Peru State MSOM vs Taft MBA Entrepreneurship

Both of these schools appeal to me on different levels. My real interest is entrepreneurship, no doubt about it. I currently am self employed and feel that if my long term future. I'd love to continue to develop new companies and possibly get into consulting in the future. I tend to get bored without new projects going. I like to keep busy with many things and stay involved with the community.

Right now I own a company, I am the head of football operations and coach football at a private school (I've been offered a gig teaching one class per day in bible or entrepreneurship) and I volunteer at my church for projects developing various programs (large church). So, I like doing lots of stuff and would like to keep it that way. I also have interest in looking into developing a multi-sport complex in the town that I live in.

Having said all of that, I think that both programs would be a possible fit. I like the idea of having a MBA for consulting but it's not RA so that's a consideration. Peru State has a nice degree for people looking at private and community development.

I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts on this.

 

Bumpity. I'd love to hear opinions on this.

 

Hedge your bets --- go with Peru, RA v. NA : Any difference in cost will be a minor factor given the marketability of the two degrees. This is simply my opinion, others my differ.

 

Taft University is not regionally accredited, so if you're debating which university to select, then I'd recommend Peru State University. It offers more opportunities in the future.

 

Here's the list of Get educated.com's MBA's - you can grab an RA MBA for under 10K...

http://www.geteducated.com/profiles/search/online-MBA&SS=Search%20by%20Level%20%3E%20Online%20MBA

 

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here I guess. I should caveat my advice by saying I work in private industry, not in academia. With that said I firmly believe that your major trumps your school's accreditation (as long as it's GAAP accredited which DETC is). The MBA is far more marketable than a MAOM for a few reasons:

1.) Generally an MBA denotes a common understanding of what courses you actually took. An MAOM? Anyone's guess.

2.) The MBA is commonly understood as a broad based, cross functional, management degree. The MAOM? May suffer somewhat in the cross functional aspect.

3.) The MBA is a searchable term for online applicants filtered through automated systems (like my company uses). The MAOM? Doubtful.

A few other reasons I like the MBA for you is Taft's program seems to best fit your needs in entrepreneurship and even consulting. If you are a self employed consultant you might find more of your business through referrals and publications rather than blind "fishing" for qualified consultants. My company hires consultants and speakers several times a year and with the exception of some technical consultants we generally use white papers, articles and referrals for vetting talent. Knowing your stuff is the single most important aspect and trumps all others. I think an MBA would expose you to quite a bit more in the areas of quantitative methods, strategic thinking and hard business skills that are so in demand. Not to diminish the importance of soft skills, they are also very important but it's hard to say whether an MAOM or MSM, etc. would also provide you those skills. Nothing trumps experience though...

Lastly when sorting through applications (which my company has done as a group) we are comfortable with business degrees we recognize, like the MBA or majors in computer science or accounting. The MSM, MAOM, BS in Management stuff is a little "iffy" when we have more concrete, traditional business function or cross functional majors to work with. It may not be fair...but in standing in the graduation line at Ashford University one of the MAOMs was commenting how their program was the same as ours and wondered why they had different hoods. I replied "because MBAs can do math" noting the complete lack of quantitative methods their program had. Everyone laughed but it was so funny because it was brutally true...in a way.

Food for thought.

 

In addition to Peru State; another Nebraska state college:

Wayne State College (RA /IACBE): online MBA ($7500)
30 Credit Hour Program | MBA | WSC

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm really glad that I am getting differing views.

Honestly, I am not a numbers crunching guy. It's not really my talent or desire. I see entrepreneurship differently than some, I think. I'm more focused on marketing, operational and practical strategies. I have been successful at identifying niches and attacking them. I believe that anyone with a burning desire can do this if they are inclined to hard work. I'd like to somehow (no idea how yet) help people see that it is possible to reach higher goals and dreams.

Friendorfoe, I think that your comment was pretty funny and spot on. I can do math but I'd rather not, lol. I prefer to let people who are gifted at that do it if at all possible. However, I supposed it wouldn't hurt me to better round my skills in that area.


Eeeeeh....I'm still on the fence! Maybe I should do both!?

 

I would pick an MBA from an RA school. That would look best to employers and customers/clients. Other aspects of business such as marketing and entrepreneurship you can learn on your own or include in your MBA thesis/project if offered. I've never heard of an MSOM and I've been around a long time.

 

Thanks Ian. I'm a little surprised that you've never heard of that degree. I don't really think that is that rare.

