MBA Programs during COVID-19
2020 has been a crazy year. There still is no clarity or uncertainty on what schools (elementary, secondary, undergraduate and post-graduate) will be doing this coming Fall. Here are some things to consider when considering your options this year during COVID-19.
A few MBA programs have announced online-only options for the 2020-2021 school year:
- Wharton (University of Pennsylvania)
- McDonough School of Business (Georgetown)
- Harvard Business School
You have some options when considering an MBA for the upcoming year. Some schools are allowing you to defer your enrollment to a future semester if you’ve already been accepted. You may also be getting a discount for the program as many schools won’t be charging you room, board, and technology fees when you’re attending online only.
Some schools are going to an accelerated Fall schedule, in hopes that shifting the semester a bit will help avoid the anticipated coronavirus peaks which could coincide with flu season. Dartmouth and Cornell are some schools planning on ending classes by Thanksgiving, while others are doing online-only finals after Thanksgiving.
Maybe an MBA isn’t worth it at all, if only online. Many will tell you that MBA Programs during COVID are not worth it, like Paulina Karpis says in this Forbes article. Karpis’s main points are that the value likely isn’t there, especially in considering the hiring freezes and soft economy. But it may be a good shelter from the bad job market, just make sure you do a cost-benefit analysis.