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A point might come in your career when you ask yourself how you can “level up” or accelerate your professional trajectory. We at mbaMission have advised many candidates over the years on whether an EMBA (executive MBA) program might be right for them. These programs are becoming increasingly popular, and in this post, we have compiled a list of reasons you might want to consider the EMBA option.

You are on the executive track with managerial experience.

The top EMBA programs look for “executives” first and foremost. This means that in addition to having a minimum of ten years of work experience, you should have people-management experience or at least be on the executive, or junior executive, track (for example, you oversee projects or teams even if they do not report directly to you).

You prefer to remain at your job while earning your degree.

EMBA programs are usually offered on a part-time basis on weekends and in the evenings over an 18- to 24-month time frame. For example, Columbia Business School offers two EMBA options: (1) Friday and Saturdays and (2) Saturdays only. UPenn Wharton’s EMBA classes are held on Friday and Saturday of alternate weekends, plus several extended sessions.

This format allows students to continue at their jobs and immediately apply the lessons they learn in the classroom to their work environment and responsibilities. The opportunity cost of this kind of program is therefore lower, given that students are not required to pause their careers while they pursue their degree. If you like your job and wish to stay in it while you earn your MBA, an EMBA program would be a good choice for you.

You prefer to network with classmates who are more mature or more tenured in their career.

While many students in two-year MBA programs are still exploring their career options, most EMBA students already have clearly defined goals and a set career path. If you value interacting with classmates who are more mature and have more professional experience, an EMBA program is likely a better fit for you.

You feel that having technical expertise alone is not enough as you progress in your career.

Many EMBA students do not come from traditional business backgrounds. In fact, a good percentage of them tend to be attorneys, engineers, accountants, and so on. However, as they attain ever more senior levels at work, they are increasingly asked to manage business issues and people. This shift in responsibilities can give people the sense that their technical expertise might not be sufficient on its own to support them as they advance in their careers. An EMBA can provide you with the knowledge and skills you would need in a top leadership position in many companies and/or industries.

You are prepared to juggle work, family, and personal life while in school.

Because EMBA programs are part-time, you will have to hold down a demanding full-time job while attending classes, meeting with your study groups, studying for exams, and maintaining your family responsibilities and personal life—all at the same time! This is no easy feat. Although an EMBA program might check all the boxes with respect to what you require to accelerate your career, keep in mind the demands it will make on your time and family life. In reality, EMBA students do sometimes drop out before earning their degree, often because of work or family/personal reasons. So, be sure you have the full support of your family and employer before you embark on your EMBA journey.

You want to grow your network globally.

Top schools recognize the need to expand access to top business professionals around the world. To do so, they are increasingly offering online and/or blended EMBA programs.  For example, Wharton launched its first-ever global cohort through its Global EMBA program in May 2023. This 22-month learning format brings together students from around the world for a 25% in-person, 75% live online learning experience. Duke Fuqua’s 21-month Global Executive MBA combines in-person international residencies with distance learning, rotating through different international cities each year. If you wish to grow your network internationally and are open to the online or hybrid format, programs like these could help you do so more easily than before.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you contemplate whether an EMBA might be the right choice for you: 

• Benefits of an EMBA: The key advantages of an EMBA program are being able to stay in your job while obtaining your degree and growing your global network with high-achieving peers. Obtaining your EMBA will position you for the long-term growth of your career into the senior leadership ranks.

• EMBA admissions criteria: Many top EMBA programs require that candidates have a minimum of ten years of work experience, plus people-management experience. You should also consider how you would balance your work, personal, and family commitments with a grueling academic schedule. Ensuring that you have your employer’s and family’s support is something the EMBA admissions teams can and will factor into their assessment of your candidacy.

• EMBA program structure: Most EMBA programs last 18 to 24 months on a part-time basis. Classes are usually held on weekends or in the evenings. Increasingly, remote learning is combined with in-person experiences, allowing for even more flexibility.

If you would like to discuss which EMBA programs would be right for you or get targeted guidance on your EMBA plans or application, sign up for a free 30-minute consultation with an mbaMission expert.

