I’m trying to broaden my horizons and my employer will reimburse me for tuition. I can attend a part-time masters program through my alma mater.
I’m at the very beginning of research. Which, in your opinion, offers greater flexibilty for employers…an MBA in Marketing or in Business Administration?
Also, the online universities (University of Phoenix, for example)…what is the reputation? Will my degree be dismissed as coming from a diploma mill if I get it from an online school? Will a brick and mortar school be better?
I’ve not looked much into getting a masters, but this I can answer. I just finished a BS in Finance from UoP a week and a half ago. When I wanted to get it, I asked my boss at the time if she would consider it a good thing or a bad thing on my resume. She said that resumes that show someone working full time while going to school are good, no matter where the degree is from (provided the school is accredited, which UoP is). My current boss was also very impressed with working full time and going to school full time.
Also, I loved the online format. It was basically a message board, and all my books were PDFs I could take and read anywhere. YMMV.
An MBA is by definition a Masters in Business Administration. As for what is “better” or “more flexible”, what are you interested in doing? Marketing, Finance, Operations, etc?
And what kind of career do you envision pursuing once you complete your MBA? Consulting, investment banking, venture capital and othe finance, brand management, business development or starting your own company are common MBA career paths.
Isn’t U of Pheonix really expensive? All I know is that it’s known as a diploma mill so I’d avoid it and other schools like it if possible.
There are plenty of brick and mortar schools that offer online masters programs, especially in business areas because they know many of the students work full time and cannot attend a traditional full-time daily school program. I am in a masters program now that offers night classes on a main campus, satellite campuses in the area, entirely online, or any mix you wish. I am not taking any online though.
My advice is take a look at the required classes for both the marketing and bus ad degrees. Which are more in line with your career goals?
I have a BA in a fairly restricted field, and I’m looking to open up my options. My employer, for instance, is the only one in the state in my career field.
mrsmith, those are all very good questions. I’m trying to get more info regarding the tuition reimbursement program and then I can do some more digging.
So, one vote for online schools and one against.
In general, a degree from Phoenix is fine for jobs that just require a degree, but if the hiring manager is at all concerned with where people’s degrees are from, UoP grads will be the first ones to be cut. If you’re looking at online programs and concerned about flexibility, you’re better off going for something from a more established not-for-profit school.
The standard MBA program, which is two years full-time, consists of one year of general education followed by another year with a more specialized curriculum. If you know that you want an MBA to open up your career options but you’re not sure what you want to specialize in, there’s nothing wrong with planning on figuring it out during that first year when your professors and your university’s career center can advise you on what specialization to pick. That said, you’re going to get more value out of the MBA program if you have some idea of where you want to be five years after you graduate, so spend some time thinking about that while you’re researching schools.
UCF is right around the corner… 
Not with I-4 traffic, but it looks like either that or Rollins is my best option. 
Rollins is uber-expensive, so I’d see what your employer’s limit is before applying there.
Oh, I know that much…$5750 a year.
I’m an administrator for a distance education school that offers a wide variety of programs, including an MBA. There are a lot of considerations you might make if you’re looking into getting a distance education degree, especially at the graduate level. Please note that I seldom get an opportunity to offer any advice on this subject, and I have a lot to say, so bear with me if this post gets long. 
On the whole, when it comes to graduate-level distance education programs, the variance is course offerings isn’t so significant that you’d really have to worry about the applicability of one area of an MBA program being significantly greater than another. My advice would be go with the program that holds your interest and looks most challenging.
Keep in mind that policies will vary among schools and this can lead to very different student experiences. Some schools will have a capstone course, others will require a project, and still others may have nothing at all (avoid these). Most will require you to maintain a certain GPA and some will require a certain level of continuous enrollment. Different programs might require a different number of courses or courses of differing quality levels.
When in doubt as to the quality of a program, contact the school and get course curricula. Actually, it’s a good idea to call the school anyway. Get the school’s administration (not just their marketing staff) on the phone and ask lots of questions. This will also give you a chance to establish your relationship with the school and test out their student/customer service (this is an area that is sorely lacking for many distance education institutions).
I’d also advise you to shop around your local brick-and-mortar schools. Check your local university’s website to see what their online and modular course offerings look like. As educational technology improves, brick-and-mortar schools offer more and more opportunities for nontraditional students to participate in programs that conform to their circumstances, which makes them effective competitors for distance education programs, though they’re often a little more expensive.
As far as accreditation is concerned, keep in mind that a distance education school with a regional accreditation is superior to one with any other form of accreditation. This is why University of Phoenix has become such a behemoth. They’re accredited through WACS, which is a regional accrediting body, so their degrees are nearly universally acceptable. Note that I stated nearly universally acceptable! The final say for whether a distance education program is going to meet the requirements for a particular employer ultimately rests in the hands of that employer. I’ve seen a wide range of responses to that phrase “distance education degree,” some of which aren’t necessarily based on anything more solid that a general wariness of the term.
If you choose a program that isn’t regionally accredited, make sure the program is recognized by CHEA. Their list includes all legitimate national and trans-regional accrediting bodies. National accrediting bodies such as DETC are recognized, and so are generally acceptable for employers, continuing education, and state jobs (DETC claims 70% acceptance), but you might have to go above and beyond in your pursuit to have your degree approved. The upside of a nationally accredited program is that they’re generally quite cheap. 
MBAs are a dime a dozen. It’s rapidly becoming the “I got this 'cause I had time on my hands or graudated with a BA and didn’t like it or no one would hire me with the BA.” The last big hotel I worked at we had a whole bunch of MBAs as sales people.
The traditional thinking was always and Masters Degree should not be from the same school as your undergraduate degree. I would look into seeing if your school offers online classes. Many traditional schools offer a lot if not all of their classes online. A lot of time all you’ll have to do is show up for mid-term and final tests.
Unless you’re in a line of work where an MBA is essential I’d look at another type of masters. That is unless you really want to learn about buisness.
It just seems I’m not going to be able to advance unless I get another degree. I’m going to talk to my boss tomorrow…she’s very supportive. Taking a quick look at classifieds it seems most of them want some sort of masters. Since Ivylad can’t work I have to be the breadwinner, and getting a 3% raise every year isn’t going to cut it forever.
There are many traditional brick-and-mortar schools these days offering online master’s degrees. I would recommend doing some checking around before going the UoP route. The thing is, when you google “online master’s degree” or some similar term, you’re going to mostly get hits for UoP, Walden U., and other online schools. You might want to start by visiting the website of some of the public universities in your state.
I plan to make an appointment to talk with the graduate admissions director (or whatever the title is) at my alma mater. I’ve e-mailed them asking for information, and I’m going to track down the info needed for reimbursement.
Why should you not get your masters at the same college you got your bachelors, Markxxx?
The thing about an MBA is that you typically aren’t going to graduate and be hired as the vice president of a company, unless you are of sufficient experience. You get hired for jobs that while not entry level, are still pretty junior, but on a different career track.
Lawyers are a dime a dozen too, but you never seen to meet any poor ones.
I’ve never heard that one. There are concerns about people doing their PhDs at the same place they earned their undergrads, but those won’t generally apply to professional master’s degrees.
Of course not. The ones who weren’t making any money quit to do something less stressful.
Well, I wasn’t planning on trying for a VP (yet ;)) but I’ve worked nearly 17 years in my career field, so I’m hoping a masters will give me a bit of a boost.
It can’t hurt