I see some schools offering online Masters of Science in Business Administration rather than an MBA...what in the world is the difference? I can see the difference between, say, an MSc in Management and MBA, or MSc in Accounting and MBA, but not an MScBA and MBA... Thanks. Scotty
My observation is that an MBA requires abot one third more units than a MS degree (I'm looking at an old CSUDH catalog)
It would be interesting to see how Imperial College London, and London School of Economics interpret the difference: From Imperial: In October 2005 Tanaka Business School is launching a new one year full-time MSc in Management. Unlike the MBA, this is a pre-experience qualification designed to equip recent graduates with a foundation in business knowledge and skills. It will give participants an edge in today¡¦s competitive job market, especially when it comes to entering corporate and public sector management training schemes. Taught by top-flight academics, participants will benefit from Tanaka¡¦s proven reputation in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, finance and economics. Uniquely, they will also have the opportunity to participate in their own business plan competition. (Tanaka students regularly come in the top 5 of the European Business Plan Competition.) From LSE: The MSc Management (Regular Route) and MSc Management (Public Sector) adopt an interdisciplinary perspective on Management issues. They offer an alternative approach to MBA or MBA style courses. There is an intellectual rather than a vocational focus with an emphasis on the rigorous analysis of management problems. Those who enter these programmes are typically pre- rather than post-work experience students. Seminars for the core courses are organised on the basis of study groups.
Boston University offers an MBA, and an MSBA. The curriculums are identical until the MBA involves a specialization, and thus, additional coursework. MSBA: http://www.bu.edu/military/programs/msba/index.html MBA: http://management.bu.edu/gpo/mba/curriculum/index.asp As one can see, BU's MSBA is 40 SH, vs the MBA's 64 (nearly 1/3rd more). This brings up the issue of which is more worth it? I would opt for the MSBA, or if time and money were an issue, I'd get my MBA at an institution that offered a 36 - 40 SH MBA, and beleive me, there are many.
On the San Diego State website, it explains that an MBA is for most everybody without prior undergrad coursework in business admin, while the MSBA would be more of a specialization for those with undergrad BA degrees, to get more in-depth instruction in BA. That was also emphasized to me by the graduate advisor, when I visited that institution. Hope it helps.
