Hi, everyone! I graduated Empire State College (esc.edu) in December (2010) with a Bachelors degree in business and economics. I truly LOVED my experience as an undergrad at Empire and chose ESC as my Graduate school. I am still actively involved @ ESC as an academic coach and peer tutor. I am looking for some advice/guidance regarding their MBA program. I have TONS of questions and can't seem to find anyone to answer them.. (from a student perspective). I submitted my application for ESC's MBA program on Friday (July 1st). I spent hours upon hours (...weeks upon weeks) on my two graduate essays, resume, recommendations, etc... I put my heart and soul into my application (as would anyone) and was SO relieved to finally press that "SUBMIT" button. Over the weekend I began "planning" the next 2-3 years of my life (looking into the courses available, descriptions, residencies, etc...). THEN (yesterday) - I fell upon the MBA program requirements for admissions at ESC (literally BURIED on their website - I found it after clicking link after link, reading page after page)... Academic prerequisites: a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited university or college 3 credits of accounting 3 - 6 credits of economics (micro and macro) 3 credits of statistics computer and Internet literacy I have every other prerequisite fulfilled except for 3 credits of accounting. I wish I had known this beforehand. Should I have known... then Accounting would have been included in my degree plan as an undergraduate. All of my grades (otherwise) on my transcript are A, A-, B+ (mostly A's). Does anyone have any insight as to what my chances are? Has an "exception" ever been made? Will I NEED to fulfill my ACCT credits (either CLEP or taking a full-semester course) BEFORE I begin the MBA program? Will my other achievements (possibly) help the admissions board "overlook" the absence of accounting? (wishful thinking...) I am pretty upset I was not aware of this beforehand.. I don't want to say it is the schools responsibility (but I wish this was mentioned...). I know, I know - I am responsible for myself.. (I am just upset and looking to blame anyone, I guess).. I have LOTS of other questions regarding the MBA program at Empire State (like what to expect, workload, what are residencies like, etc..). If anyone is interested in helping or "listening" to my questions/thoughts... i'd be honored/thankful! I am a stay-at-home mom/entrepreneur/web designer so starting grad school in September is pretty important to me.. (in my "life plan"). I am really hoping my chances of acceptance will not be affected by accounting. Thanks for your help! - Nicole
Hi Nicole, Welcome to Degree Info! I'm glad you are happy with your experience at Empire State. My daughter starts there in the fall and it's comforting to hear of your positive experience. If I were you, I would contact Empire and see if I could take the accounting class first thing with them, or maybe squeeze it in a late summer course. Or, possibly take it at a community college concurrently with your master's studies. I wouldn't worry about it too much. The worst that will likely happen is your getting delayed by one semester and there might be a way around that. Contact the school by phone, or, if possible depending on your location, drop by there to talk to someone. Tell them your situation and you may can find a workaround.
Nicole, As a recent SUNY-ESC business graduate, I doubt you wouldn’t be accepted into the MBA program solely for one accounting class prerequisite deficiency. That being said, at $391 /credit hour (ESC-NY residents); there are many other online MBA programs you might consider in addition to the Empire State College offering. Here’s a link that may be helpful: Best Online MBA Regional - Affordable Online Degrees | Online College Rankings | GetEducated.com
Sorry to go off topic, but you and your daughter made a great decision by selecting Empire State. Good job SurfDoc!!!! Abner
Nicole, I would like to add that Empire State College is a great institution to get a MBA.. It has a solid foundation being in the SUNY system. I would not be very worried about the accounting course keeping you from getting into the program however, I would like to encourage you to call the director of graduate admission and go over the prereqs with him/her so you can get an actual answer (and get the jitters out of your tummy :crazy. Further, if the accounting class becomes a concern for them I would ask them if they take ACE credits. If they say that the accounting class is required and they allow ACE credits to meet that prereq I would take a straighterline accounting class (depending on ESC approval) which can be completed very quickly as I did one in about 3 weeks. If the ACE process doesn't work for you then you can always wait to take the accounting class at a local Community College or even ask for a conditional admit and take the accounting course along with your first MBA courses. As I said this is all based on what you hear from ESC. I hope this will not be a big factor for you but don't let this one class discourage you from staying with them because again they are a very solid institution.
