RA MBA for $3000? Hellenic American University

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

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  1. smartdegree

    smartdegree Active Member

    There's no data available for Hellenic American. They're not in any database that I've seen (e.g. College Scorecard also shows salaries, but Hellenic American is not there).

    I just checked College Scorecard and the median salary one year after graduating from the Georgia Southwestern's masters (business fields) is:
    $52,941

    https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/fields/?139764-Georgia-Southwestern-State-University

    These are official numbers from the Department of Education and linked to Tax Returns.

    For some reason, Hellenic American is nowhere in the Department of Education's College Scorecard website. I wonder why.
     
  2. smartdegree

    smartdegree Active Member

  3. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Is that 50k$ gross or disposable?
    At this point I'm at 50k$ gross but only at 30k$ disposable, so my goal would be to get around 75k$ gross post-graduation.
    Is that unrealistic?
     
  4. smartdegree

    smartdegree Active Member

    It's gross according to the website.
     
  5. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Still rooting for acceptance into the imsm but they are very competitive so best to not hope too much I guess.
    Their secretary contacted me regarding transfer credit I applied for. Does that mean anything for acceptance or is that completely separate and not an indicator?
     
  6. smartdegree

    smartdegree Active Member

    I don't really understand the Belgian job market. But if I lived there, I would seriously consider the local Belgian MBA programs. They might get you to where you want to be salary-wise.
    For example, Vlerick has $76K starting salaries.

    https://www.topmba.com/vlerick-business-school/full-time-mba

    An American MBA is best if you want to work in America. I think it's the same with any country.
     
  7. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Vlerick is much much much more expensive though.
    Currently their tuition is over 40k$.
    They are triple crown accredited though.
    Since I work for a US company an MBA from the US is much more beneficial for me.
    It heightens my credibility within the company and would have the American board of the company consider me much quicker for promotion.
    And GSW and HAEC are still much cheaper than Vlerick.
    There is little room for negotiating salaries here in BE.

    The average school leaver with a master degree earns 2600$ gross here.
    The average school leaver with a bachelor earns 2300$ gross here.

    In such cases it doesn't make sense to spend tons of k$ on a degree when it doesn't yield astronomic increases.

    I don't plan to stay in BE forever.
    I definitely want to get away from here.
    The Scandinavian countries sound like an option. The company has an office in Denmark and one in Sweden so that should work.
    The Scandinavian countries value US degrees a lot.
    Australia / Melbourne is also a destination I have looked into. We have an office there too.
    Aussies have a high living standard too and they value American education a lot too.
     
  8. smartdegree

    smartdegree Active Member

    Makes a lot of sense then.
     
  9. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    It's probably a good sign that you're not outright rejected, at the very least.
     
  10. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    I hope that the 5 references I provided will help somewhat.
    It's only a reference but it shows '' effort '' is being put in hopefully.
    And I did my best to write the essays as good as I could.
    So let's hope they soon make a decision.
    Been a week now.
     
  11. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Had a phone call of an hour with Dean Marieke Martin today.

    A really nice person who is very open to answer any concerns you may have and be totally open about everything.

    The tests are project-based and not proctored exams.
    You work with Harvard business review cases.

    Realistic time-line for the program is 1,5 to 2 years.

    She explained that students enrolled for the MBA are mid-30s mostly.

    When I asked about the reality of boosting my earnings 25k$+ after graduation, she mentioned that it would depend on work experience and quality of work. She had met Harvard graduates whose work she was not impressed with and she mentioned that I should look further than a degree in my goals but also build up the necessary work experience in the necessary companies.
    She has a biotechnology background herself.

    The Nashua degree gets accepted by companies around the American based companies.

    They have PhD holders enrolled for the MBA too.

    Most people who attend Hellenicamerican university are people who are already in the work field but need the master degree.

    She admitted to my concern of it not having AACSB the following :
    For smaller university colleges it will not create problems if you want to teach there, for fortune 500 companies the requirements are much harder.

