looking for an Affordable MBA in Insurance

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Pilot, Mar 15, 2006.

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  1. Pilot

    Pilot Member

    As I'm almost done with my BSLS @ excelsior, I am looking for an affordable (around 20k/ Max my company will pay for) RA MBA with a specialization/concentration in Insurance or a Masters in Insurance.
    My first choice is an MBA.
    It needs to be online and with no or very limited residency.
    I have not been able to locate one yet!
    Thanks,
     
  2. spmoran

    spmoran Member

    I know Walden has a program. Don't know about affordability.
     
  3. JoAnnP38

    JoAnnP38 Member

    Florida State University offers an online program that might interest you. They offer a MS in Risk Management/Insurance. For in-state students the tuition is about $288/credit hour. If you are an out-of-state student and you reside outside of Florida you can get a partial tuition waiver and your tuition would be about $318/credit hour. The degree requires the completion of 33 semester hours.

    For an out-of-state student this comes to a total of about $10,500. Not too shaby!
     
  4. Pilot

    Pilot Member

    You are right that's great!!!
    But I am sorry, I realised I forgot to mention that:
    I really do not want to take the GMAT or GRE.
    It is part of florida state requirement as stated in the web site
    http://www.cob.fsu.edu/rmi/rmi_gmat.cfm
    Admission to the College of Business requires test scores for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). This is a University requirement; therefore, it cannot be waived.

    Thank you much........
     
  5. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    I know what you mean. One of the reasons I liked the EBS MBA was that I didn't have to take the GMAT or GRE. However I had no choice but to do it for my PhD. After taking it, I realized it is really no big deal. If you (1) know enough of the English language to write a paragraph and (2) understand that multiplying 2 negatives make a positive, you will do ok. Maybe not ace it, but you will do ok.

    You are doing the Excelsior BSLS, and I'm guessing by your user name, at least a recreational pilot. I assume you can do the above.

    I would recommend this: Sign up for the GRE, do only 1 practice exam, then just take the test without any other prep whatsoever (skip the analytical section, FSU doesn't use it). If you get over 1000 (which I'm 90% you will) use that. If you don't then study more for the GMAT, or look for a different school.
     
  6. JoAnnP38

    JoAnnP38 Member

    This program is so close to what you are looking for AND as edowave points out, the GRE is not nearly as difficult as most people believe. If you complete any legitimate RA bachelor program with grades good enough to be admitted to grad school, I wouldn't be surprised if you can score at least a 1000 cold. With a week or two preparation, you can almost guarantee that you can score that much. Bite the bullet, take the GRE and get into a good program.

    Good Luck!
     
  7. Pilot

    Pilot Member

    Joann & edowave,
    Thank you for your advice, I will look in to it.
    Can you recommend any review/practice book for the Gre?
    I'll try it, I guess I have nothing to loose, it's a win-win situation.
    If I score high enough I will give me more choices, if not I'll just stick with the original plan.
    Thank you much,
    Pilot
     
  8. JoAnnP38

    JoAnnP38 Member

    I can personally recommend Kaplan's GRE prep book. The CD-ROM that comes with it has several practice tests that emulate the actual test system. These tests are IMO actually a little harder than the actual GRE. I used the 2003 version and I give it credit for upping my composite score by about 250 points.

    Good Luck!
     
  9. Michael Lloyd

    Michael Lloyd New Member

    Speaking as someone who works in insurance/risk management (healthcare professional liability) with a MSc, MBA, CPCU, ARM and CPHRM, may I ask what you want to do with a masters' degree in insurance and in what particular area of insurance? I may be able to give you more targeted advice.
     
  10. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Bears' Guide lists the following master's degrees in insurance and risk management:

    Florida State University http://online.fsu.edu (BG15, 112)
    Monash University www.monash.edu.au (BG15, 122)
    University of Leicester www.le.ac.uk (BG15, 138)
    University of Melbourne www.unimelb.edu.au (BG15, 140)

    Also, check out the master's programs in financial services, such as those at American College www.tac-cdl.org in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. I also have a vague recollection of having seen a master's degree in insurance at either Thomas Edison www.tesc.edu oe Excelsior www.excelsior.edu .
     
