Columbia Southern Project Management MBA-Help or Hinderance?

I have a Masters in Education and currently teach ESL. I've been interested in Project Management and ran across Columbia Southern's MBA in Project Management and was wondering about a few things.

If I want to make a career change, with no experience in the PM field, is this a good "foot in the door?" Or being NA (not RA) is this likely to not be highly looked at in the field?

There are many online Certificates in PM as well, how would one from an RA school stack up against the MBA from Columbia Southern?

 

Jimwe,

there are plenty of RA accredited PM degrees and certificates.

Without any experience you might want to look at the PMI website:

www.pmi.org

the PMP credential is the the goal for most PM oriented folks.

Do a search on the forum for "project management" or "PMP" and you should find many threads regarding this issue.

For cost I recommend Amberton University's PM certificate that carries academic credit and can be done for undergrad or grad. Additionally it can apply to one of their degrees.

Highest accredited would be Western Carolina's Masters in PM. (AACSB) or Mississippi State's MBA-PM

as for a certificate stacking up against a degree I would venture that the MBA-PM is better if you need the degree, otherwise the Stanford Certified Project Manager certificate carries good recognition.

As to your question; Columbia Southern has increased tuition to the point that it is not the most bang for the buck in this area. As a disclaimer I completed the Columbia Southern MBA-PM and found the PM classes to be very effective. While I have not had any limitations using the MBA (and it was cheap when I attended) you will find it difficult to move into any area of academia with an NA degree. Not impossible however.

Final thought, moving onto the PM field cold may not be that attractive when you look at the requirements for experience.

Regards,

Kevin

 

Fed,

In your opinion, which school now offers the most bang for the buck?

 

Robb,

I am assuming we are discussing the PM area. Dollar wise Amberton may present the best deal (although see below). If you complete the PM certificate at the graduate level, you can then use these same courses (as management electives) towards one of their degrees and effectively end up with both a graduate certificate in PM and a Masters in something or an MBA. Plan it correctly and you could end up with 18 hours in management to qualify for teaching. RA and $200 per credit hour.

If you live in North Carolina then Western Carolina's Masters in Project Management is truly the best, AACSB accredited and only 6 courses (6 credits each) if you have the business prerequisites.

However, if you live elsewhere the tuition is high.

There are lots of programs for PM. I normally recommend to the folks I advise to look for an MBA program with the PM concentration so that if the PM angle doesn't work for the individual at least the MBA is covered. I never recommend just a certificate without carrying academic credit (Stanford's SCPM for example). Mostly because for the same money you can finish a certificate that has academic credit and potentially almost complete a degree. http://apm.stanford.edu/pricing/pricing.html each course is approximately $1000 and it takes 6 courses to complete the SCPM. For $2400 (tuition only)you can complete the Amberton PM certificate.

For $7200 (tuition only) you can complete the PM certificate and a Masters degree.

Best case for the Stanford certificate is $5370 signing up for online and two courses at a time.

My total cost for the CSU MBA-PM was about $6300 including books.

Another advantage of the academic versus non academic project management training is the value of the hours by PMI for certification or recertification.

I can't argue the relative merits of school name only the benefit of a degree versus a non academic certificate.

In jimwe's case I am not sure that just the certificate or degree would be of much benefit as PM positions require differing amounts of experience and often require technical (software, IT, healthcare systems, engineering, financial, etc...) or construction type skills.

Regards,

Kevin