Empire State College IS NOT AACSB accredited! Its MBA program has no specialized accreditation (e.g., AACSB, ACBSP, or IACBE). https://www.aacsb.net/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?Site=AACSB&WebKey=ED088FF2-979E-48C6-B104-33768F1DE01D
Major you ARE CORRECT. I will change the post as I was looking at SUNY Albany. Thank you for the correction!!!
I removed the AACSB part from your post for you. You were past the time limit to edit. Hope that helps.
SurfDoctor - Thank you for the advice! I did send an email to one of the women in Graduate admissions that I have been in contact with for about 2+ years (since an undergrad). Hopefully she will have a (good) idea and some helpful tips - I really hope I can take accounting in September AND begin my MBA program so I can begin working towards MBA already! And your daughter will LOVE Empire! I am still actively involved as a peer tutor and academic coach. I would not change a thing about my undergrad experience (which is why I have decided to stay on as a Grad student!). I probably have only ONE complaint (about one of my professors - she is the WORST... make sure your daughter always checks ratemyprofessor.com so she doesn't run into the bad apples!). I am SO excited to begin their MBA program in September... I know I would not have graduated (yet) if it was not for Empire. I was able to manage a large e-commerce business (working 50-60+ hours), pregnant, newborn, infant, married life... all of this juggling was possible while achieving a Bachelors! Let me know if you ever have any questions about ESC! major56 - Thank you for the information but I pretty much have my mind made up and stuck on ESC. I had a WONDERFUL experience as an undergrad and staying in the SUNY network just seems right for me. I did research other MBA programs and none of them seemed right... I am in New York (Long Island) and some schools (like mine) required 1 class on-site, residencies (as does Empire), 1/2 on-site and 1/2 online, on-site orientations, or tuition was astronomically higher. Capella University is one of the schools I looked into - the tuition was about $750/credit plus I believe they had either residencies or another form of on-site requirements...PLUS ESC does not require GMAT. I was contemplating whether or not to begin Grad school immediately (since I graduated in 12/2010) or waiting a few years... I only decided to apply for the Fall 2011 semester in mid-May (with a July 1 deadline). Many schools I looked into had the same deadline (thereabouts) and required GMAT (which I don't think I could have fit testing in that quickly). I will need to attend three 3-day residencies as part of ESC's MBA requirements (in Albany and Saratoga Springs). The drive is about 3-4 hours and not at ALL an inconvenience (much rather spend 9-days at residencies over an on-site class every single day! - I'm actually pretty excited about attending each residency). Basically, I have my mind made up and changing it would be hard. The tuition is not the cheapest but it is VERY competitive when compared with other institutions and I do not want to "mix things up" and find out I am unhappy later on at another school when I already know the ESC foundation and network. Thank you all for your advice! I did contact the school (dept of graduate admissions) and have my fingers crossed. I did not think that accounting would halt my admissions but needed to hear it from someone else for reassurance I know that I will probably have to take accounting (hopefully I can begin MBA program at the same time) or CLEP testing is an option (but I don't have too much faith - accounting is one of my weak subjects). I am hopeful the admissions board will allow leniency based on my transcript and see that I can successfully pass accounting while enrolled in their MBA program. My GPA is 3.8 so I do hope my grades and other accomplishments help give weight to this one prerequisite!
If you have good contacts at Empire, an email would probably work out. My daughter has found that other schools tend to not reply very well to emails and she has had to make a drive in to talk to someone. Of course, that's at OCC, which is not known for it's good customer/student service. Congrats on getting an e-commerce business started. That's a dream for a number of people, including us, and not an easy task. It's easy to set up a website; not so easy to get customers and to make money at it.
Just to mention that SUNY Oswego is AACSB accredited and offer an online MBA. I think the cost is the same as ESC.
SUNY-Oswego online AACSB accredited MBA in Management tuition rate is, as you've mentioned, the same as SUNY-ESC @ $391 /credit hour. And as with most AACSB B-schools, the GMAT is required (GMAT cutoff score is 500) for admission to the Oswego Business School with a min. undergraduate GPA of 2.60. SUNY Oswego - MBA Management - Online
