Going back to the classroom when you have established a career is daunting enough. Returning to study when you are balancing a career with family life is harder still. Yet that is what many of those who embark on executive MBA programmes are doing. Prospective EMBA students are often in their thirties, and they have a lot going on in their lives. The pressures are immense — there is a reason why the EMBA has been nicknamed “the divorce course”.
Working out how you, and your partner, are going to manage study and travel while finding time for commitments to family and friends, ought to be an integral element of planning for an EMBA. Part of that process is getting your partner’s agreement and understanding: from the application process, right through the course, which lasts up to two years, and beyond. Some business schools are upfront about the toll that an often long-distance EMBA is likely to take on loved ones with its combination of evening study, compulsory weekend, or longer stays on campus and the social and other events that keep study groups and others in the EMBA cohort closely connected.
It is an intense, demanding time, when these new friendships may seem more important than home life — no wonder that spouses as well as friends and family can feel left out. Arnold Longboy, executive director of leadership programmes at London Business School, oversees its EMBA recruitment. “I did [the course] many years ago and I always thank my wife for having supported it, and the children — who were wondering where I was every fourth week,” he says. “I can sympathise a lot with what the students are trying to juggle.”