We at mbaMission try to encourage business school candidates to get as much “noise” out of the way as possible before they begin working on their official application(s) and essays, even several months in advance. We want applicants to have the freedom to reflect on their experiences, formally and thoroughly brainstorm, choose ideas, prepare outlines, and then focus on crafting powerful essays. Essentially, we want them to be unfettered as they engage in what is, for many, one of the most significant creative challenges they will ever face.

Present Both Responsibilities and Results

In your MBA resume, be sure to showcase your accomplishments, rather than merely stating the responsibilities of your position. When your responsibilities are presented with no accompanying results, the reader has no understanding of whether you were effective in the role you are describing. For example, consider the following entry, in which only responsibilities are offered:

2023–Present Household Products Group, Flocter & Gramble Cincinnati, Ohio

Brand Manager

• Responsible for managing a $10M media campaign, supervising a staff of five junior brand managers, monitoring daily sales volumes, and ensuring the consistent supply of product from five production facilities in three countries.

The reader is left wondering, “Was the media campaign successful? Did the staff of five progress? Did sales volumes increase? Did the supply of products reach its destination?” When this one long bullet point is instead broken down into individual bulleted entries that elaborate on each task and show clear results, the reader learns not just about the candidate’s responsibilities but also about that person’s ultimate effectiveness and successes.

2023–Present Flocter & Gramble Cincinnati, Ohio

Brand Manager

• Initiated $10M television/Internet “Island Vacation” promotion introducing new Shine brand detergent, surpassing first-year sales targets within three months.
• Mentored and supervised five junior brand managers, each of whom was promoted to brand manager (company traditionally promotes 25%).
• Analyzed daily sales volumes and identified opportunity to increase price point in Midwest, resulting in 26% margin improvement and $35M in new profits.
• Secured “safety supply” of vital chemicals from alternate suppliers, ensuring 99% order fulfillment.

By comparing the first entry with the second, you can see how much more effective an accomplishment-driven resume is than one that simply lists responsibilities.

Demonstrate Nonquantifiable Results

Presenting quantifiable results in your resume is preferred because such results clearly convey your success in the actions you undertook. However, in some instances, you simply cannot quantify your success. In such cases, you can instead demonstrate nonquantifiable or even potential results. Consider the following examples:

• Persuaded management to review existing operations; currently leading Manufacturing Review Committee, which will table its final report in August 2025.
• Established divisional continuing education series, noted on review as “crucial” and “game changing.”
• Initiated biweekly “Tuesday at Five” team social event, resulting in enhanced workplace morale.

In each of these bullet points, the results of the writer’s actions are not measurable, but they are nonetheless important. The accomplishments, while “soft,” are conveyed as clearly positive.

Keep It Concise

Ideally, your resume should be only one page long; admissions committees generally expect and appreciate the conciseness of this format. If you choose to submit a resume consisting of two pages or more, your reader may have difficulty scanning it and identifying (and remembering) important facts. With these space constraints in mind, we offer two fairly straightforward “space saver” ideas:

• Do not include a mission statement at the beginning of your resume. Your mission in this case is to get into the MBA program to which you are applying—and, of course, the admissions committee already knows this! A mission statement will take up precious space that can be used more effectively for other purposes.
• Your address should take up no more than one line of your resume. Many applicants will “stack” their address, using four, five, or even six lines, as if they were writing an address on an envelope. Consider how much space an address occupies when presented in the following format:

Ms. X
123 Y Street
1st Floor
City, State 10001
646-111-2222
[email protected]

You just wasted five lines of real estate! To help whittle your resume down to one page, try putting your address on just one line so you can save five others for valuable bullets.

And, while we are discussing the document’s length, resist the urge to shrink your font or margins to make your resume fit on one page. Your font should be no smaller than ten-point type, and your margins should be no smaller than 1″ on either side and 0.75″ at the top and bottom. Rather than trying to squeeze too much information onto the page, commit yourself to showcasing only your most important accomplishments that tell your story best.

