Upper Iowa seems to have concentrations in its MBA program which will suit my future purpose. Does anyone has an experience with UIU's mba online program especially financial management?
I would be curious too, I've been spending the entire weekend going to the same page. Core requirements: BA/PA 505 Organizational Behavior 3 BA/PA 509 Theories of Leadership 3 BA 513 Financial Management 3 BA 528 Research Process and Design 3 BA 542 Managerial Statistics 3 BA 580 Entrepreneurship 3 Capstone BA 590 Research Semina 3 Total 21 Corporate Financial Management BA 507 Advanced Law and Ethics 3 BA 531 Financial Markets and Financial Strategy 3 BA 536 Derivatives and Risk Management 3 BA 537 Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures 3 BA 539 Regulatory Environment of Financial Management 3 BA 564 International Financial Management 3 Total 18 Same thing with Grand Canyon's Financial course but it seems that UIU has more financial courses and 39 units compared to 45 to 51 for GCU
I am currently enrolled in the MBA program at UIU with an accounting concentration. I have completed seven of the required 13 courses and this is the final week of my eighth course. Overall, I am enjoying the experience and the quality of the instruction is, in my opinion, exceptional. Online courses at UIU are on an eight week schedule with six terms per year. When one term ends, the next term begins the very next day. School weeks are on a Monday through Sunday schedule. The weeks used to be Thursday through Wednesday, but it was changed to the current schedule at the start of last term. In my opinion, admissions people at UIU are efficient and courteous. For the first term of enrollment, you will schedule your courses with the person who handled your admission request and transcripts, etc. Once you are in the program, you will be assigned to the MBA program advisor and he will approve all further courses. Your first term enrollment will have to be done over the phone, but all further enrollments can be done through the student portal at MyUIU. Enrollment opens for the next term about four weeks prior to the start of the term. Courses are typically limited to 15 students. The MBA core courses will usually fill by the start of the term, but the core courses are offered almost every term. Courses for the concentration are not always offered every term. Therefore, if you want to complete the degree in the shortest amount of time, you should look at the tentative schedules and plan accordingly. Interaction with other students and the instructors are done through an Internet newsgroup. Students are required to make at least two substantial posts to the course newsgroup four of the seven days each week. There is not a schedule for posting to the newsgroup other than the four out of seven day requirement. In other words, there is not a requirement for the student to be online between 5pm and 7pm, etc. In the MBA program, there are group assignments. Groups are usually designated by the instructor and are usually between three and five students. The complexity of the group assignments vary depending upon the course and the instructor. Groups interact within a special newsgroup folder for the group. Groups set their own schedule for how the requirements of the assignment are met as long as it is completed by a certain day. Work load for a course also varies depending upon the instructor and the course. The largest work load that I experienced was in Theories of Leadership. At the time, UIU required student participation five out of seven days each week and the instructor required that a post had to be at least 300 words and on topic in order to be counted as a substantial post. There were also two papers due each week that were to be APA formatted and the required length was between 1,500 and 2,000 words. The final paper for the course was required to be 2,500 to 3,500 words in length. All of the papers required at least five references, not including the course textbooks. The other courses have been significantly less writing intensive. All of the instructors have been knowledgeable and willing to help students. Most instructors will reply to student posts and help guide the conversations so it is easy to make posts about the subject. I only had one instructor that did not participate in the student discussions as often as I liked. I did not have any other problems in dealing with instructors. Overall, I have definitely enjoyed my studies at UIU. If an MBA from a small, regionally accredited school is satisfactory for your goals, then I recommend UIU.