    She put a lot of emphasis on the fact that the school, even in its online programs, values personal attention to the student a lot and values personal development a lot.

    We talked for an hour.

    She is also willing to draft a letter specifically mentioning that I have received a merit-based scholarship of 8000$, so that I could use it as an indirect credential with employers too.

    A really nice school.

    I could start 7th of June if I accept the offer.

    I would take business landscapes and marketing management as my first courses.

    My undergraduate degree was perfectly fine for acceptance by the way.
    My undergraduate diploma in business is on EQF6 and that is satisfactorily acceptable for admission into the MBA
     
  12. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I agree!

    From what I've seen so far, the class sizes are extremely small. It's nice to be known by name and to have such easy access to the professor.

    This is my impression so far, too. I'm so glad I jumped on the tuition deal.

    If you need/want a degree and it doesn't need to be from a big school with a famous name, HAUniv is a fine option.
     
    Futuredegree likes this.
  13. chris richardson

    chris richardson Active Member

    I am a student in the HAU MBA that learned about in sister forum.

    So far I have really enjoyed it.

    What it is not is a MBA that you will bang out like WGU. It is a more normal paced online MBA, other than online, there are opportunities to take guided study as well as the normal online format. For summer term I am doing one standard 7 week class with the zoom meetings (marketing) and another GS in Finance. My plan is to finish in a year and a half, started end March, so end summer next year would be great.

    It is personable, Think 3-4 people in your class in my last class the students really batted stuff around on our case studies in blackboard, and during the zoom classes. In fact last class, the students were busy talking and discussing and we went beyond scheduled time that was graciously permitted. Unlike say the classes at TESU online, as students we are building relationships, it's quite different. the Staff at HAU are simply awesome.
     
  14. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Hey,

    Thank you for this valuable testimonial.

    May I ask what you mean with '' an MBA that you will bang out '' when you referred to GSW?
    Is GSW more intensive than HAUniv?

    May I also ask where in your career you are at and what your reasons to enroll were?

    What would you say if someone's goal was to use the MBA in hopes of securing a teaching side job at a university college?


    Best regards
     
  15. chris richardson

    chris richardson Active Member

    By bang out like WGU, I meant doing in one or two terms at warp speed. The WGU competency model allows that.

    I looked a GSW, and live in Georgia, even driven past... I think the program wise, both are similar. You are paying more at GSW and they are programmatic. That said, GSW makes almost every list for cheapest AACSB online degree, if you are worried about potential employers that care about that, they are more than likely the type that also dislike "cheapest". HAU is unranked and unheard of. A potential employer will find a RA university with that has a US and an Greek campus. Sometimes, no reputation is better than cheapest, even with the current deal making HAU less expensive..that is a this year thing. It is very few employers that will see a difference between the two anyhow.

    I own my own company, with covid less travel than normal so doing school has been a thing. I banged out a TESU BSBA, everything, in 8 months and 3 days, and now the HAU MBA but not trying to rush, I went a bit overboard with BSBA in going fast. I am doing for me, it is not for employment.
     
  16. chris richardson

    chris richardson Active Member


    To give you an idea, here is the bio of our instructor for our upcoming Marketing management class. It's an impressive C.V. with solid academic and business chops. HAU, being a US but Euro University really has a global business outlook. The MBA program he ran at Assumption is ranked in top 25% nationally.

    ERIC DROUART BIO:



    I am a native of France. After receiving a Business Administration Diploma from the Institut de Préparation à l’Administration et à la Gestion (IPAG) in Paris, France, I came to the US in 1973 and attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA where I received two degrees, a BBA (Bachelor’s in Business Administration) with a concentration in Marketing Management in 1974 and a MSBA (Master’s of Science in Business Administration) in 1976.