If you want to go to business school but are not coming from a “traditional” background in consulting or finance, you might be worried that you will not be accepted to a top MBA program. Maybe you are a teacher, an athlete, or a journalist. Perhaps you are in the military or have a background as a chef. Nontraditional applicants like you are different, and believe it or not, admissions directors love that!

If you are a nontraditional MBA applicant, here are a few tips to help you navigate the application process and give you some confidence about your candidacy.

1. Do not try to be something you are not.

Although a large percentage MBA applicants come from finance and consulting, your unique background helps you stand out. Highlight what you are good at, and showcase accomplishments you have had in your field. No professor wants to be in front of a class that is made up entirely of bankers and consultants. Your experience adds diversity to the class and allows you to look at situations from a different perspective than that of others. Emphasize your distinctiveness!

Need more proof? Every year, schools release their Class Profiles, in which they present a breakdown of incoming students’ statistics and pre-MBA backgrounds. According to Harvard Business School’s most recent class profile, for example, the program drew 42% of its Class of 2026 from consulting (18%), financial services (10%), and venture capital/private equity (16%). That means that the rest of the students in the class (58%) came from other industries, including technology, military service, consumer products/retail/e-commerce, healthcare/biotech, and nonprofits. 

In addition, the incoming HBS students’ college majors vary widely. While 24% were business and commerce majors, 22% were engineering majors, 19% were economics majors, and 18% majored in math/physical sciences. Rounding out the class are individuals who majored in social science (12%) and arts/humanities (5%).

When you look at the numbers this way, “nontraditional” suddenly looks pretty traditional.

2. Showcase your quantitative or analytical skills.

Business schools want you to succeed, and to succeed, you need to be able to handle the rigor of the MBA program. Most schools require heavy quantitative and analytical work, especially in classes such as “Corporate Finance,” “Statistics,” and “Data Analytics.” Even if such skills are not a major part of your work experience, showing the admissions committee that you can manage the quantitative demands of an MBA program is crucial. 

One way to do that is by performing well on your standardized test. A strong quantitative performance on the GMAT, GRE, or Executive Assessment can help prove that you are ready for MBA academics. You can also build an alternative transcript by taking quant-focused courses, such as HBS CORe or MBA Math, or a college class in statistics or economics. 

Also, look for opportunities to showcase your experiences. For example, a recent applicant who worked for a TV station had little quant experience. However, she analyzed the station’s social media impressions, which led to some programming changes and ultimately resulted in a boost in advertising sales. That story became an important part of her applications! 

3. Be clear about why you want an MBA and where it will lead you.

The good news if you are a nontraditional applicant is that you most likely do not have an undergraduate degree in business, so your reasons for needing an MBA are easy to establish in your applications. Still, articulating career goals that make sense for your specific background and skill set is important, meaning you want the admissions committee to feel confident that you will get a job after business school without a struggle. For example, a client who worked as a chef and TV food stylist built her career goals on moving into consumer products marketing, with a focus on food. This path made perfect sense to the admissions committee.

Striving to make a major career change during your MBA studies is not just okay, it is actually quite common. And if that is your plan, you need to think about the skills you have built in your career thus far that could easily carry over into your future career. 

4. Highlight your best traits.

As a nontraditional applicant, you bring different experiences and skills to the table than others in the class, and that is something the schools like! Think about what sets you apart and how you can highlight these qualities in your applications.

For example, almost every career requires teamwork, so make sure that the admissions committee knows how well you work in a group or team setting. Think about your experiences in your work environment and extracurricular activities, and tell stories about times you have engaged positively and productively with others. For example, a teacher might write about how they collaborated with fellow staff members to develop programming that raised students’ test scores school-wide.

Another thing that might set you apart is your global experience. Business schools love to see applicants who have broad outlooks and perspectives, and who relish working alongside people who are different from them. Consider highlighting international opportunities and exposure you have had, whether via working abroad or on teams with members located around the world, and share how those experiences have enriched you.If you have questions about your nontraditional background or wonder which schools you would be competitive at, sign up for a free 30-minute consultation with an mbaMission Consultant.