MBA

Hi mates,

I've got a problem which I hope you will all share your opinions with me.

I'm currently enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Management with the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia which upon completion, I can articulate to the MBA.

My problem is that I find the units really tough and coupled with a job where I put in 10-12 hours per day and a young family to spend time with, I find myself in a position where I find it very difficult to find time to study. Currently, I try to discipline myself to about 2 hours of reading at night per week except for Saturday's where I spend more time with the kids and wife. Even then my batteries are almost flat if you know what I mean!

I understand that Charles Sturt University (CSU)also in Australia has a similar program but they do not have any formal end of semester exams but have assignments to complete. Do you all think that CSU's MBA will be much easier for me?

I'm not implying that I want to buy my way to a MBA but I need a program that is less demanding and less vigorous in view of my limited spare time.

I look forward to your opinions.

Thanks mates!

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Brendon H.L. Lim,
Kinabalu Four Wheel Drive Club (KFWDC),
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia

 

I'm certainly not qualified to talk about the relative merits and/or demands of those two programs, but you might want to consider a third: Heriot-Watt University.

Heriot-Watt's program is entirely self-paced and self-study. You purchase each course, then apply for the examination when you are ready to take it. (There are established examination dates during each year, so you have to wait for one of those.) You can take one examination at a time, or several during the same examination period. This kind of program would seem to meet your work and family requirements by providing you with a great deal of flexibility of where and when you study. Also, the H-W program may waive up to 2 of the exams for prior graduate work. I don't know if you'll qualify, but it's worth exploring. Finally, I'm not sure about the cost, but it may be a bit more than you are paying now, or would pay at Charles Sturt. Good luck.

Rich Douglas

 

Dear Rich,

Thanks for your opinion. I will consider what you wrote.

Looking forward to comments from the others.

Best regards from "The Land Below The Wind"

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Brendon H.L. Lim,
Kinabalu Four Wheel Drive Club (KFWDC),
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia

 

Hi Brenden,

I was in the same boat - 10-12 hour days, young kids, wife = busy life. I found that I did best in the morning, so I started getting up *very* early 7 days a week. I could get a couple hours in before work, and then study for 6-8 hours on Sat. and Sun. By the time the family got up and moving, I was almost done. Then we could spend a "normal" day.

Anyway, this is just something that worked for me. I didn't pick the easy programs, but stuck with the ones that I thought fit me best - all the way to a Ph.D. It can be done. Time goes faster than you think.

Best wishes in your adventure!
Barry Foster

 

I understand your situation and have faced the same kinds of family, work and educational demands. Assuming you wish to remain in a regionally accredited or equivalent program, a number of alternatives exist. Capella University (hppt://www.capellauniversity.edu) offers an MBA entirely off-campus. I'm currently a student there. To date my coursework has not been overly demanding of my time. There are no final exams but there is a final report for each class that's about 20-30 pages long. Students are required to post a couple short anwers to 2 or 3 questions covering the week's reading assignments and are required weekly. The rest is reading the material. In the course I just completed, Management and Organizational Behavior, I spent well less than 20 hourse per week on average broken down as follows: 2-3 hours per week writing responses to questions (I'm a slow writer), 1-2 hours per week searching for a course-related article on the Internet, reading it and posting a summary, and about 5-10 hours of textbook/course material reading per week. Most of our weekly coursework was completed after 8 or 9 weeks into the 12 week quarter. The remaining several weeks was used for preparing and writing the final paper. And, there is a one week break about half-way through each quarter allowing one time to catch-up if necessary. I have 2 children at home and travel every week and two classes per quarter is very doable for me. I would recommend beginning with just one class to allow time to get used to the process and to see if it fits/meets your needs.

I've also completed MBA coursework at City University (http://www.cityu.edu). At the time I did, they only offered a "correspondance" style method of learning and had no online learning/discussion element. They offer both methods now. The courses are designed to be completed in 10 weeks. The non-online classes typically required 2-3 short paper assignments (2-4 pages in length) and a proctored final exam. I probably spent about 15 hours per week or less on assignments and preparation.

I trust this helps and I wish you good luck in your decision.

Bob

 

Great points. I did the very same thing when my kids were younger. There really is more time in the day if can you find ways to effeciently use all available time.

 

To Rob Harris, Barry Foster and Rich Douglas,

Thanks for all your input and opinions. I appreciate the input that you have shared with me.

If you are reading this George Brown of Australia, I would appreciate if you could give me your input too as you're from Australia.

Many thanks in advance.

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Brendon H.L. Lim,
Kinabalu Four Wheel Drive Club (KFWDC),
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia

 

I saw that Rich recommended Heriot-Watt... AVOID HERIOT-WATT. It is true that the the program is very flexible but it is also extremely difficult and if you can't free up time heading into the exams, you will likely fail.

