MS in Management?

I'm a mechanical engineer with a BSE from a pretty well-respected state university (undergrad GPA was a 3.4). A year ago I started taking courses towards a M.Eng at my alma mater - the late afternoon classes were offered at a satellite location about 20 minutes from my office. I chose this program purely for convenience. My grad GPA to date is a 4.0 after 3 classes.

To make a long story short I have now been told that the satellite program is being discontinued for low enrollment. If I wish to finish my masters I will need to travel in excess of 1 hour each way to the main campus for the next 2+ years. Most of the classes are offered during the day/several days a week and with my work schedule this is simply not an option.

This isn't the end of the world - I took classes in management of technology and project management and after careful consideration and discussion with my supervisor I think the most career-enhancing and personally satisfying option will be to get an MS in Management, preferably with a focus in technology management or something along those lines.

An MBA is an option but the MS would be more suited to my needs. I have not taken the GMAT but am willing to do so if necessary. My employer pays for 100% of educational expenses, so that's not an issue (although tuition that they pay in excess of $5280/year is considered taxable income). Be advised that University of Pheonix in particular has a rather negative reputation in my organization - I don't know why.

The school where I'm matriculated only offers an MS in Accounting, an MBA, and a PhD. The two local universities that offer graduate degrees offer an MBA, an MS in Finance, and an MS in Accounting.

I have one option for a B&M program - Rensselaer has a branch campus about 15 minutes away, and they offer an MS in Management, with a focus in technology management. I know several engineers who have finished this program and been pleased. If I ever decided to go for an MBA with RPI then many of the credits for the MS would be applied to that degree.

It just gets difficult to give up 2 nights a week for school. By the end of the semester I want to scream. Asynchronous online learning is quite appealing to me for that reason. I don't want to neglect online options...anyone have a decent online MS in Management that they know about?


Oh, and anything I do must be regionally accredited for my employer to pay for it. No NA or unaccredited programs, please!

I've done some looking and a number of schools offer an online MBA but few offer the MS online. Any ideas why, since many of the classes for an MS are part of the MBA curriculums?

Thanks!

 

got to:

www.geteducated.com and download the free guides. You can also do a search on the forum. Many options, but if RPI is within your pricerange I don't know of a better option for you considering your proximity to the satellite campus.

MBA vice MS program options, I believe it is because of the broad applicability of the MBA. However, you will find a significant number of MS programs are available.

Once you have looked at the downloads holler back.

Kevin

 

There are a number of schools offering MS in Management via distance, including Rensselaer which you mentioned and NYU, which offers a DL MS in Management and Systems. Look at the USN guide to Distance Learning.

Another intriguing option would be Harvard's MLA (Master of Liberal Arts) in IT, which can be obtained entirely online with the exception of one semester (or short Summer term) of classes on campus. The classes are typically offered evenings, so it would be feasible to one living in your part of the country. One of the best aspects of the program is its affordability, it costs less than either NYU or Rensselaer. It's also open admissions, although you must maintain high standards to stay in the program and must get at least a B in your first three classes to be officially accepted into the program.
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2004-05/prostudy/almit/about/

 

Not that I'm partial to Florida Tech, but Florida Tech offers an MS in Management with several concentrations to choose from.

http://segs.fit.edu/academics/degrees/

You will also find several RA graduate management programs on the Dantes web site.

http://www.dantescatalogs.com/DEDC/InstitutionsBySubjectType.asp?RecID=4

I hope that this at least gives you a good starting point.

 

You may want to check out Regis, they have a well-recognized MBA program that can be done online:


http://www.mbaregis.com/

 

While we can debate the relative utility of a MSM vs MBA vs MS Engineering Managment, unless you have firmly made up your mind that one works better for you than the other, you should consider the MS in Engineering Managment. This is a degree most often offered by the Engineering department and leverages your technical background instead of requiring you to take prerequisites. Some programs that I've looked at include Drexel University, Kansas State University, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Colorado State University.

While there may (or may not) be a cultural/political preference for the softer (less quantitative) MSM/MBA degrees from some employers, if you want to leverage your BS degree you might want to consider the Engineering Management or Engineering Systems Management degrees.

 

Wow, that was quick! Thanks for all the responses - I have a lot of programs to check out now. This will keep me busy for a bit.

One comment - JoAnn, my supervisor has advised I go for the soft MSM or an MBA over an engineering management degree. For our corporate culture the only way an engineer can move easily into management is if they have a "real" management or business degree in addition to their technical degree.

 

I think Purdue also offers an MS in Management via distance.

If you're interested in the MBA route, there are many options: UMass-Amherst, the University of Indiana, Florida and Florida State, Nebraska, Colorado State, Auburn, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Emory, Duke, Syracuse, Arizona State, Purdue (which offers a DL MBA as well as the MS), Drexel, Pace, St. Joseph's.

