RA MBA for $3000? Hellenic American University

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by Acolyte, Jan 28, 2021.

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  1. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I couldn't either- that's why I enrolled! I had my mind and heart set on a particular degree from a particular school that I thought was perfect for me. However, the chance to get an MBA for 1/3 the cost of what I was planning on paying for the other degree was too good to let pass. Still, that's not the whole story. Dustin brings out an excellent point that shouldn't be overlooked.

    Money is one thing, but we're also giving up hundreds of hours of our time when we pursue degrees. What is one's time worth?

    For me, this degree is not just for personal growth and/or resume boosting, although it certainly is both. It's also an enjoyable way to occupy my time during this time of uncertainty where I'm restricted in my ability to socialize, partake in recreation and travel.

    I was planning on going for a Master's degree anyway, but the combination of that amazing low price and the hole in my life that I wanted to fill with something enjoyable and engaging made it a no-brainer.

    If you have better ways to occupy yourself than I do, then you might not want to bother with this degree. If not, then it may be worth a shot :emoji_nerd:
     
    TeacherBelgium likes this.
  2. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    I have an equivalency certificate from Naric that shows my previous MBA is equal to an advanced bachelor.
    I also have my associate degree in legal studies.
    The postgraduate diploma in taxation is also in (that's EQF7).
    So these could make a strong case.

    I also started working for an American company meanwhile.
    In a legal role.
    So that may make a strong case too?

    Yes, I'm worrying where I will find the time because I'm working 40 hours a week already but still, maybe I can deduct it from my taxes as necessary for my job regarding the price tag.
    The time is another problem.
    I can say for sure that my employer is not going to give me time off to study. My employee contract strictly mentions that we can't do anything except company tasks during the office hours. My employer also wouldn't pay for it, I'm very sure of that too. We have a very complicated expense reporting system where everything we bring in as costs has to be 100% related to the job immediately.

    If after a year of hard work I would end up with a degree that didn't make a difference, I think I would be pretty upset.

    I'll have to think some more about those things.



    Oh by the way, the dean is a woman. I see that everyone here thought she was a man. Marieke is a common Dutch name. That's her first name. Martin is her family name.

    She said that as I'm in Europe but work for a US based company she could bring me in touch with a career advisor and a strong alumni network consisting of Greek and American students.
    Maybe a sales pitch but maybe a golden trick to get up in my career?
    Could be either.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2021
  3. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Decided to apply.
    Included my undergraduate transcripts and my graduate transcripts in application.
    If unsuccessful for admission, I will apply to the MBA of UoP even though that last one is not my first choice.
    I want an American degree.
     
    Futuredegree and Maniac Craniac like this.
  4. Futuredegree

    Futuredegree Well-Known Member

    you may have a better change with Hellenic American University as they usually accept foreign degrees and they have campuses in Greece. The program is online in New Hampshire and if you complete the degree you will receive a diploma for the US location.
     
  5. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    I handed in my application in the night of Thursday on Friday last week.
    Still no answer.
    I'm worried.
     
  6. Thorne

    Thorne Active Member

    Why be worried?
    I'll probably enroll if they'll transfer in my accounting courses
     
  7. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Because a week is abnormally long to give someone a decision on admission.
    Normally it takes a day or two or something.
    So doubt I will ever get an answer.
     
  8. Thorne

    Thorne Active Member

    Nah, I saw some people on one of the forums talking about it taking 2-3 weeks. HAU seems to be a bit slow on the draw is all.

    If they never get back to you, that's just unprofessional. It's not Harvard we're applying for, after all :)
     
  9. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    It took John’s Hopkins about 3 weeks and Duke about 5 weeks before I got admissions decisions. A lot of schools take several weeks to get back with an admissions decision.
     
  10. Futuredegree

    Futuredegree Well-Known Member

    I got the deans email if you private message me and I got admissions email
     
  11. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    I know :-(
    Maybe I'm too impatient.
    I'm just not the type of person that can wait patiently for a month before hearing something.
    Patience comes with age they say, so hopefully as I get older I will be more patient.
    For now I will wait patiently for an email I guess.
     
    JoshD likes this.
  12. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    The main reason for me for wanting a regionally accredited MBA from the US is because I work for an American company and I want to climb up to an executive function over the course of the next 20 years.
    I'm currently 25 and when I'm 45 or thereabouts I want to be in an executive function.
    I know that no one can predict the future and that degrees might not even matter anymore in 20 years from now, but looking with today's societal vision to the future I think an American degree from a credible institution might help me move my career forward.
    The thing is that people here in Belgium are not really impressed with US degrees because we live in a country where people look more at the title of the course on the degree than they look at the school you attended. I think the US is quite different there because over there it seems to be vice versa.
    But I see myself moving away from Belgium because salaries are horribly low here because we live in a social security system that was based on the Beveridge ideology while the US is more based on the Bismarck ideology when it comes to health insurance.
    So I want to move to a country with 1) good health insurance 2) high salaries. 3) more of a capitalist mindset than a communist mindset.
    So if I want to make an international career for myself I think it's best to have an American degree from a credible institution and if I were to move to let's say a Scandinavian country then I would have more employment chances with an American degree than with a Belgian degree.

