates and the schools are very much aware of that. So they'll all promise an access to an unparalleled network.
Some top EMBA programs such as Kellogg / Hong Kong UST Business School  and the Trium: HEC Paris / LSE / New York University: Stern EMBAs are basically just that. They accept only very senior top managers or business owners. They'll make them do study trip and discuss management problems. But considering their current career trajectories and levels of salary, people don't get onto these programs for the salary bump. It's basically a top executive pricey club and there's obviously nothing wrong with that.
However, for a more specific assessment, get more information  about the size of the network: In your current industry or your target industry, in the areas you plan to work.
Try to get an idea of the level of accessibility of the people in the network: That's obviously extremely difficult to measure but try to get an idea by talking to alumni. Think also about your own communication style and if you'd be more comfortable with a smaller network of people very accessible or if you want simply the largest network possible.

- Recruitment diversity (Diversity of nationalities, backgrounds, languages etc.)
Programs tend to claim they have people of very diverse backgrounds. Most of the top programs do. For smaller, less expensive schools, it's worth checking their stats and visiting open days. EMBAs have it a little bit less easy than full time MBAs when it comes to ensuring true diversity especially when it comes to nationalities as they recruit locally and there's therefore more limitations to the population they can recruit. 

- Specialization(s)

-Distance
See post Executive MBA, the rule of acceptable distance

- Project of interest (international trips, consulting projects etc)
Many EMBA programs will include numerous consulting projects, international trips and other similar experiences. Make sure you're clear about what will be of interest to you, the options you'll have if any, any additional cost linked to these projects (Many schools will leave you the option of doing several trips for example but obviously this requires the payment of an additional fee).

- Cost
It's not a surprise but there's some significant variations between the programs and that will obviously have an impact on the attendance of these programmes, the ROI etc. Just looking at the fees of a handful of well known schools:
Trium = 150,000 USD
INSEAD = 95,000 Euros
LBS= 59, 000 GBP
Kellogg = 170,000 USD
Cambridge = 52,000 GBP
IESE = 95000 Euros

You can see the variations can be massive and that's something to factor in in your school selection. Obviously the programs above sometimes target different types of individuals, more or less senior but be careful to what you commit to. All schools will make big promises about ROI. Promises are only a commitment for those that believe them. You should take them with a pinch of salt.

Program cost, rankings and average salary: the myth of guaranteed ROI

There's a common "cause and effect" confusion when looking at the rankings and ROI expectations, which actually applies to both MBA and EMBA programs: Think about a prestigious program from a well known institution with a good ranking. It that has a fairly high selection rate. It sits in a major financial center and caters to a crowd of 40 something executives, most of them working in finance or consulting.  The average salary is very high. Now there's another program in the same city. It has a good reputation too but is far less prestigious than Institution 1, has lower rankings and a much lower salary. In your case, you happen to be an ad executive who'd like to set into general management in an ad agency or any media company. Lucky you, you've been offered a spot at both institutions. Small problem, you're mainly self funded and the cost of the program at institution 1 is 100000 Euros while institution 2 "only" asks 40000. Your friends, the alumni you're talking to, your MBA consultant of choice tell you "well, nothing to worry about it, go to Institution 1. Just with the average salary, you can expect a high pay rise post graduation, and you'll recover the cost of the program in a matter of 3 to 5 years."
Small problem : The average salary of a certain population of graduates depends A LOT on the field they work in. If you're a school and you only recruit Investment Bankers, your average salary will be very high. But a 35, 40 old year communication executive attending that school will have very little chance of suddenly starting a new career at Goldman Sachs and therefore of reaching the salary of his colleagues. Therefore basing ROI assumptions on average salary or just rankings (which are often influenced a lot by the salary criteria) is a potentially big mistake.

Executive MBA, the rule of acceptable distance

Well, obviously, doing an exec means keeping your job so you need first to determine the level of flexibility of your employer and the kind of funding if any you'll get. Then it's time to look at what's around you.

Doing part time study means commuting to your school. There can be some frustration if after having had a look at all programs, you realize your favorite school seems to sit far away from where you live. I'd encourage you to be realistic about the amount of travel you'll be able to cope with. Think about your personal circumstances, your workload, the format of the program. Most EMBAs last between 18 and 24 months. It's very easy to discount the toll of commuting because you really want to get in a particular school. Maybe you're the kind of person that can work efficiently on some homework in the middle of an airport while waiting for a delayed plane but let's face it, this kind of things can quickly make the whole experience less pleasant than expected.

So think about that and come up with some sort acceptable time/distance above which you won't go. then have a look at the schools in that acceptable distance.

EMBA, where to start?

Picking an EMBA program is a tricky decision to make. Whether you get financial support from your company or you’re self funded, there will probably never be another time in your life when so much money is going to be invested in your education. And, once you’ve made up your mind, once you‘re actually going to apply, confident that you’ll manage to keep up with work, studying and your life, picturing yourself studying after work and still finding time for your own leisure, your wife or husband, your kids or whatever is important to you in your life right now, then you have to run through the long list of EMBAs that exist, the different schools, how they compare, their reputations, the rankings, the organization of the programs, the different modules, paces, international trips, potential campuses, the feedback from the alumni, the online discussions, the advice coming from so many different sources all claiming to know what’s best for you. 

I know, I went through all that.  Now, in a way, you can count yourself lucky compared to MBA full-timers. Due to your geographic location, there’s at least a certain degree of limitation in terms of the schools you can realistically attend even tough it's not rare to hear about people getting on a long distance flight to reach their school of choice. Indeed, you do share one thing with the full-timers. The school you’ll pick will follow you for a long time so you want to get it right!

At the end of the day, and to use a big word, you’ve got to find a school that fits your ethos as these 20 months or so you’ll spend in the EMBA will be amazing if you get that right. So ask yourself:

-          What kind of settings make you feel comfortable? Do you prefer small, tight knitted group or giant promotions to meet as many people as possible?

-          What kind of subject or specialty are you especially interested in?

-          What kind of network do you want? Do you want it to be massive? Small but accessible? Specialized or diverse? in in a particular geography?

-          Are you happy with the format, the pace of the program? Will your employer be flexible enough to allow you to attend all sessions?

 That’s a big cliché in all articles talking about picking a MBA, whether it’s full-time or executive, but you’re going to spend a lot of time with people on the program and they’ll be your network after that. Make sure you pick the school that has the crowd that suits you because not only will you benefit more from it in the long term but also because it will simply be more fun, especially during the last minute, stressed group meetings to complete that assignment.

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