California State or Heriot-Watt - Please advise

Should one do MBA from California State University or Heriot-Watt University?

I was told that Heriot-Watt is good for someone who doesn't have a Bacheolor degree.

Let's say if someone has a Bachelor degree and residing in US, I think California State would be a good option.

Any inputs would be appreciated!
Which one is cheaper cost wise?
Which one is more interactive?
Which one is more recognized?

I would like to hear comments from all DL pundits in this regard.

Thanks in advance for all inputs, recommendations etc.

 

I assume you are asking about California State University, Dominguez Hills, which has a popular distance MBA program.

The costs are comparable.

They are both widely accepted in the US. During the time I was involved with marketing for Heriot-Watt, it became the largest MBA in America.

Heriot-Watt is included in the Economist's "Which MBA: a critical guide to the world's best MBA programmes." Cal State is not.

Cal State is (or can be) highly interactive. Heriot-Watt is extremely NON-interactive. Faculty will respond to Emails or faxes, but not always promptly, and not always helpfully.

You'll find, on www.degree.net, a free excerpt from the book my daughter and I wrote, Bears' Guide to the Best MBAs by Distance Learning, which identifies eleven kay decisions to make before choosing any MBA program. You might want to have a look.

John Bear http://www.degree.net

 

Hi,

You might stop by the HW 'watercooler' a forum for heriot Watt students, and Grads,
http://watercooler.homepage.com/

Dan

 

I received my MBA from CSUDH and had a very positive experience with the faculty and program. My teachers were very engaging and the assignments seemed challenging enough. It's not Harvard nor even the University of Utah. It is your average run of the mill MBA where you get out of it what you put in.

My one pet peave was that some students in my groups just did not do their jobs when it came to team assignments. It was mainly a language issue for the foreign students(non-English mother tongue).

These students did not understand the assignments and contstantly asked for help. No one had time to hold their hands through assignments and thus they did little work but benefited from the work the other students did. I found this fairly frustrating. This not just a CSUDH nor a distance learning problem. I saw the same thing as a resident student at Purdue.

CSUDH had these discussion rooms where the prof presented a topic and everyone had to post. I found that some of these discussions were quite good. My favorite classes were on internet law and org behavior.

 

Bing,

Your description of CSUDH's MBA was most delightful: Average run of the MILL, since the term "mill" is quite familiar in distance learning.

Russell

 

Poor choice of words on my part to tell the truth. It's not a degree mill. It's just not a top program. It fit my needs. It's an accredited program that won't be going away, changing names, merging, or anything else weird I think.

I still keep in contact with a number of people I physically met during my courses and after graduation. There were a number of people in my program who lived within a 3 hour drive of me.

 

H-W, of course, is a polar opposite of this situation. You can find cohort groups to communicate with, but by no means do you rely upon them to complete your coursework. It's just you, the books, and the exams.

Rich Douglas, who did his MBA at National taking 16 courses the old fashioned way.

 

Is this forum still alive? I couldn't access it any more.

Dan wrote:

Hi,
You might stop by the HW 'watercooler' a forum for heriot Watt students, and Grads, http://watercooler.homepage.com/

Dan

 

I just started with two HWMBA courses toward an MBA specialty in HRM. I do some interesting co-writing on Organizational Behavior, so I'm taking the HW courses to beef up on hard knowledge of the field. I have got two publications accepted from my OB writings, but here is the interesting thing.

I started the HW OB course last week and find it excellent. It is very pragmatic, starts with theory for each area, provides examples, and then provides info on practical ways of using the theory in management situations. I am quite impressed because of this three tiered method, particularly cause I can get very abstract in my writing. I have also found lots of references to fill out my own OB writing. The HW program seems very practical. I was also accepted into U of London M.S. in O.B., but a writing colleague advised that I'd be bored silly - she was the external examiner for the U of L for 10 years, and happens to have a good idea of my needs.

As for CSU - I know nothing about that program. I am also terribly excited about HW in that I know I am doing a rock solid degree that no one can question easily, not even Levicoff (yuk-yuk).
Earon