Youngstown State MBA?

I was originally going to do an Organizational Leadership program, but now I'm thinking about doing an MBA first, since there are so many low cost AACSB accredited, 1 year MBA programs available online.

Youngstown State offers an MBA with a concentration in Leadership; total program cost is $13,500 for in-state and $13,650 for out of state. Has anyone gone through this program? One of the things I like about it is that it doesn't require a bunch of pre-reqs for non-business majors, which in my case (25 years of actual business experience) is a colossal waste of time. Also, like many of these programs, it doesn't require the GRE or GMAT test, which is another plus.

Program link: Online Accelerated MBA in Leadership - YSU

Does anyone know anything about this school in general? Is it any good?

 

I don't know anything about this specific school but I would recommend also checking out the other programs mentioned on this board like HAU ($3K if the deal is still available), Georgia Southwestern State ($9,210), Eastern University ($9,900), University of Louisiana - Lafayette ($12,800).

 

They are indeed still running the Hellenic American University $3,000 MBA but requires approval from the Dean. The program is regionally accredited but does not hold any business accreditation such as AACSB etc. If someone is just looking to get a regionally accredited master's degree in business this is the way to go and it is fast since each class is only 7 weeks.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Are any of those AACSB accredited? I know HAU (unfortunately) is not. The Organizational Leadership program I plan on doing is not AACSB, so I thought it might be nice to just cover all my bases and get an MBA which is.

Edit: Georga Southwestern is AACSB but the program is 18 months. Eastern University - Christian school, no thanks. University of Louisiana - Lafayette - 15 months, don't see AACSB accreditation.

 

Note that Eastern is a Christian school but the content itself is not religious, so if that's the concern there's no mandatory religiousness involved. I see now though you're looking for AACSB, Eastern is ACBSP which sounds like won't work. If ACBSP does work but Christianity doesn't, then also consider WGU, $9350 if you finish in two 6-month terms.

 

Louisiana-Lafayette is both AACSB and an R1 institution.

 

I did my MBA at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and it is right around $12,000. It is AACSB Accredited as well. It was a decent program.

 

Lamar University's MBA costs $12,626. The program is AACSB accredited.

https://degree.lamar.edu/programs/master-of-business-administration-general/

 

One thing that isn't appealing to me about the YSU program is the limited elective options. I haven't looked at the alternatives mentioned, and some are likely even more restrictive with prescribed programs, but it was something that caught my eye. Considering programs with similar costs, and accreditation, I would aim for the program with the best brand recognition and networking/alumni support. Assuming they are all equal in that regard, relatively unknown schools regionally/nationally and a mediocre alumni network, pick the cheapest one that appeals to you.

 

Lots of discussion about:

• Degree
• School
• Accreditation
• Price

Almost never any discussion on:

• Content
• Learning methodologies
• Methods of measurement

 

The classes are fast when you take them from Nashua campus at 7 weeks. I have taken 3 from Athens campus that are 15 weeks.

Doing the HAU MBA in a year would be tough to schedule. I graduate in June, started March 29, 2021. I took one 7 week class first term then 2 at a time the rest except at the end. I started 2 Athens campus classes in Jan and another 2 Nashua campus in March. I have had 4 classes on the go since March to finish up.

The term ends May 20th and I really wanted to be finished the degree at the end of this term. I started my first Sophia class towards my TESU BSBA on May 21st, 2020 with only 2 older credits I could transfer in, ended up doing 130 and change more credits on my TESU transcript. By finishing my MBA on May 20th of this year, I will have done literally a full and a bit 4 year degree and a full MBA in exactly 2 years to the day since I started this journey thanks to this forum and the sister forum. Total outlay of just barely over $10,000.

If doing starting today would have done UMPI instead of TESU, saved some $$ and a tiny bit of time. But overall, I am very happy with the entire process. No mistake, it has been work and a hard juggle with family and running a company, but very much worth it.

 

You're right. For me this is a box check (just looking at the credentials of people who are in the job that is the next stage of my career). What I really want to do from an educational standpoint is the Organizational Leadership program at Johns Hopkins. I think it actually helps more with my job, but the MBA seems to be almost a requirement. It's a bit of a conundrum, but I'm looking for the fastest (and easiest) way to get the credential, but still go somewhere that has some academic credibility (hence the AACSB accreditation... plus someday I might want to teach, and I've heard it helps).

I guess I could go to ASU's MBA program, which is also offered online.. it's a Top 25 business school, and I was really happy with my undergraduate education there.,However, then we are talking about some serious expense when combined with the other program I want to do (which has a total program cost of $44k) and since I'm self-paying I don't think it makes a lot of sense -- even given the potential ROI.

 

That's really impressive. I wish cost were the only thing I was factoring in. Thankfully I had a ton of transfer credits for ASU from previous attempts to go to college, so my BA wasn't terribly expensive (I combined self pay with some low interest government loans).

 

I live in the Cleveland area and know a lot of people who have gone t0 Youngstown State University. A few friends have kids who just graduated. I actually considered their MBA program too. For me, it’s recognized in the area and still affordable compared to other area schools like Cleveland State or Baldwin Wallace.

 

This is an important distinction. There are schools with national reputations, schools with local reputations, and schools with neither.

When I contemplated doing my MBA, I was living (stationed, really) in San Diego. At the time there were four viable options for doing an MBA in that area: Chapman College, National University, University of San Diego, and San Diego State. But only the first two could be done while working; USD and SDSU had only full-time programs. I chose National.

In and around San Diego, there was (and is) zero doubt that USD and SDSU had superior MBA programs. My travels, however, took me long and far away from there. Guess what? No one cared--or even knew--about those distinctions. The point: unless you're getting your MBA from a school with a national reputation, it really doesn't matter too much beyond that, except within the school's locale--maybe. If you don't live there, no difference at all. (AACSB accreditation and its academic implications excepted, of course. USD and SDSU were AACSB-accredited, Chapman and National were not.)

(There are schools with no local reputations. Whenever I come across someone from Cincinnati, I ask them if they've ever heard of Union. I'm still waiting to find someone who has. But everyone I meet from the UK has heard of the University of Leicester.)

 

Definitely can depend on where you live or plan to work. YSU would probably be known in northeast Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania. Not as well known as Cleveland State or Penn State, but more-so than maybe a small community college. And even though it would be an online program, it doesn’t scream online college as much as someplace like WGU.

 

I grew up there and until coming to this forum, I hadn't heard of it.

 

Business and law degrees are different than most other degrees (not all...but most) in that, the Top 15 B-Schools and Top 14 Law Schools are what is considered "prestigious". Outside of that, most schools are regional. My suggestion is that unless you are attending a top tier university, find one that fits your needs and is known in the area that you live in.

 

I've decided to just do this at the Univ of Louisiana - Lafayette instead. My only negative to that program is that it's 15 months, but that is still better than a 2-year program. $12,800 all-in with no book costs; the only additional cost is for online proctoring for classes that require it.