The Executive MBA program could, at the best of times, be very demanding. Add to it a cohort that includes CEOs and vice presidents. Then there is the experience of working in a team, balancing work and studies and so on. Beth Greene, Executive MBA Americas class of 2019 at Cornell Johnson College of Business seeks to bust some misconceptions about the program.
Writing in the college blog, Beth, who is in the seventh month of the 17-month Executive MBA Americas program, says the first myth was about a classroom full of ‘middle-aged executives with big egos’. In reality, she found her classmates to be senior professionals including CEOs and vice presidents. However, everyone was friendly and approachable. An extremely diverse class, it had professionals from several backgrounds, industries, ages, and walks of life. About 30% of the cohort was female.
This group of more than 100 of the high calibre business professionals soon became her “new high-powered business network, biggest cheerleaders, personal support network, and friends for life.”
The second myth was being stressed out 24/7 about meeting unattainably high Ivy League–level academic standards. However, she found a lot of support within the program from professors, tutorials, TAs, classmates, and program staff.
As long as you do the work and apply yourself, you have great chances for success and it will pay off in your grades,
“The professors are the highest quality but also understand the nature of an executive MBA program and the fact that we are all working full time while studying. As long as you do the work and apply yourself, you have great chances for success and it will pay off in your grades,” she says.
The third myth was about the inability to maintain school-work-life balance. She says while the academic workload varies from person to person, she found it reasonable to expect about two to three nights of homework per week, plus weekend classes and team meetings/working sessions. She believes that for Executive MBA, family support is absolutely critical, along with a reasonable work schedule.
The fourth myth was that team-based learning was easy or that it sucks. However, while it was more challenging than what she expected, forcing her to learn and grow, it was easier in terms of equal distribution of labour than at undergrad level. Executive MBA students are committed and driven to succeed and, in general, everyone pulls their weight, she says.
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Then there is the challenge of working together in a room full of managers and executives. There are often a lot of strong opinions. This forces you to build skills in effective leadership, team building, delegation, communication, facilitation, consensus building, and prioritization.
The fifth myth is that a Cornell Executive MBA is a first-class, one-way ticket to a gold-plated job in the C-Suite. It may not happen that way. The program provides the practical business knowledge needed for the participants to succeed in their current and future professional roles. It also has the credentials to accelerate career growth and open up new opportunities.
However, it is important to invest time and effort into building a network among the classmates, Cornell alumni and in your industry. Students could also avail of the complimentary career coaching and executive coaching services and resources from both Cornell and Queen’s that are included as part of the executive MBA program.
