MBA Without BA/BSc Question

Just curious, how would you go about entering an MBA on a resume without a BA/BSc Degree? Wouldn't a recruiter take notice? How would one explain such an oddity?

Shay

 

If asked then tell the truth, there are people with EBS HWU MBA degrees without undergraduate degree.

My degree is a 5 year program that is evaluated in USA as equivalent to masters degree.

Actually in my case is combined Bachelors degree and Masters degree.

It all depends and you didn't really provide a lot of information.

For example school name, entrance requirements etc.

learner

 

I have never heard about the combination of the Bachelor and the Master. As far as I know, there is only the combination of Master and Doctor, because the final result is a valuable research.

Should you please inform more about your program?

 

There are many university courses, notably in Europe, where the undergraduate degree is up to 5 years in length, and the final submission is a research project. Such a degree is often evaluated in English speaking countries such as the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, as being equivalent to a Masters. That's the long and short of it. No doubt our learned friend, Lerner, will be able to provide a more detailed explanation.

 

In UK and Hong Kong, I know of these combined degrees, where a student can obtain a Master degree directly with additional years to take, usually more than 1 year to the equipvalent bachelor programme.

These are usually engineering programmes, while they have relative little research component than traditional research-based Master degrees

 

I worked in a company where the CEO was a Stanford MBA. I was interviewing a lady that was in an MBA program but she didn't have an undergrad degree.

The guy came unglued! I had to stand there an listen to 15 minutes of insulting rhetoric about the impossibility to earn an MBA without first having a bachelors. He accused me of not having my act together.

Of course, he hired a PhD in economics to do budgeting. The budgeteer decided the best way to acount for a 6% raise was to amortize it monthly (0.5%/month) for each person. I had to walk him through with a concrete example of why that wasn't a good idea.

I left that company soon after. I decided working for idgits was bad for my health.

Long stories short- there are MBA programs out there that do not require a bachelors. You may have some issues with some managers, but you should be able to handle the explanation.

 

Your reply is 1005 correct.
I completed a 5 year specialist degree program in IT leading to qualification of Systems Technologist Engineer.

WES evaluated my credentials as equivalent to US BS and MS degree from US RA university.

 

The following is from a California State University catalog re graduate admission requirements:

"Holds an acceptable bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution or has equivalent preparation as determined by the campus."

 

A Google search will bring up many such combined bachelor/master programs in the US. For example http://www.admissions.ufl.edu/ugrad/combdegree.html was one of them.

 

An important note is that most, if not all, US combined degree programs do not skip the undergraduate degree. These programs typically provide a way to earn both an undergrad and graduate degree in a relatively short period of time 4-5 years. The undergrad degree is still earned first and awarded.

From the UoF website referenced above...

"The combined degree program allows you to complete 12 hours of graduate course work while enrolled as an undergraduate. The approved 12 hours may satisfy degree requirements for both degrees."

 

Aspen allows MBA w/o BS ;-)

Found this when researching Aspen...

http://www.aspen.edu/no_ba.htm

Nice to know IMO...and may be worth considering if the circumstances are right (e.g. if you already have a PMP - you may complete the MBA with only 9 classes - resulting in a pretty fast MBA all things considered).

 

We have a few of these at UF, however, you are still awarded a bachelor's degree in order to avoid confusion with employers.

 

Re: Aspen allows MBA w/o BS ;-)

Pugman,

Thanks for this information. I'm seriously considering this option.

Does anyone happen to know of other RA or NA schools that allow one to complete a Masters (not necessarily an MBA, but I will consider it) without having a Bachelors degree as a prerequisite?

Thanks,
Tom

 

Another MBA with no BS : Heriot-Watt

Japhy4529

I too was surprised that Aspen was that flexible. I don't think they do a lot of advertising about that since the link is not easy to find (but I could be mistaken).

The only other MBA that does not require a BA/BS is Heriot-Watt (at least, that I am aware of).

http://www.ebsglobal.net/information/pages/prospectivestudents/programmes/mba.html (scroll down to 'Admissions Criteria')

In short, if you pass the first 3 exams, you're in (no need to prove yourself). I've heard it is a challenging program. Of course, you could query the boards for more info regarding the Heriot-Watt MBA.

There may be more (maybe DETC and or foreign)...but they're not too common (IMO). Like finding hens teeth

Hope this helps.

Greg