U.Buffalo Mini MBA

It depends. How long did your Tulane certificate take you to complete? More than 1 day? I just looked at the Tulane program and it appears to be fairly in depth, especially if you get 6 or 9 credits for it. The University of Buffalo mini-MBA can be completed in 8 1/2 hours! I could sit down right now, pay my money and have a mini-MBA before I eat dinner tonight. That seems more like a cashcow for the school than a good thing for students. Granted, it IS good for the school but I think the name is a little misleading and might end up suckering students into paying for something that really doesn't benefit them all that much.

 

I'm not angry at all. It's your money, it doesn't matter to me how you spend it. I was just offering my opinion based on my experience looking at oodles of resumes as a manager/director in several large dot.com companies. The name mini-MBA looks nice on the resume but if someone tried to tell me that they have a business education based on an 8 1/2 hour non-credit certificate, I'd question their judgment and ethics.

If you pass it off as nothing more than a continuing ed certificate then I'd be OK with it. If you try to pass it off as some sort of advanced, post bachelors education in Business, I'd toss your resume.

 

I meant to ask, did you at least get a good looking certificate from them? I'm curious to see what it looks like.

 

Well, somehow, having a real MBA, I wonder why the word "master" is used in the title of something that is not nearly as lengthy as a master's degree. Given that it is mini, I'm wondering how mini it is.

 

I also have to wonder if the title mini-MBA actually hurts someone that lists it on their resume. I can imagine that those with real MBAs that took 3 years of their life away from their career might not look too kindly on someone listing a mini-MBA on their resume that took a fraction of the time.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the program the OP did was a waste of time. If he learned something then it was worth it. UofB should probably rename the certificate to something without MBA in it, however.

 

yep, now if I could find that elusive mini PhD I'd be in good shape...

 

Laugh now but as soon as a school figures out that there is a market for a mini-PhD, they'll be all over it. Give it time. $$$

 

I also have an MBA and, because of all my book-learnin', I don't wonder at all why the word "master" is used in the title. It sells.

I mentioned this on another thread at the other board, but when I took the Tulane program the constituent certificates all had "MBA" in the title. Now they are, more appropriately, named for the business fundamentals that they include in the curriculum. The last certificate, which used to be called "MBA Management Fundamentals" is now called a certficate in "Advanced Management Strategy". I will sometimes include just this certficate on my resume (under Certification and Training, not Education) using the new name because it sounds much cooler and more clear than "Master Certificate".

 

Interesting discussion. This is related to the other thread I started but check out this program at Villanova University:

http://www.villanovau.com/online-certificates/project-management.aspx

They offer a 4 course Master Certificate in Project Management. After you finish that, you can then earn an Advanced Master Certificate in Project Management. I can't even tell from their website if these are credit or non-credit. I suspect they are non-credit, NON graduate certificates. I don't think you need a bachelors degree to apply.

They sure picked names that seem awfully confusing to those that don't follow academia.

Sorry to derail the thread. Back to your regularly scheduled discussion of the mini-MBA.

 

non-credit. I have a coworker who completed the program to sit for the PMP.

 

ok so I spoke too soon, here's a mini-med school from Stonybrook....

and University of Washington and a mini law schoolfrom Emory

 

I don't think they give you a mini-MD at the end.

 

Some of the courses in the program can be taken for ACE credit, some cannot. This program is offered under the same umbrella organization as the Tulane program, Bisk Education. They also offer a wide array of continuing education for accountants. If you log onto ACE and look up credit recommendations by organization, you will find these programs and others listed under Bisk.

 

These names make these sound like graduate certificates but doesn't ACE only award undergraduate credit? I'm sure it's a great program that has benefit but the name of the certificates could have been better chosen.

 

No, ACE also awards graduate credit. Lots of it. Log on and see for yourself.

 

Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

 

What's with all these mini-schools?

 

You mean besides the fact that schools make $$$ off of people that like the idea of an MD, MBA or JD but don't actually want to do the work of a real one and just want the name?

 

I would surely hope that the people who enroll into any of these mini-<insert name> don't actually believe that completing a mini-ABC would entitle them to use a credential such as MD, MBA, JD or what have you...
but you never know......

 

People who pay for a degree mill PhD feel they have the right to claim they are a real PhD.