 

Although an MBA from a RA school "might" be better for "some" employers, unless you find a comparably priced MBA with the same type of entrepreneurial focus, I'd go with Taft. Accredited is accredited as far as most employers go and having an area you are interested in that you can learn applied skills to develop is more important than the minute differences in accreditation, especially if you are or will be self-employed. Getting an MBA is hard enough without introducing a bunch of study in areas you see no real world relevance to what you do. The Taft program seems pretty focused, which I like.

As for numbers crunching…I hate it but I can do it. My first job after getting my MBA in my “then” new career was performing statistical analysis and developing an executive summary for an IT Department. In short, it sucked. But that is exactly the kind of thing you will occasionally run across and the ability to fill that role is critical. If you plan on consulting, you’d better be able to speak to the financial and strategic business terms used in higher level business conversations and not just understand conceptually but also know if some of the numbers you are provided with even make sense. Being able to perform various methods of cost benefit analysis, figuring ROI, NPV, seeing opportunity cost, etc. are critical management conversations and ones that study in a typical MSM or MAOM or MSOM will not prepare you for.

Rounding out your skill set is always a good thing. And for the record, I rarely am asked to do any type of financial or statistical analysis any longer; it was just a phase I worked through in my career. I hate doing it and wouldn’t do it for a living but if I have to on an ad hoc basis, I can and I will, especially as it lends itself to executive decision support.

 

And all the Fortune 100's to 500's with tuition reimbursement benefits willingly and knowingly pay for employees taking NA classes. Cardinal Health actually states on its tuition reimbursement form that the school must be 'accredited', with no other stated qualification.

 

Thanks, man. Lots of good stuff for me to think about.

I noticed that the Peru degree included study design and data collection as well as Statistical methods and Data analysis.

Graduate Programs - Organizational Management - Peru State College

 

I saw that too, however it looks like it is not "applied" towards strategic thinking, etc. Maybe the applied aspect is implied in the course in "data analysis" but there is still a distinct and noticable lack of anything related to finance or accounting which as far as I am concerned are paramount topics for anyone serious about management. Trust me I didn't used to think this way but after running through a few budget cycles I've come to the conclusion that managers who cannot back up their decisions with strategic financial thinking or who cannot manage a budget, are doomed to failure despite how good their soft skills may be.

 

I agree that gaining those skills will help me and I'm certainly willing to listen to one who is now a believer due to their experience.

Doomed might be a strong word since I have been involved in the successful start-up of 3 companies. One of them is working towards going public. One of them I currently own and operate.

Having the practical experience is a powerful tools as well. I've worked harder than any education I have to gain positive tracktion. Still though, I'm not too good to be corrected. I'm sure that my viewpoints will change, as they should, with further education. Everyone has leaning towards their giftings. The most successful will sharpen the dull edges and become better rounded, which is what you are saying.

 

Chadron State is another Nebraska school...they offer a RA MBA that is pretty affordable (comparable to the cost of the Peru State degree). Master of Business Administration - Graduate Studies - Chadron State College Eastern New Mexico also offers an RA MBA, if you go part time they extend in state tuition to you, total tuition should be less than $8K...more than Taft, but cheap enough to be pay as you go and RA. ENMU is also ACBSP accredited. http://business.enmu.edu/mba/online/index.shtml I know some champion the NA degree, and I'm glad it works for them, but I just don't see having to justify the difference for such a small amount of money.

 

"Doomed" is a harsh term but I have seen countless hours of frustration surrounding incompetent financial and budgetary management. I work next to a CPA so I hear our organization's horror stories on a daily basis and I've sat through a budget meeting where someone was called on their numbers on the first slide of what was supposed to be a one hour presentation. The sad part is everything else in the deck was based on these erroneous numbers. I squirmed in my seat out of discomfort for the poor guy, talk about a long, drawn out beating.

Anyhow you already have business savvy to say the least. The fact that you have so much entrepreneurial experience is and will continue to be your biggest asset. The applied MBA skills will probably just help you to learn a few new tools for your skill set and sharpen a few others. I am used to working in a large, national financial concern which tends to be very risk adverse and political in nature (as well as highly visible). As such I am used to working within a "system" of what more closely resembles "big business" or "corporate America". Honestly I wouldn't hate getting my hands dirty in the world of small business, maybe someday. But I went to school to get a big corporate job using my MBA and I got exactly what I wished for...for good or bad.

 

I might be a disaster in a large corporation after years away from it. I tend to be rebellious and impatient when I feel I can fix things that are out of whack.

lol, I might be unemployable at this point.

 

I doubt it. I hide my frustrations in the only socially acceptable way I have found...through humor and biting sarcasm. Good thing for me I'm funny (at least in person) because often the people I'm most pissed at are laughing the hardest when I tell them exactly how effed up they are.