Posted on 02/09/2005 6:39:44 PM PST by TorahTrueJew
*VANITY* Hello--
I am an electrical engineer, and am thinking of advancing my career to improve my ability to get into engineering management. I have BS in EE, but I am thinking of getting a Masters. A Masters in EE doesn't do a heck of a lot for a career apart from a little more salary, but I think an MBA would really help me along. Since I have a kid and it's lots of time to go to classes, I am thinking of doing an online MBA from home. So far, I am considering Liberty University and University of Phoenix. I just wanted to toss this out to my fellow Freepers and see what you all thought. Does an online MBA mean anything to employers? And what schools are best? I like the idea of a brick-and-mortar school with an online presence over an online-only school. Also, Liberty is a much more conservative school, so I know economic classes won't be communist like they are in most universities. My wife is doing undergrad at Liberty distance-learning and she loves it. They require a 1 week on-campus course though (which I could probably do, spend a week in Lynchburg), whereas U of Phoenix is all online. I know there are like a million MBA programs out there though.
So what do you think? Are MBAs now a dime a dozen? My thinking is that since I'm not going into business per se, but into engineering management, then just having the MBA is worth it, whether or not its from Wharton. But must a school be AACSB accredited? Neither Liberty nor Phoenix are. This is a great community, so I figure somebody must have an opinion.
Thanks!
University of Phoenix is way expensive.
U of Phoenix is also owned by a big lib and contributor to the Democratic party. Whereas Liberty is all about Jerry Falwell.... as an Orthodox Jew, I have to say, he's awesome :-).
If it's not accredited, it's not worth much.
Well, there you have one pro/con for your list!
No...NIMHO
A master's in EE will do more for you than an MBA, even if you're interested in managing. If you can't spend the time to physically go to school, U of Phoenix is better than nothing but a lot of "brick and mortar" schools have night grad classes also. When I had my daughter, the class I was in was luckily available on a webcast also due to people at Sandia and Los Alamos who wanted in on it.
I went to Univ. of Phoenix, and they sucked. I wish I didn't waste my money on them.
The University of Phoenix is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. I assume this applies to the Masters programs.
"It is much preferable to get a full-time MBA from a top school. "
It depends... do you wanna be management, or do you wanna do EE work?
In my field (IT) the people who do the management are rarely good techs, and the good techs are rarely taken into management. It seems as though they don't do foosball and Mtn. Dew in board rooms....
My two cents: not worth it to go online.
I did my MBA at a top school in NY and the biggest gains by far were the networking. What made the classes most interesting were the discussions, debates and group projects. Unless you're in a highly quantitative role none of the academic work is highly relevant once you get out - just in a general "rounding" sense.
I don't know much about online MBAs but I can't imagine them being very rewarding, nor highly valued by employers. It would seem they could give you some academic knowledge, but one could just buy a book for that.
I'm available if you want to chat. Private message me.
Shalom,
Dave
Well you can't very well get an advanced engineering degree without an undergrad in the same.
I agree one should go for the best opportunity they can find, but if it's an engineering firm he's talking about that is sufficiently large enough to have different managers of engineering groups, an MBA isn't going to cut it no matter where it's from. Engineers need to take direction from better engineers.
They're currently having problems but degreeinfo.com will likely be your best source for info when they're back up. There is perhaps more than you want to know in the archived threads.
On-line-wise, he felt it was worth the effort to actually GO to school. Our kids were little and we saw little of him, as well...but once it's done, you won't regret it.
I don't know if it's all online, or internet based, or part-time (2 weeks a semester) attendance but we have a friend who has been working on his master's in engineering from Univ of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana. He is almost done and getting ready to take his PE exam in the fall.
There is also the recent DOE list that gives some of the online stuff. You need to check the accredidation requirements. I checked with UT here in Austin as to which schools they would recognize degrees from, and they had a list of traditional and online schools....so maybe you could check with a university near you..? Just some ideas..
The University of Texas system, for example, offers online MBAs for less than 10K. Quite a few colleges that you'd recognize and go "yeah, that's a legitimate college" offer online degrees, and I like the idea of getting my degree from a recognized institution. My undergrad is from the University of Texas, and one thing that's nice about it is that no matter where I go, people know where I got my degree. Other schools, such as Tarleton State, for example, are fine schools, but people who go there get a lot of "where's that?" questions. I'd look for a school that doesn't say "online MBA" on the documentation. A legitimate college should be providing a defined body of knowledge, and ensure that candidates receive that education whether taken online or in house. Check within your state, as state universities generally offer better tuition to in-state residents, although this is not always true of graduate programs.
As to whether or not an MBA is helpful to you, that depends upon your career plans. An undergraduate degree is generally helpful. Degrees beyond undergraduate can close as many doors as they open. If, for example, you decide you do not want to go into management, but only want to do production engineering work, potential employers may look at a graduate degree and think you're just grabbing a slot while you look for a management position. Supervisors who have undergraduate degrees are sometimes leery of hiring subordinates who have more formal education than they do. However, a graduate degree is a requirement for many positions, and a definite plus for others.
Finally, for many positions that require an MBA, the employer uses the degree requirement as a kind of schmuck strainer. It's a ticket punch to keep the number of applicants down. In this case, as long as the program is accredited, the employer doesn't really care where it's from. Also after your first two or three years after graduation, just like with an undergraduate degree, the employer is more interested in your work history than your academic history, so long as you have the required paper for the job. Hope this information helps.
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