altMBA

I don't have the time to slog through this now. Anyone have an opinion?

https://altmba.com/

 

Yeah my opinion is hard pass.

 

I'd put it on a par with, say, Trump University.

 

If people want to pay for these little weeks long intensives, that's on them. That's basically what Trump University was. It was a seminar series that was never intending to portray itself as a university. Much like how Hamburger University, McDonald's in-house managerial training program, uses the word "university."

That said, in the case of TU, the state of New York took issue with that playful use of wording since the word "university" is restricted to non-profits in this state. You need a charter from the department of education to be a university and for-profits cannot have charters as the charter is the means of incorporation and there is no for-profit option. It's also the reason why DeVry cannot trade as "DeVry University" in the state and uses an alternate name for marketing here.

Far more problematic than the overpriced investment seminars of our current POTUS, however, is this annoying trend to call these intensives things that sound like real degrees.

AltMBA. MicroMBA.

There are an absurd number of people who attempt to pass these off as real degrees. Some of them may actually think that they are academic credentials. I have one former classmates who proudly lists his MicroMBA in the education section of LinkedIn making it look an awful lot like a real MBA.

There are tons of these programs. They're just leadership seminars. And most of them don't purport to replace an MBA. You can be a stellar leader and not have the slightest clue about HR law, finance, accounting or marketing. That's why the MBA covers those topics.

I think this is sleazy marketing both ways. It's intended to rope people in using a title they know is at least partially misleading and it will attract the sort of people who want to mislead their employers as well.

I know many senior managers who have gone through 1-4 week intensive workshops. They are proud of those achievements. But they manage to be proud of those program completions without having an "altMBA" or a RogueDoctorate or a BuccaneerBachelors or an AnarchistAssociates.

 

Yep . . . what he said.

 

Right - what Steve said - and that goes double for the next silly term that I haven't seen yet - but will likely come along - the "picodegree." I can hardly wait.

(5 minutes later -- honest!) OML! It's actually here! From India. Picodegrees: http://v3technologies.in/picodegree/

 

Well, there are still femto, atto, zepto and yocto-degrees to go... plus Zeppo, Harpo, Chico, Groucho and Gummo-degrees, if comedy is your field.

https://www.businessballs.com/glossaries-and-terminology/metric-prefixes-table/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx_Brothers

 

I think that with this post you just qualified for a Quantum Degree

 

There is nothing inherently wrong with these types of programs. However, the problems start with unscrupulous people using these mini-micro-nano-alt credentials and stretching them to make them look like the full deal degree.

 

And there's the possibility of unscrupulous sellers doing the same.

 

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