Has anyone ever done a Capella MBA?

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by Acolyte, Aug 22, 2021.

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  1. smartdegree

    smartdegree Active Member

    Out of the options you mention, I would go with HAU primarily because I don't see any marginal benefit for you of attending the other schools. You might as well go with the lowest cost.

    On the other hand, that 30K tuition for OSU that you mentioned is a good deal (in-state tuition?) so if you can see yourself using that degree to boost your salary long-term by at least 30K, then that would be the best option. 30K divided by 20 years for example, is just 1.5K a year - can you at least get that type of increase over where you are currently by going OSU vs HAU? From a long-term ROI point of view, the OSU 30K ranked MBA program is a no-brainer knowing what OSU MBA grads make, but if you don't see yourself being able to utilize it e.g. you love your current job, then may as well go HAU.

    The median salary of an Ohio State MBA 10 years after graduating is $131K according to personal income tax records collected by the Census.
    https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/pseo_explorer.html?type=earnings&compare=postgrad&specificity=2&state=39&institution=00309000&degreelevel=07&gradcohort=0000-5&filter=50&program=52,45

    For LSU-Shreveport, they earn a median of $82K 10 years after graduating.
    https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/pseo_explorer.html?type=earnings&compare=postgrad&specificity=2&state=22&institution=00201300&degreelevel=07&gradcohort=0000-5&filter=50&program=52
     
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  2. Acolyte

    Acolyte Active Member

    Thanks. I'm 51 years old, I hope I'm not still working in 20 years, lol. I'm just trying to remain competitive for the last 10 years of my regular working life, and any credentialing I can achieve is an "insurance policy" of sorts.
    I don't think I could justify a $30K investment in that though, as it stands now I will have all of my student loans paid off when I am 63 I think - I don't want to have to worry about student loan payments when I am 80.

    Also, those median MBA salaries don't impress me much, I already pull six figures in my current situation with my corporate job and my side hustle, and even a modest 2% raise in my corporate salary each year would be more than that 1.5K/year figure you cited, even with no MBA.

    I saw that - it looks like a good price, but at 18 month program and it doesn't look self-paced.

    There are some really good videos out there of people using the WGU system, and it is still pretty much at the top of my list, but I'd really like to know more about the Capella program before I rule anything out (and none of this will probably happen until a year from now anyway!) but even though there are a lot of Capella alumni on LinkedIn, I don't see a lot of videos about the actual interface/systems used in the program - there is a lot more information out there about WGU. So, if anyone has any first hand experience with Capella, I'm still curious. Cheers.
     
  3. Understand that, depending on your reasons, there are some schools that are not held in especially high regard, and fair or unfair, can "taint" a applicant being considered for a position. ;)
     
  4. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    It's literally a self-paced, competency-based program. 18 months is the estimated time of completion. Did you know that the estimated completion time for a WGU MBA is 1.5 years? You can finish in six months to a year, but most people don't. If you really want to attend Capella, then just say so. Flexpath hasn't been around for long, and most informed people avoid Capella like the plague, so don't expect many to have been in their MBA program. Several people on the other forum have attempted Walden's Tempo programs because of their free terms and discount offers.
     
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  5. Acolyte

    Acolyte Active Member

    I admit I didn't look as closely at the Rasmussen offering - I saw the 18 month time to complete and that stuck in my head, and I was also looking over the rest of the site to get a feel for what the college was and seeing that it was another for-profit college had me putting it in the same category as Capella, Walden, etc. except (for better or worse) without the name recognition. Why do you think Rasmussen is so much better than Capella - they are both for-profit entities and the Rasmussen program has no program level accreditation (Capella and WGU has ACBSP - for whatever that is worth) - although the price is attractive and their take on competency based learning also looks interesting. I don't "really want to attend Capella" - I was just looking for more information (first hand experience if anyone had any) about what they offer because, as you said, the FlexPath hasn't been around that long - most of the videos on Youtube are by "sponsored" Capella students and seem "promotional" in nature rather than providing an indication of how the program functioned etc. I know that most people don't or can't complete one of these programs in less than a year (at least) - I guess what appeals to me a little more with WGU and Capella over Rasmussen is that you don't pay by the credit hour - you pay flat rate for a block of time and are free to complete as much as you can in that time. Having said that...I believe that is little bit of a marketing catch as well - unless you are going into a program like that with some serious prior learning that you could use, it's probably going to take you at LEAST three of their sessions to complete the work required, if not more. So, while you theoretically could get away with a $5000-$7000 MBA at either of those schools, you are most likely looking at $10K or more anyway.
     
  6. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I don't think Rasmussen is better, but if you're going to consider a well-known for-profit with an awful reputation, you might as well consider a for-profit no one has heard of. Rasmussen has been purchased by APUS, which has a better reputation than Capella.
     
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  7. Futuredegree

    Futuredegree Well-Known Member

    I am doing my MBA at Hellenic American University it is so worth it although the program lacks networking due to very small class sizes and enrolled students
     
  8. Acolyte

    Acolyte Active Member

    :D:D:D

    Are the class meetings synchronous? Like, do you have to set aside the time "live" each week for class meetings, etc? Or is it pre-recorded lectures and such?
     
  9. "most informed people avoid Capella like the plague" - Nicely put :)
     
  10. smartdegree

    smartdegree Active Member

    If you are doing the MBA for job security, why not ask your boss or HR director what they think of Capella vs WGU vs HAU? After all, if they're reimbursing it, they will probably want to learn about the program anyway. Might as well let them feel invested in your decision.
     
  11. Futuredegree

    Futuredegree Well-Known Member

    Some classes require that you meet at a set time once a week for two hours via Zoom , others did not require it.
     
