Hi all, I need some help deciding between getting an MBA from Frostburg University or Mount St. Mary's University. Mount St. Mary's University has IACBE accreditation. Frostburg University has AACSB accreditation. The Mount seems to have a better reputation than Frostburg. Does the accreditation matter that much? Master of Business Administration - Mount St. Mary MBA Home - Frostburg State University
My impression is that this is true -- in the western Maryland area. Outside of that area, neither school has much name recognition or reputation. If you plan to use your degree in the western Maryland area, then Mount St. Mary's superior local reputation could well be more important than its professional accreditation. In that corner of the world, it is common knowledge that "the Mount is a good school". On the other hand, the relative merits of AACSB vs IACBE as specific forms of professional accreditation are probably not common knowledge. But let's say you move away to (for example) California, where both schools are essentially unknown. In that case, the fact that Frostburg State has AACSB accreditation would give it automatic credibility: "I've never heard of Frostburg State, but it's AACSB so it must be fine". IACBE accreditation, by itself, does not have the same weight (in my subjective opinion). So the answer may depend, in part, on where you plan to use the MBA degree. As you go farther from western Maryland, local reputation matters less, and professional accreditation matters more.
Thank you for your response CalDog. I am mostly concerned about getting the best education as I can. Regionally, Mount St. Mary's is ranked at #20 and Frostburg at #125 for their undergrad programs. I have no idea if I will stay in this area. Do employers ask about accreditation? Or do they just care that you have a degree from a legitimate university (you have three letter behind your name, MBA)?
At the undergraduate level, Mount St. Mary's has both higher admissions standards and higher graduate rates than Frostburg (data from College Navigator). For example, only 22% of Frostburg students who started in 2007 graduated in 4 years; at the Mount, the number was 61%. I don't know if there are similar differences at the MBA level, but it wouldn't surprise me. So my guess would be that the Mount does offer a better education (note that this is just a guess, based on zero personal experience). Define "legitimate". In some situations, it means AACSB. For example, you apparently have some familiarity with the US News rankings, because you looked up the regional rankings of both schools at the undergraduate level (incidentally, Frostburg is currently at #135 in the Regional North ranking, not #125). So have you looked at the US News business school rankings? If you do, you'll find that the Mount isn't even listed. Why not? Because US News feels that only AACSB schools are worth ranking. Similarly, there are some top companies and consulting firms that are only going to recruit at AACSB schools. But does the "average" employer care about AACSB? Probably not. Even the ones that do care about AACSB are probably mostly interested in recruiting from the top programs, like Ivy League schools or flagship state universities -- not Frostburg State. If you check the US News business school rankings, you'll see that Frostburg is included -- but it's in the lowest "unranked" category.
Cal Dog is right! In the long run what will matter more is what you've done once you get your degree. Mount St. Mary sounds like the better of the two.