If you wanted to just shoot the moon and go for the most advanced degree, Indiana State offers a PhD in Technology Management via distance with minimal residencies.

http://web.indstate.edu/ConsortPhD/
http://www.indstate.edu/consortphd/faq.html#q4

The nifty thing about Indiana State is that it's a true DL PhD offered by a real B&M research university rather than a non-research, shakily (or not at all) accredited for-profit institution; I would be very reticent to throw much time and money into the latter unless you have a VERY good reason to do so.

 

I have one more suggestion – for now.

Take a look at NCU's MBA with a specialization in Management of Engineering and Technology. This is the description of the specialization:

"The engineering and technology manager brings together technical expertise with management know-how, which creates a synergism between technology and business in order to improve organizational outcomes."

http://www.ncu.edu/university_information/dpro_det.asp?degree_program_id=19

The PhD description is a little better:

“Engineers often find that after many years of professional industrial experience, when they would like to advance into technical management, they are unable to do so due to the lack of formal training for those positions. If promoted into technical management, they often lack the concepts, methods and practices to understand management problems and implement solutions.”

I'm in a similar situation. My undergraduate and graduate degrees are technical in nature, so I decided to do the PhD in Business Administration with a specialization in Management of Engineering and Technology from NCU.

 

You mentioned the B&M version of RPI's management MS. They also have a pure distance version through their RSVP program. Expensive, but worth checking out. It may give you the added flexibility that you want.

http://www.rsvp.rpi.edu/academics/degrees/msmanagement.shtml

 

Thomas Edison State College (NJ) offers a MS Management via DL
http://www.tesc.edu/graduate/

Excelsior offers an MBA via DL
Write [email protected] or call 888-647-2388 and ask for Eileen Young.

Cal State Dominguez Hills offers an MBA via DL
http://mbaonline.csudh.edu/

Check with each school you contact to see how many units can be transferred

 

MS Management online

MS Management
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
http://www.erau.edu/ec/alldegrees.html
Good luck

 

I realize you asked for information about the "softer" programs, but I wanted to mention another program that may be of interest to people in similar positions.

Columbia offers a Master of Science in Operations Research through the Columbia Video Network (also offered online). They say they are eventually planning to include courses from Columbia Business School. Right now, the coursework seems to be heavily weighted with quatitive business subjects, but very lacking in the management, organizational behavior, et cetera type subjects.

Good luck,
Tony

edit: They will consider accepting 6 s/h in transfer.

 

You have been given some nice suggestions. But I lived many years in the Capital district, and being myself a mechanical engineer, I can assure you RPI is an outstanding school that enjoys great prestige in Upstate New York (and I suspect in the entire country). If I was given the chance I would go to RPI without hesitation. Two nights a week may be tiring but to be a part of this terrific school would compensate by far all inconveniences.

Regards

 

I'll second his motion, there, from my perception (I live in themidwest and have never so much as set foot on the RPI campus, I've heard of them and they have a good reputation here.

RPI's Lally Business School (through whom I assume your program is offered) ranks 71st in the USN rankings, that out of approx 700 graduate B-schools nationwide. When you add to that their techie reputation and the fact that you could push on via DL after finishing the MSM and get an MBA there with not that many additional credits, that's not exactly a bad deal.

 

I'll second his motion--I live in the midwest and have never so much as set foot on the RPI campus--only been to the state of NY once--but I've heard of RPI and their reputation reaches at least as far as here.

RPI's Lally Business School (through whom I assume your program is offered) ranks 71st in the USN rankings (out of approx 700 graduate B-schools nationwide). When you add to that their techie reputation and the fact that you could push on via DL after finishing the MSM and get an MBA there with not that many additional credits, that's not exactly a bad deal.

 

Minot State

Another RA option is the Minot State University Online Master of Science in Management (MSM) program. It is 30 credit hours at $227/hour - one of the most affordable programs of its type in the U.S.

http://www.minotstateu.edu/msm/index.html

 

The University of Maryland: University College (UMUC) offers an online MS in Management. Also, if you've completed a military career course such as the Air War College, or have a certificate with the Naval Postgraduate School, they will waive nearly 50% of the degree. You'll have to ask them about certain military partnerships to be sure.

Additionally, you can complete a dual degree, with a MS in Management and an MBA. Here's the link:

http://www.umuc.edu/grad/msm/msm_home.shtml

Good Luck

 

I really appreciate all the information I received here. I did so much research, thanks to all of you!

I have decided to go for an MS in Management through RPI.

I can take classes either in-person at the Hartford campus, or online, or a combination of the two. I'll probably do a combination - perhaps 1 classroom course and 1 online course per semester. The Lally School of Management & Technology at RPI has a good reputation and the program fits my needs well.

Thanks again for all the advice!

 

A good choice. Good luck with your studies.

Kevin