  11. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    www.waldenu.edu
     
  12. Michael Lloyd

    Michael Lloyd New Member

    The University of Leicester no longer offers a degree in risk management, at least in the insurance/liability sense. They used to, and I gave some guest lectures there in the healthcare risk management program in the Scarman Centre. But that program has been discontinued. No programs in insurance are offered.

    The only Leicester risk management program offered is now in the department of criminology, which offers a security and risk management program. In this context, risk management refers to more corporate security issues.
     
  13. Samuel Bennett

    Samuel Bennett New Member

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    Wow!!! The ebs MBA sounds very flexible. Is it possible to complete that in a year? Are there any multiple choice questions? What are the exams like?
     
  14. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    Lots of posts regarding the EBS MBA, but the serach function seems not to be working, so I'll summerize:

    It's very flexible. Definitly made for the working/traveling person in mind. Each course comes complete with eveything you need. Texts are even in PDF format. You can take exams anywhere in the world, and there is only 1 per course.

    The exams however, are VERY difficult. Some multiple choice questions, but mostly 3 hour long hand cramping essay and case study questions. As Micheal Lloyd puts it, "It's like an open book exam without the open book."

    You can complete the program in a year, but I would guess most students don't. The exams are schduled on specific dates of the year, so if you miss one for any reason (sick, work, family, etc) you must wait 3 - 6 months for the next exam. That slows a lot of people down.
     
  15. Pilot

    Pilot Member

    Hi Michael,
    I work in Life Re-Insurance, I also hold several Loma designations FLMI ARA etc....
    I am a manager of Admimistration & Retrocession for one of the top 10 Reinsurers.
    I plan to stay in the field and hopefully get promoted but I will be willing to switch if a better opportunity presents itself.
    I prefer an MBA with a specialization in Insurance over a masters in insurance.
    The masters will lock me in one category "Insurance" however the MBA is broader and it will up to me to list the specialization or not depending on the Job Criterias.
    Thanks Pilot................
     
  16. friartuck

    friartuck New Member

  17. Michael Lloyd

    Michael Lloyd New Member

    Pilot, the only online MBA-insurance program I can find is at Walden. If you want to go bricks and mortar, then U. Wisconsin (Madison), Wharton, Temple and the College of Insurance in NYC all offer MBAs with a concentration in insurance.

    But for someone with your evident experience in the field and your professional designations, I would suggest that a MBA-insurance would be gilding the lily. I doubt that it would provide any more benefit to your career than a general MBA. I am familiar with the curriculum of some of the insurance MBAs, and I can tell you that the insurance content is pretty darn minimal, usually consisting of one class, possibly two. I doubt very much that someone like you would learn anything about insurance over and above what you already know. Possibly more about general insurance, but do you really want to learn about personal lines?

    Although this free advice may be exactly what you paid for it, my personal opinion is that your needs could best be met by pursuing a general distance-learning MBA. If you do, the number of options goes up by a couple orders of magnitude.

    A MBA-insurance may be right on point for someone younger who was looking to break into the field. But for someone like me, doing this since 1984, or for you, who has been doing this for at least ten years, I suspect a general MBA will fill the bill. Once you get a certain number of years of experience, any educational specialty becomes less and less germane. And just ask me how often, in my profession, I use the knowledge from my analytical chemisty MSc from almost twenty five years ago. It is not very much.

    Of note, when I was making the MBA decision back in the early 90's, I chose the MBA from Heriot-Watt Edinburgh Business School. That program worked out extremely well for me.

    PS: Geez, I just realized, I graduated in chemistry almost twenty-five years ago? And they now have a big new addition on Bagley Hall such that I hardly recognize it any more.....
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 17, 2006

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