Aspen University added 3 more MS programs

I am not sure if Aspen University has had these MS programs in the past. Today I noticed they added 3 more programs to their Master list:

MSIT: School of technology - Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT)

MSIS: School of Technology - Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS)

MSIM: School of technology - Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM)

Honestly, I don't know what the difference is between them all in the real world. All I know is that I have to do more reading about which program to join before 9/1/10.

BTW, for those who wonder, you need to pay before 9/1/10 first (not submit your paperwork)

 

These offerings were there when I signed up so they have apparently put them back.

I was a little concerned to see only one MS in Technology degree on their site because I want my degree to reflect the program that I chose when I enrolled (MSIM). Glad to see them back.

 

Woo Hooo...good for them.

 

Aspen University has offered these degrees in the past, quite a long time ago, in fact... I actually considered the MSIS at one point about four (?) years ago to refresh my programming skills from earlier in my career; my first job out of college was fixing the Y2k problem in 1982, which we called the "six digit date problem." These IT / IS degrees at Aspen always seemed like a strong value because of the skills you would walk away with...

 

How well is a DETC degree accepted in the IT world?

 

It seems like a field that is proliferated with NA degrees. ITT Tech for example hold a form of accreditation that I believe is not as widely accepted by many schools, but that of course is a debate for another day.

Is just me or is Aspen a little above other DETC schools (except AJU )? I mean they hold programmatic accreditation for more than one degree program.

 

IT is a field that is more about skills than fancy degrees. I have seen people working as tech support with a MS and people as CIOs with Associates degrees. Most of these programs are geared towards non IT people wanting to get into the job market so the MS makes sense as it is faster than a BS but employers don't really see much of a difference from the salary perspective.

I cannot say for sure but my experience says that few employers would bother to ask if the degree is DETC or RA unless it is a teaching position. I believe most employers would look at the experience and skills and just look for the degree as a check mark so the Aspen degree would work for practical purposes.

 

If that's the case, it's a fantastic deal for someone wanting to advance in an IT field.

 

No, you are correct. Aspen was the first DETC school to get programmatic accreditation for it's nursing program. They are constantly pushing the envelope with Dr. Lady at the helm. I will tell you something, it gives me great pride to be an Aspen grad. I proudly display my Aspen University sticker on the back window of my sweet MBZ. I went to a party Saturday in Newport Coast. The beemers, benz and Jags had UCLA, USC and other types of stickers on their cars, and you know what? They had nothing on me baby!!!

Hold on to your seats folks, Aspen is JUST getting started. With my good friend (he is like a brother to me) Dr. Lady at the helm, the possibilities are endless.

Abner

 

Let's see the pic of your ride!!

 

Hey Abner, being close to Dr. Lady, do you think Aspen will go RA? If so, how soon?

 

I don't want to see it. It will make me hate my worn out PT Cruiser.

 

One example is a person that started with me at the now defunct Lehman Brothers, Bridgette O'connor. We started as SA's out of AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1991, she has an AAS in Computer Science. Bridgette went on to be Lehman Brothers CIO and is currently CTO at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation. Lehman was quite educentric, I recall a couple of SA's working on their PhD at Colombia. My boss got his graduate degree at Princeton. An AAS from Middlesex County College seemed to trump all the Ivy Leaguers.

 

I drove a purple PT for a long time. I thought it was a great car, it just was beat down and I had to get a new one.

 

Mine's pretty beat down now. But I'm totally out of debt, so I don't want to take out a loan for a new one. I'll drive the PT until it dies.

Thread hijacker...sorry.

 

Will do. I will block out the LP's, and take a shot from the back so you could see the Aspen sticker. I had the sticker made in red, so it looks really cool against the black background.

I will try to do it this weekend. This week is gonna be mega crazy, I can already feel it. Oy vey!

Abner

 

Dave and I keep shop talk out of our friendship. He is a high level executive (President), and I do not ask him about his business dealings. I do know he has many "out of the box" type business strategies in mind to benefit the greater good. Things to enable the common man to obtain education and not be shut out. The vision is to have Americans, and therefore the American workforce have a fighting chance against outsourcing and insourcing. If we do not keep our workforce educated at a price they can afford, we might as well kiss our American lifestyle goodbye. This is just the harsh reality. In my own opinion, the beginning of the end started with Reagan union busting. But that is just my opinion.

When Dr. Lady mentioned this (helping the common man) in that US News and World article, and he means it. While he is a gifted businessman, he always has heart and compassion. A few weeks ago when I thought Simon said something doubtful about Dr. Lady's intentions, I snapped and called him an asshole. Though I did apologize, I still feel really bad about that. Simon has very good knowledge to share. I had forgotten that he and I agreed on several points in the past.

Gotta go,

Abner

 

Even for teaching, the Aspen IS/IT MS degrees would certainly get your foot in the door at most community colleges and probably many other small four year colleges as an adjunct teacher; you see, somebody qualified has to teach these courses, folks with management / HR degrees just aren't prepared. Experience and skills are really important for teaching information technology and these programs would certainly round out anyone with some of the requisite experience.

 

I'm in the MSIM program. I like it. The courses are very varied and most importantly to me do not have a programming element to them.

The program itself does lean more towards a career as a consultant but consultants are not project managers so the course selection is a little odd. Exposure to project management and understanding where it fits into the whole picture is fine but the program has two courses in Project Management and students must learn and use Microsoft Project. I don't think those courses should be part of this program but that of a Project Management degree program.

I wish the technologies concentration had more selections like network security and things like that.

All in all though, I like the program. The only thing I would change is to increase the independent courses to 12 weeks. Eight modules in 10 weeks is a short time for busy working adults.

 

Since when are consultants not project managers? At the company I work for (major N.E. pharma company), the majority of the IT consultants are project managers. I believe that this is fairly common across many industries. I doubt that this arrangement is unique to pharma.