Before an EMBA: Things You Wish You Had Known

Ann Graham finds out from some EMBA alums what they wished they’d known before starting their Executive MBA.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing. The number of times we can look back on an occasion throughout our lifetime uttering the words “I wish someone had told me that...” But although we can’t necessarily change what has been, we can certainly prepare for what’s ahead with the wisdom of others who have gone before us.

If you’re considering the world of Executive MBA classrooms, take heed in the knowledge that others have entered the business school world before you. They’ve dedicated 12-24 months of their lives to management modules, group discussions, team projects and a qualification that will set them up for an exciting professional career. They’ve taken the challenge, and excelled. But each one of them has admitted that there are some things about the experience they wished they had known before embarking on their Executive MBA. And one of those is Hina Wadhwa-Gonfreville, Editor in Chief of the QS TopExecutive Guide.

An Executive MBA alum of ESCP Europe, Wadhwa looks back on her time in the classroom with fond memories, but says there are a number of things that would have enhanced her experience – even post-EMBA - if only she’d known.

“I caught up with a fellow alumna about two months after our graduation who said she was planning a vacation to Fiji. My reaction was “how can you afford that?” After all, I still hadn’t finished paying off my loan. But she told me she had paid all of her school fees on her airline credit card (instead of the classic cheque or bank transfer), and got air miles for them! Had I known, I would have used the miles for travel on the program!”

While Wadhwa’s former classmate can reap the rewards of her EMBA by way of a much-deserved vacation, travel expenses during an Executive MBA is one aspect another EMBA alum alerts candidates to. Aaron Sylvan, an EMBA alum of IMD in Switzerland says his travel expenses were substantial and estimates it to be two-thirds as much as the tuition, taking into consideration hotels and airfares.

“The cost didn’t surprise me and I had budgeted for it, but since it is so significant I would give others an extra reminder to be sure to include it in their financial planning. Also bear in mind that currency exchange rates can fluctuate between enrolment and participation, so leave an extra 20% or so for safety.”

Researching destinations

ESCP Europe’s Executive MBA allowed Wadhwa and her fellow classmates to choose modules in a range of destinations all around the world. But, she says, although the choices to places such as China, South Africa, India or Brazil can be enticing, she wished she had spent more time researching her destination of choice. “Going to other countries is part of the adventure [of an EMBA],” Wadhwa says.

“Though an integral part of the journey, it’s not just the tourist destinations you should spend time researching before you arrive! Going to another country can open doors professionally – and that should be one of the key deciding factors on which countries you choose to pursue your international modules in. I missed the opportunity to get in touch with alumni or network more with local contacts (via our partner business school) in Rio de Janeiro because I didn’t put the time into organizing myself. These seminars are a rare chance to broaden your network and explore new horizons. So think about what you want to get out of these experiences, work hard, party hard but network smart, too!”

Time management

For many Executive MBA alums, knowing how much time is involved in pursuing an EMBA is at the top of their list of ‘what they wish they had known’. Sylvan is an entrepreneur and had his own business to run while at the same time ensuring he had the time and energy to give 100% to his Executive MBA.He openly admits he wished he’d fully understood just how much time would be involved.

“I had the impression it would consume 10-15hrs per week, and that I could easily make room in my work-week... but it turned out to really require more like 20-25hrs, and many of my classmates arranged for their employers to let them work part-time during the program,” says the CEO of Sylvan Social Technology. “As an entrepreneur, I certainly have flexibility and control over my schedule, but I would have planned my business differently had I realized just how much work would be expected of me by professors and teammates.”

Time management is a key element to not only making the most of your Executive MBA, but also making it a success. Sylvan wasn’t the only one who wished he’d known about the time commitment before embarking on his EMBA, so too did Nick Mbuvi, corporate banking director for Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Banking, East Africa and IESE Global Executive MBA alum.

“I think I underestimated the size of the challenge,” Mbuvi admits. “Pursuing the EMBA, having a full-time job, and creating time for the family is no mean task!” However, Mbuvi says he quickly became an expert in time management and through excellent support from his family and employer he adjusted to life in the EMBA classroom.