    Also, the Isabel I MBA I obtained was less impressive than I thought it would be. It gets accepted as a real degree but from a school in the middle of nowhere.
    And with MBAs it's the prestige attached to it that matters more than the content itself.
    The Hellenicamerican University demands students attend real virtual classes, which gives the feeling of being in a real program and developmentally I feel that that is still better than having to process all the subject matter on your own.
    For a long time I thought that a fully self paced degree held no disadvantages over a fully classed based one, but you need at least some exchange of visions with classmates to gain the wisdom and maturity that go along with the field you want to graduate in. Just the knowledge won't do.
    That's something I realized only recently. For a long time I thought you could pump yourself full of knowledge on your own, make the exams, write tonnes of papers and disregard any group activities that go along with the degree. But then you graduate with an '' in vitro knowledge model '' of what your work field would look like. Whereas if you partake in lots of group activities you graduate with an '' in vivo package of knowledge '' where you truly know what awaits you when in the work force for that particular field.
    I believe that stuff like hands-on-projects and classical intervisions will always result in more wisdom than being on your own and trying to regurgitate subject matter that you even wonder about what use it will eventually have.
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2021
  13. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I've since found out that there is not as much of a commitment to live virtual classes as it had first seemed. My advisor has mentioned that some courses will be asychronous and some courses will have minimal- possibly 2 or 3- live sessions per class. This sounds like a good balance for me. I still get to enjoy some live classes, but I also have plenty of extra time to get my assignments done. For seven week classes, I'm going to need as much wiggle room as possible in order to not fall behind if and when things outside of school drag me down. Also, the syllabuses are generally available a few weeks before a class starts, which should allow me a chance to read ahead and do some note taking during my "off" weeks. I'm trying to use these opportunities as a "buffer". If I find myself slowing down during a course, I can land back at same point that I would have gotten to anyway had I not been ahead.
     
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  14. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I hate asynchronous classes so much. I mean, I like the interaction, but I hate being tied down to a schedule like that. My life is really busy and I need to be able to do no work for a week and then catch up on Saturdays!
     
  15. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Can't wait to hear what the admission decision is.
    Many years ago (7 years) I studied business for the first time. I got an undergrad degree at that time with a GPA of 2.33 which is not so great.
    I have always left it out of my cv and never mention it so that I don't have to show my transcripts.
    For my admission to American hellenic University I listed it because I thought that if they later found out I left it out I could get sanctioned.
    So I listed my associate's degree in law undergrad with a GPA of 3.0
    I listed my diploma of higher education in business with a GPA of 2.33
    I listed my postgraduate in tax with a GPA of 3.2
    I listed the Isabel I degrees which would translate to 4.0 GPAs.

    I am so nervous for the higher education diploma in business that dates back from 7 years ago. A GPA of 2.33 is considered bad in the US and enough reason to be rejected from what I understand.

    I hope they will consider the entire picture and not just that one diploma.
    I was 18 and doing two jobs at that time and chronically tired.
    It was just a bad period in my life.
    I hope that that won't be the reason for an admission refusal.
    I'm so extremely nervous about what they will decide.
     
  16. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    I want to clarify though that my grade was 74% for that diploma and this was considered equal to a 2.33 GPA.
    Not sure if you use the same grading scale in America but from what I read 74% is a bad grade in US colleges?
     
  17. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    You're not the same person you were all those years ago and universities understand that. It's not like you just graduated, and you're showing a pattern of increasing academic success. I wouldn't worry about the impact of that credential from all those years ago on the admission decision, especially considering you have more recent education in the same field (PG in tax, Isabel I degree) where you did much better.
     
  18. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    This depends on where it was earned. A 74% in Canada is equivalent to a 2.0 but in the British or Indian system that is a 4.0.

    This scale says ECTS 74% is equivalent to a B, or a 3.0 GPA. https://www.scholaro.com/pro/Countries/Belgium/Grading-System
     
  19. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Hmm I hadn't considered the country differences.
    Do you think that they will take it as the American 2.33 equivalent or that they will translate it from the context of a European country?
    Should I maybe make them aware of that myself or is that going to come over wrongly?
    I don't want this stupid diploma to ruin everything while my other diplomas were earned with higher GPAs.
    But maybe if I write them to clarify it, it will make things even more weird.
     
  20. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    If it were me, I would wait until they say something if they're going to, then you can appeal. It may not come up at all and they may just grant you admission, but if you write to them you might be drawing attention to something they're already not looking at it. But, do what feels right!
     

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