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  12. Acolyte

    Acolyte Active Member

    Thanks for all the replies, but I guess my key takeaways are:

    1. No one here has any first hand experience with Capella or Flexpath
    2. But Capella is bad "just because" - either because it is for-profit, or it has had a lot of detractors over the years.

    WGU still seems like the closest thing to what I am looking for, but I still want to know more about what Capella is actually offering these days with their program. I know Capella, Walden, University of Phoenix, Kaplan, DeVry, ITT, etc. all have checkered reputations - but I suppose that was bound to happen when you were part of a first generation product offering, you are driven by profits, and your acceptance rate was 100% which is ridiculous - not everyone is cut out for college, online or otherwise - and human nature is to air our negative experiences more than our positive ones. Like I said at the beginning, Capella was never even on my radar, but the fixed price tuition structure and FlexPath option had me thinking - I'll just have to search elsewhere for those with first hand experience.
     
    newsongs likes this.
  13. MiracleWhipz

    MiracleWhipz Member

    I dont think Capella is bad, they just rolled out a flex path DBA which I find interesting. I think you are asking people's opinions so you may get some less than desired feedback..it sounds like you'd prefer a little more confirmation bias. I do think their online, quick, cheap, fast approach leaves a certain distaste in the mouth of online learners who want their achievements to be on par with brick and mortar peers. Capella plays into the idea that it isn't because of their marketing strategy and like I said quick, cheap, fast approach. That being said I finished my Master's degree at WGU in 3months... Feel free to send me a message if you have questions about WGU. I absolutely loved the school and had an amazing time (I also got my BS from them in just slightly over a year) I would get another Master's from WGU if there wasn't the whole academic incest debate and it being WGU.
     
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  14. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    I don't have experience with Capella but I did take some undergrad classes with Strayer. Strayer and Capella are both owned by the same company, so I wouldn't expect there to be a huge difference. At least at the undergrad level, I would be suspicious of anyone with a Bachelor's degree from either of these institutions. It was entirely too easy to get good grades with minimal effort. Maybe the graduate degrees are better but, again, I have no direct experience there.
     
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  15. Acolyte

    Acolyte Active Member

    Thanks for the offer - WGU is still at the top of my list. I may hit you up about your experience - which Master's did you complete? I don't think I'm looking for confirmation bias about Capella, though. I have no opinion of Capella to speak of - I just wanted some actual information rather than people just repeating the standard take on things - I've found too often that the "standard take" on things is often exaggerated at best and just plain wrong at worst, it also doesn't allow for situations to have evolved or changed. When I read reviews or see videos about Capella online, people either A. Love it (probably because they succeeded there or want to have good feelings about where their degree is from) OR B. Call it a scam and complain about a lot of things that seem to fall into a few categories:
    • The person forgot to turn in some paperwork or forgot to drop a class and they got charged for it anyway, and the school wouldn't give back the money - but ALL colleges do this.
    • All of the professors/advisors "never" got back to them in time or they were biased/racist/incompetent etc.
    • The person needed some kind of exceptional treatment - they needed time off from the plan of study or something, and that didn't go well.
    • The material required more work than expected and they were unable to finish their degree in the "quick, cheap, fast" way that they believed it was presented to them
    • or my favorite one: They require you to have a bachelor's degree before you can apply to a Master's program. :confused:
    That's why I just wanted to hear some first hand experiences about Capella FlexPath - there are A LOT of videos and people posting and sharing their experiences at WGU so it's much easier to get an idea of what that is like, but no so much with Capella. Most of the videos are promotional or by students who are "sponsored" which means they are receiving compensation for posting about how great Capella is - which isnt exactly what I would call unbiased. I just want info - I don't want people to tell me it's great or whatever if it isn't.

    Thanks. I think that's the standard view of online schooling - is that it's watered down, and that may be the case. My Master's was online - but through a "real" brick and mortar school. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible either. It was just "hard enough" I would say - had it been any more so, I don't think I would have enjoyed it. But I'm never really sure how hard school is "supposed to be" - my time at American University was incredibly challenging - but when I transferred to Ohio State, it seemed much easier compared to AU - and I was maybe a little disappointed?
     
  16. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    I have no issues with online schooling. But the Strayer courses were even easier than SDC/Sophia courses. IIRC, I would not have had to submit any assignment to pass. As long as I participated nominally in the weekly discussions (and participation was graded VERY loosely), I probably could have squeaked by with a C. Getting a C isn't a good grade but it is technically a pass.
     
  17. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    Capella and Strayer merged just a few years ago, so I'm not sure they have the same class formats. It appears the two schools are maintaining their own identities. Strayer mostly offers business programs while Capella offers a wider variety of programs but is most popular for education, counseling, and psychology.
     
  18. Actually, I enrolled at Capella about 15 years ago. I stayed for one term. Back then Capella had "rolling enrollment" and it was really clear it was all about the money. I was embarrassed by what many of a fellow students were turning in. I decided I did not want a credential from that school. I left. I had a h--- of a time getting a transcript. It seemed transcript were only for enrolled (more money) students. Don't let this keep you from enrolling.
     
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  19. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    This was on campus, and was in the late '90s, but two of the best courses I ever took at any school at any level were at Strayer. One was a System Analysis and Design course that unexpectedly (to me at the time) was more about human relations than about IT. The other was a course on Logic, which was required for all majors.
     
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  20. MiracleWhipz

    MiracleWhipz Member

    I completed the MSML, you have an option to do I believe five or six other classes and get an MBA/MSML but I didn't because I didn't want my only schooling to be WGU. I can say I have never heard anyone complain about WGU the way they do Capella. Even this forum makes a general WGU exception.
     
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