Hey guys, I need some advice from you all that work in a variety of different industries, and in varying capacities. I am looking to potentially take some online college courses to educate myself on business practices. I have an undergraduate degree in Government. I have also taken 20 hours or so of post-graduate work in education through Phoenix Online and Old Dominion University. I would like to potentially earn a BS or MPA/MBA in business. I have a very busy home life and taking standard college classes at a physical location is nearly out of the equation. I need input from those of you that have benefited from taking online college courses. Did your employer tell you anything that tipped you off as to them recognizing your school of online study as being a respectable online college? And I need input from those of you that hire or recommend people for employment. Are there certain online universities that carry more prestige than others or do you just need to see that "student x received his MPA from x university" without regard to the specific name of the online university? Thank you all for your time and effort in answering my questions. I need to develop myself as my current place of employment coupled with the current state of the economy has lead to an almost complete shut down in terms of training and personal development for myself. You can write on here or you can PM me if you don't want to talk in public. Thanks. Brett
Thank you Dan...sent one back at you. I really appreciate any help I can receive in terms of understanding online education and what it means in the eyes of the employee and employer, given real life examples.
VS - I work for Lowe's Corporate office and I'm surrounded by MBA's. I've talked to ALOT of managers and directors about the subject of online MBA. The general consensus was that a online course of study doesn't hold much water when hiring. Now that's just within the organization I work. I contemplated getting my MBA either online or from a local satellite campus, but if I intend on staying with my company and my field (logistics/supply chain) it won't ever pay for itself. If I was looking to move outside the company in my field, I would be at a major educational dissadvantage, as I've only got a BS but currently the ROI on a MBA for me just ain't worth it.
NC, thank you for being honest. In my current place of employment I can move up without a Masters, yet the area in which I work is very competitive. People are loaded to the hilt with higher education degrees. I don't know what my ROI would be with an MBA but I, like you only have a BA. I too AM at an educational dissadvantage currently, even though my work experience and evaluations say otherwise. However, just to get in the door in many places, one must have coursework or a degree in business or management. This is really why I asked the question about how much weight an online degree holds. Thanks.
I agree fully. It takes an MBA just to get your resume looked at, I'll be following this thread closely.
I am four classes from my Masters in Telecommunications Mgmt with University of Maryland, University College. Taking two in the spring - makes for some long Sunday nights. I was lucky that I was able to transfer 15 credits from a CIO program I completed at the National Defense University. Classes on-line are not as hard in my opinion as brick and mortar - but they do depend a great deal on the interaction of the prof and fellow students.
I totally agree with getting an MBA. I am going into my senior year of college and plan on staying in school until the MBA is completed. The market is flooded with undergrads, so to set my self apart... I know that University Wisconsin Whitewater has an online MBA program with a couple emphasis. Just a thought. I too will keep an eye on this thread. Thanks for the input guys.
