New member - About to start distance MS degree

Hello everyone!

I am new to this site and must say it is quite informative! I wish I would have found it years ago.

A little background about me; I just completed a BS from Southern Illinois University with their off-campus program. While it wasn't really distance education, the professors flew in to my location to teach me and my classmates on the weekends. After 3 years of weekends spent in a classroom, combined with transferred credit from various community colleges, I graduated with my BS.

While I am still contemplating, I am leaning towards pursuing a MS degree in Technology Management with the University of Maryland University College. I live in Maryland now, so I can take advantage of the in-state tuition which helps the cost substantially. I work in an engineering environment, and want to use this degree to further my education and market myself as a project/program manager. Does anyone think any other schools may be worth looking at for my purposes? I considered GWU's Engineering Management school, but UMUC's distance learning format and lower tuition costs appeal to me. I would love to hear anyone else's input.

Thanks for all the great information, and I look forward to discussing education opportunities with all of you.

 

I believe in that area that GWU has the better reputation. However, all of them are fine choices and I don’t think you can go wrong with that list. Good luck.

 

I agree with Dave. GWU has the reputation, but UMUC would also work. The only problem I see is with UMUC's reputation in Maryland. I also live and work in Maryland and I know UMUC's reputation in Maryland isn't that great.

There are other DL options in case you are interested. See the link below.

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

Southern Methodist University comes to mind. Take a look at what they offer.

http://lyle.smu.edu/academic/distance.html
http://lyle.smu.edu/files/Graduate_Degree_Summary.pdf

 

Thanks to both of you for your input. I've also heard things about UMUC not being as respected around this area, but I have also met quite a few people in government and in some of the big defense companies that have UMUC degrees and do well.

Alas, I am no longer in the military, so I can't take advantage of active duty discounts. I do have 17 months of benefits left on my GI bill. It is the sole funding I have for this degree, which is why I must choose wisely and thriftily. I am doing my best to stay away from student loans. I can't afford the GWU degree with the GI bill without taking out loans, unfortunately.

Another thing that has me leaning towards UMUC is that the price of tuition for a MS in Technology Management, and a MBA from UMUC in their dual degree format is the same price I would pay for the GWU Engineering Management degree. Has anybody done the UMUC dual degree option, or know anybody that has? I am curious to know the difference in quality of education from a "normal" MBA and the dual degree format MBA.

Thanks!

 

Southern Methodist University is expensive if you're not on active duty. Have you look at University of Denver? Also, you can afford GWU without the loan by waiting until they have BAH for tull-time on campus student. I had tried both schools, but I am still with SMU because the tuition break.

Not MS in Technology Management, but M.S in Management with Information System at Florida Institute of Technology is really good. Free admission for distance learning, your tuition can be breaken down into 3 different payments during the semester.

 

Can you provide a per credit range that you want to stay within? And since you mentioned you want to move in to project management I would recommend you think about whether a management degree or an MBA might not provide you with greater flexibility. If so, then you have more options.

Semper Fi

 

Florida Tech is an excellent option. If you are willing to go the information systems route, Dakota State University is really good and inexpensive.

http://www.dsu.edu/msis/

 

Regarding Project Management - I would recommend that you look into getting a PM cert through PMI (Project Management Institute). If you have either 1500 hours of PM experience, OR 23 hours of PM education, you can take the first PMI exam, CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management). This cert alone might land you an entry level PM gig. If you go the 23 hours of PM education route, you may complete the courses online. Just look for a vendor or school with PMI Registered Education Provider credential.

Later, once you have some real PM experience under your belt, you can sit for the PMP (Project Management Professional) exam. This is the industry standard certification for project managers.

Good Luck!

 

You may wish to look into UMBC Online MS in Information Systems degree. I think that there reputation is better than UMUC

 

I thought I would post an update to everyone who offered their advice to me.

I ultimately decided to go with UMUC. While I really liked what I saw and heard at an open house for GWU, the location is not convenient for me, and the tuition was just a bit more than I can afford. I'm not an IT professional, but I do work for a small company that has a severe need for a proficient project manager. I'm trying to fill the gap, and hopefully I learn things along the way that help me do so.

PMP certification also interests me, and it is good that UMUC's project management courses count toward the PMP training requirement. I am about ready to take an exam with ASQ for certification as a reliability engineer, and if I pass that I'm going to turn my focus on the CAPM cert.

I really appreciate everyone's input, and I'll let everyone know how things go with UMUC. If I get a bad taste in the first semester or two, I may reconsider my options. We'll see. Thanks again, everyone!

Steve

 

I'm considering taking the ASQ certification for reliability engineer (CRE) - the exam is open book but some of the questions are strange - in the opinion of some CREs the questions can have multiple answers, depending on your industry, but only one is correct.

The University of Maryland has an excellent, but very tough, MS in Reliability Engineering program that can be done by DL:
http://www.enme.umd.edu/grad/ms-req-reliability.html
I would hire someone with this degree over the other options you mentioned even for a non-reliability position.

 

..with the exception of it being affordable. At $712/crhr, this works out to $24,208.

 

I actually looked into UMD's reliability degree in December as well, and talked with Dr. Mosleh, a professor of the program. He told me that generally they don't accept graduates with non-engineering degrees, and to be considered I would have to correct some major deficiencies that would take me probably a year or more undergraduate engineering and mathematics classes just to be considered, even for the certificate version of that program.

However, reliability engineering is sort of a trade I fell into, rather than sought. Since I started with this company, we needed someone to do reliability, maintainability, and availability predictions for all our projects with military customers. Our EE's didn't have the experience or time to learn what needed to be done, and after paying consultants to do it in the past, to save the company money I volunteered to do some OJT and get some training. I went to ASQ's course in reliability two years ago, as well as the Relex course, and have been self-teaching ever since with the help of literature recommended by ASQ. It's not my main function in this company, nor would I want it to be, but I look at it as sort of a bullet on the resume. Couldn't hurt to have, but I don't want to change my career path for it. I'm just doing the certification as a sort of capstone to all the self study I've done in the last few years. I like the challenge of it.

Steve