I may get flamed for this but, in your situation, I would recommend some of the US schools that offer DL MBAs. My opinion is that most of the RA US schools currently offering MBAs are much less difficult that the British and Aussie ones.

 

Because I recommended it, I shall flame...NOT! The beauty--and danger--of a Heriot-Watt MBA program is that it is largely you vs. the examinations. You get all the study materials you need, and there are many other students you can call upon as peers. Still, it is a very lonely and challenging process, and the examinations are indeed not pushovers. But isn't there an inverse relationship between flexibility and independence in a distance program? Where you want to be on that continuum will help you decide which program to pursue. In the meantime, don't limit yourself to one--or even a few--options during your search, including H-W.

Rich Douglas
MBA, National University, 1985

 

Speaking as an alumni of Heriot-Watt (MBA 2000), I can say only that you get out of it what you put into it. Yes, it is difficult, and yes, it is flexible. But those are precisely the qualities that appeal to the people who complete the program. I gave up much of my free time for several years to complete the program. It can be done.

Regards,

Michael Lloyd

 

You may want to look into California State Dominquez Hills. CSDH is a very legitimate, regionally accredited, fourth tier school. The MBA program does not have AACSB accreditation. The program will not be "easy" but probably more reasonable than Heriot-Watt. In your situation I would recommend further research to ensure the requirements are still achievable under your constraints... the price is pretty fair also.

 

Rich... he was looking for a legitmate and relatively "easy" program... HW fails on the second count.

 

I researched many MBA programs and came up with three that I liked: 1) Regis University in Denver 2)Colorado State University. 3)California State Univ-DH(CSUDH). All 3 programs offered an MBA entirely by distance learning. I went with the cheapest and fastest to complete...CSUDH. All of them required a good amount of work, a lot of papers.

CSUDH's offering enabled me to finish in 15 months. I don't think I had a more than a 3 day break between terms in that 15 month period. I was exhausted after that 15 months.

Timewise, CSUDH was a bit tough because I was in the thick of Y2K( I am an IT manager) and have a family. Vacation was basically out for the program duration.

I did not find the program overly challenging. I think it was just about right for that tier. I had some great teachers there and I still keep in touch with them. I enjoyed their online discussion boards. That discussion interaction avenue worked well for an MBA program.

Amberton may have a faster and easier program. "Andy Jack U", DETC accredited, might have a faster and easier one, too.

Bing

 

Last I heard, CSUDH was were going through the process to get AACSB accredited. They do have the other accreditation, though. I cannot remember the initials for that one but it is the other of the big two business school accreditors.

They sent a questionnaire out to all the B-School students and alumni about a year ago. They asked if students/alumni thought it was worth it to pursue another accreditation. I think the stats came back in favor of the AACSB. Then, when I looked at the B-School web page a few months ago, the Dean had a talking paper posted regarding the AACSB accreditation process.

Bing

 

It is the "Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs" (ACBSP).

 

Hello,
I am the one that originally wrote about the MBA being professionally developed. I am thoroughly pleased with Touro!

Steven King

 

Brendon, Perhaps you are better off where you are. If it is not challanging, then it is probably not a solid program. Hang in there. I recently graduated from Regis University's MBA. It ws challanging, but was done entirely with weekly essays. No tests were administered but, the research and writing were relentless. I chose Regis because it is a 125 year old institution-and well respected. I believe that you are also in such a program.

 

I know what you mean. At CSUDH, which is not a top tier school by far, I found that I was reading about 90 minutes a night, or more through the week. Then, we had papers to do about each week which took even longer on Saturday. When you have 3 papers due on Monday it is difficult to feel recharged from the weekend. The program was not overly challenging but there were a lot of papers due. And....that accounting course was quite the sleep deprivator.

I second the advice you have been given. Just hang in there and get it done. I think you will be glad you stayed in a more challenging program.

Bing

 

Interesting discussion! I've been researching pure DL MBA programs too and so far I've liked the University of Baltimore's Merrick School of Business program. They're fully AACSB accredited, have a couple of hundred students in the program, are very online-focused and their program takes approx. 20 months total. You can learn more at ubonline.edu if you'd like.

However, now's the time for me to get a better handle on what would be my best option for a DL MBA program, so I'd be more than open to hearing about others, like CSUDH. I have very solid application stats (710 GMAT, MSEd, 20 years W/E) and am located in Northern California.

My constraints are similar to what I've read here: with a wife and two little kids (4yo and 1yo) and a consulting firm I need to keep alive, I don't have time to do a full-time or even part-time evening MBA program (my local options would be Santa Clara or UC Berkeley (which is way far to drive every week), but I am not motivated to go to evening classes on campus). So I'd like to find the best, most challenging and most well-respected MBA program available that'll let me attend via the 'net.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!