Assistance with a bit of a quandry

Hello all,

I'm a new poster here and I thought I would seek advice from you after exploring some of the other posts on this site. By way of background, I am a twenty-six-year-old professional working for a large law firm in New Mexico. I have nearly eight years of experience as a paralegal in commercial litigation and recently started assuming administrative responsibilties. I completed approximately two years of undergraduate education at New Mexico State University, maintaining a 3.75 GPA while taking a full twelve credit hour courseload and working.

My circumstances changed a year ago with the birth of my daughter, at which time I stopped attending NMSU. I recently discovered Edinburgh Business School (Heriot-Watt University) and I am weeks away from purchasing my first courses (OB and Accounting).

A while back, I also applied for the BSc in Politics and IR through the University of London International Programmes. I'm torn between the MBA offered by Heriot-Watt or the BSc offered by UoL with academic direction from LSE.

The utilitarian side of me says the MBA would be more immediately beneficial to me, while the BSc is something of a luxury at this point in a subject I love. I know it is an apples to oranges comparison, but any guidance or input you have would be appreciated.

 

Go for both!

 

I wish I had money for both! On top of which, I think it would be a tad difficult to undertake two programs at the same time.

 

So you currently have no degree and are interested in pursuing the MBA? It might would seem strange to future employers, already skeptical of distance learning, for someone to have an advanced degree with no undergrad, especially from a foreign school. It isn't something that happens very often in the US.

For us here it is obviously a great program but on paper it might seem strange. If neither is going to get you a raise, go with the one you are more likely to finish.

 

If you live in the USA why study in the UK? - In my opinion UK courses are more difficult to pass because they are mostly exam based courses, whereas courses in the USA generally include quizzes, papers, and exams. To me that makes USA exams less stressful.

Have you checked out the distance degrees offered by Excelsior College, Thomas Edison State College (TESC), and Charter Oak State College (COSC)? You can complete almost all your course requirements by taking courses at any regionally accredited school and transferring them in. Or you can earn credit by passing CLEP and DSST exams.
This approach should minimize the costs of earning a degree.

In my opinion the Excelsior BS in Liberal Studies is the most flexible degree in the USA because you have 59 units of electives to choose from including professional courses. In my case these electives are mostly engineering and business courses earned at around a dozen schools in the USA and UK. In your case (working for a law firm) you could include business, law, insurance, or other courses related to your career.

 

+1 on Ian's comment. So many inexpensive options so why UK?

 

JBjunior: "It might would seem strange to future employers, already skeptical of distance learning, for someone to have an advanced degree with no undergrad, especially from a foreign school. It isn't something that happens very often in the US."

John: Disagree. For nine years, I was the US representative for the Heriot-Watt MBA for the US and for Canada (1991-1999), at which time I sold my marketing business to Pearson. During those nine years, the MBA program went from zero to become the largest MBA of any kind in the US and in Canada. Larger (at the time) than U of Phoenix. Because we had concerns up front about the things JBjunior mentions -- distance learning, non-US school, and especially no-Bachelor's-required -- we paid very close attention to the first 1,000 people who signed up. Out of those 1,000, the acceptance rate by their employers -- business, academia and government -- was more than 99%, including more than 70 of the Fortune 100 companies. Most accepted it automatically because of the reputation and/or because the University has its 6-digit approval number from the US Dept of Education. Others asked some questions or did some research before accepting it.

As it happens, I visited the Edinburgh Business School last summer (in Edinburgh, of course). I was tremendously impressed. It is the most impressive business school building I've seen (and I've been to Harvard, Wharton, Haas, Judge, and others). And (I thought this was neat), they have recently bought the Edinburgh house where Adam Smith lived and worked, and are spending a good deal of money to restore it and turn it into an international centre for economic research.

Best wishes in your quest.

John Bear, Ph.D.
Bear's Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning
(over 500,000 copies in print)

 

Thank you all for the input. I opted for the MBA, owing to my employer's willingness to recognize the MBA as a qualification for entry into firm administration. I conducted a lot of independent research and agree with Dr. Bear that the program is well-respected the world over. I'm very excited to be studying for this degree

 

Thank you Dr. Bear for the information.

 

An MBA is a great career choice for you and one that adds a great amount of value to your work potential. If you haven't checked out graduate schools in Boston, I recommend looking into schools in the area. I attended school near Boston and it was a great choice for my career as lots of companies are located in the area. Best of luck!