It’s that need for family time that Mariano Janiszewski, an Executive MBA alum from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, wished he’d known before embarking on his EMBA. “I would have liked to have known the dimension of the personal and family sacrifice I would have to go through, so that I would be able to prepare myself and my family better before I began the course,” the medical director of Amgen’s Brazilian hub says. 

“I would also have liked to understood sooner how important it is to build strong relationships and partnerships within the group with classmates and colleagues, since with full collaboration everything gets easier,” he says.

It was the classmates and colleagues on Paul C McAfee’s Executive MBA at Fordham that he wishes he’d known more about. The Chief of Spinal Reconstructive Surgery at St. Josephs Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland says the only hard part of the EMBA was that the experience had to end upon graduation. “I miss the people tremendously. It is probably the difference between theory and actual practice but each of us continuously wishes that the people we work with on a day-to-day basis could only be as talented and conscientious as our fellow MBA classmates."

Back to the classroom

With the average age of most Executive MBA candidates at 30+, it’s been a while since these executive professionals have been back into the classroom, and the EMBA is a far cry from an undergraduate degree. Despite years of professional experience out in the “real world”, becoming a student again requires a significant mindshift and adaptation of one’s thinking.

Knowing what it is like to be a student again, is the number one thing Erick E Pereda wishes he had known pre-EMBA. “I wish I had known that I was truly going to become a student again, and from an executive perspective, this has posed a challenge,” says the IESE Global Executive MBA alum. “That is why I have come to appreciate the case study discussions during class. It provides one of the few opportunities during which I can resume my more accustomed role of a decision-maker rather than a student that is preoccupied with homework and exams,” admits Pereda, a private equity veteran.

Charmaine Leung, a current student at Kellogg-WHU, has also realised what it is like to be a student again, albeit one studying for her Executive MBA degree. The founder of Go Jewellery, www.go-jewellery.com, an online jewellery store says it has been a while since she studied so intensively and had the need to complete as many readings as she needs in a short period of time. “I wish I knew how to speed read or have the ability to increase my memory capacity in a short period of time,” she says.

As all the alum we have spoken to have alluded to, there is significant time required to successfully complete an Executive MBA, while juggling work, family, and social lives at the same time. This is where the importance of scheduling comes in, and it is yet another element to the Executive MBA Wadhwa wished she had known before stepping into the classroom.

“Try to work out your work/study routine,” she advises. “Decide what you should do in the morning and what you are best at doing late at night. It’s important to work out your thought cycle and to anticipate that, rather than finding out halfway through the course. Don’t keep everything in your head – you are bound to forget things! Put your thoughts and your to-do lists down on paper. I carried a little notebook around and that freed a lot of much needed mental space! If you can get into a routine that works for you, your EMBA experience will be all the more enjoyable.”

Personal enlightenment

Natacha Dagneaud, founder of Séissmo, a market research agency specializing in Qualitative Consumer Research in Germany and alum of Kellogg-WHU chose to embark on her Executive MBA to decide about her professional (and private) future orientation. “I wanted to learn again,” she says. “And to have the chance (the right!) to “know nothing”. When you are leading a company you sometimes don’t know better but you are supposed “to know”,” she says.

Dagneaud’s EMBA made her feel both stronger and wiser. “It created a “big picture view” and sharpened my sight as well, helping me to take a step back during important and critical decisions,” she says. But just as was the case for all other EMBA alums, there were a few things Dagneaud wished she had known before stepping into the classroom. “I wish I had known that it was going to create subversive questions within oneself about the “right” choices... and sometimes bring even more questions than before.”

Yet for Franz Fankhauser, head of Department of Retinology and Vitreoretinal Surgery at ORASIS Eye Clinic, Reinach in Switzerland and Executive MBA alum of Leipzig Graduate School of Management, there was only one thing he wished he’d known before embarking on his EMBA. “I wish I knew earlier about its existence. If so I would have done it a long time ago.”