    I was teaching at Assumption University since 2009 as an adjunct in the MBA Program. In 2011, I became full-time, as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Management and Marketing teaching courses in International Business, Advertising, and Strategic Management at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.



    Between 2014 and 2017, I was the Director of the Assumption MBA Program. I also managed the new accelerated MBA program for recent undergraduates and taught the practicum and mentoring courses in that program.



    I returned to full-time teaching in May of 2017 and was named Professor of Practice in August of 2018.



    I will retire from Assumption University effective June 30, 2021.



    I have been teaching at Hellenic American University since early 2019.



    Prior to Assumption, from 2009 to 2011, I was Associate Professor and Chair of the McCormick Division of Business at Southern Vermont College in Bennington, VT. I also taught between 2000 and 2009 at Rivier College (Now Rivier University) in Nashua, NH. I was the Chair of their Department of Business Studies from 2002 to 2005.



    Prior to my transition to academia in 2000, I had extensive international marketing and general management experience, including 15 years with New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb. I started with the company in 1984 as an International Marketing Research Manager and advanced to Director of International Business Development, VP for International Operations and VP for Franchise Management, with the last two positions based in Paris, France from 1994 to 1999 after the acquisition of a French pain medicine company called UPSA.



    For UPSA and Bristol-Myers Squibb, I led the company’s successful introduction of OTC pain relievers, cough/cold medicines and vitamins into Eastern Europe and Russia, oversaw the creation of two new subsidiary operations in Switzerland and Greece, and was involved in marketing and acquisition strategies in Europe.



    For Bristol-Myers Squibb, I also spent four years from 1986 to 1991 in Tokyo, Japan working in New Products and Business Development for a J.V. in OTC medicines, and had a one year (1993) short-term assignment in Italy for the transition management of a recently acquired Italian skin care company (Laboratori Guieu in Milano).



    I also had prior international marketing research experience with General Foods Corporation in White Plains, NY and Burke International Research Corporation in Cincinnati, OH, and New York City. I also worked for the Export Development Office at the French Consulate in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.



    I am the current president of the Nashua Richelieu Club, a French-speaking service club. I am also a member of the Multi-Cultural Connection Committee of Greater Nashua.
     
    Rachel83az and Maniac Craniac like this.
  17. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Georgia South-western University confirmed that they would never accept credits from a non-AACSB school ever.
    Same response from University of Illinois.
    I have to admit that I found out that AACSB accreditation is way more important than I thought it was.
    Other schools just reject your credits if they are bound to non-AACSB status.
    Bummer.
    Now I have received an acceptance letter from HAUniv and I get to hear everywhere that the MBA credits are not recognized by other schools. So this will likely also be an employers approach.
    So annoying.
    I have decided to turn the offer from HAUniv down.
    If the MBA doesn't have AACSB it will still not get me to where I want and settling is never a good idea.
    I think I have to stop trying to find substitutes like ENEB and HAUniv and just shoot for the best of the best and not look back.
    Now putting all hope on a favorable admissions decision for University of Illinois.
     
  18. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I don't think that follows at all. You shouldn't be trying to transfer credits anyway. You're going to the school to earn the credential. But do pick the school where you'll be proud to attend.
     
    Rachel83az likes this.
  19. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    That's the thing. I don't have a good feeling about HAUniv.
    I think it's a good school but thing is that you call tell that people know when you went '' discount '' schools. I thought people wouldn't care but they do.
     
  20. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    That makes sense. I wasn't planning on making the switch anyway, even though it was a tempting thought. HAUniv has been a good experience so far and I expect it to continue to be.

    The great majority of MBA programs don't have AACSB accreditation. I don't think that the great majority of MBA programs are useless or educatively weak.

    HAUniv isn't Wharton, it knows it isn't Wharton and it isn't pretending to be Wharton. It's the Honda Civic of business schools, and dont'cha know, I've been driving a Honda Civic for the past 10 years and I'm very happy with it.
     
    Rachel83az likes this.

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