D.B.A. Program Decission

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by TelcoJoe, Jun 24, 2019.

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  1. TelcoJoe

    TelcoJoe New Member

    Hello everyone. I am in the process of trying to decide between one of three D.B.A. programs to attend.

    1. Liberty University
    2. Indiana Wesleyan University
    3. Thomas Edison State University

    Some of the factors that will affect my decision include cost, length of program, and ease of admissions.

    I see that Indiana Wesleyan University has a low tuition cost, but it appears they combine all costs (fees, tuition, books, etc.) into one lump sum and set up a payment plan. I'm not in love with the idea as I would like the ability to source my own books and materials.

    Thomas Edison State University is expensive (at around 43k total). I like the idea that they are a public institution and that there is a 18 month completion option , but they indicate on their website, "Pending approval by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education." I have yet to find out where they are in the process and when it will be completed.

    Liberty University is attractive as it appears that they have their D.B.A. program organized and are straight forward about admission, program outcomes, cost. I'm a little unsure about their reputation and how employers perceive this degree.

    Your thoughts?

    Thanks!
     
  2. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    First and foremost, what is your goal of pursuing a DBA? Are you wanting to get into academics as a professor? If so, you will want to make certain the DBA program is AACSB or ACBSP accredited at the minimum.
     
  3. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    You can throw Bellevue University into the mix. They just launched a fully online, 55-credit DBA program. https://www.bellevue.edu/degrees/doctoral/business-administration-dba/

    I am a Liberty student but I am not pursuing my Ph.D. for employment reasons so I don't worry too much about the reputation. It's political alignment and strong Christian emphasis might be looked down on by prospective employer so keep that in mind. As far as cost goes, Liberty is the winner. I don't know much about the other two schools. I looked into IWU's Ph.D. in OL back when I was searching for doctoral programs.
     
  4. TelcoJoe

    TelcoJoe New Member

    I considered Bellevue University, but they require an M.B.A. for acceptance to the D.B.A. program. My M.S. is in Management/Leadership which they have told me will not work.
     
  5. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    If you're limited to those three options, I'd say go with IWU. Their tuition is the same as Liberty's full-time rate ($595). Liberty's part-time rate is $650 (5 credits or less for the semester). IWU has less baggage than Liberty!
     
  6. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    If you look though, IWU doctoral programs is not accredited by ACBSP. The rest of their business degree offerings are though.
     
  7. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I just realized that neither of the three has ACBSP accreditation at the doctoral level. Grand Canyon University does though and some for-profit colleges like Capella, Phoenix, Walden, and CalSouthern.
     
    JoshD likes this.
  8. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    They sound a bit silly. The MBA was the easiest degree I've ever gotten, and I got mine from a state university, flagship. I generally think an MS would be more rigorous, all else held equal. In any event, there's a good reason to knock them out, they're not thinking clearly, at least on this point
     
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  9. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I wonder who told the OP that. The website says something different:

    "Prior to applying for enrollment into the DBA program, students must possess a regionally accredited MBA, or equivalent master’s degree. A maximum of 36 credit hours from approved master programs may be transferrable. If the student has an MBA from an accredited college or university, it will be accepted in whole. Students entering with non-MBA master’s degrees, must take equivalent courses from Bellevue University’s MBA program to make up for any core deficiencies."
     
    FTFaculty likes this.
  10. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    I begin my MS in Finance in August and this is my expectation. I finished my MBA with a 4.0 GPA and despite my lack of business education in undergrad, it was a pretty straight forward and easy degree. I would definitely believe that a MS in Finance, Accounting, Management, HR Management, etc. to be more difficult than an MBA which is pretty much a generalized degree.
     
    FTFaculty likes this.
  11. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    Interesting. Wonder if it was some admissions person not on the faculty or in the educational admin. Guessing sometimes they have a sheet in front of them guiding them and they don't fully understand the nuances and give some goofy answers, like the IRS helpline.
     
  12. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    An MBA arguably isn't even as rigorous as a BBA. An MBA is just learning about business and the language of business from a 30,000 foot view. I took two req'd acct classes in my MBA program. Years ago, when I decided to take undergrad acct courses free at my university to work towards eventually doing grad acct work, figured I could just go straight into the upper division stuff, but a colleague, who was also the head of the masters of accountancy program, told me "No way, those MBA courses aren't good enough, do yourself a favor and audit intro to financial accounting first." I internally rolled my eyes a bit and thought "Hey, I have a JD, passed the Bar first time, an MBA with a 3.88 GPA and I worked in corporate law hand-in-hand with the controller of the corporation, I've taught for years, I know my stuff, puhleeease!" That was my attitude, but I went along with what Dr. D suggested and was he EVER RIGHT. The undergrad stuff was heavy lifting nuts and bolts, it was taking a magnifying glass and studying the minutiae, totally unlike the MBA. There I was, with gray hairs sitting next to 19 and 20 year old kids in intro to financial accounting, some of whom were taking my B-law classes at the time...and getting my butt kicked right alongside them. In the end, in that audited class, I barely got an "A", and there was more than one undergrad kid who got a higher average. I then went into the upper division stuff and it amped up considerably in difficulty and just kept getting nastier right up through Intermediate III Accounting, which was like looking into the eyes of a psycho killer for three months. Got a grand sum total of one more "A" the whole way through and sunk down into mediocrity, putting in 15 to 20 hours of individualized study for each exam (in addition to all the homework) just trying to survive along with the other upper division accounting students, who had the same tired, desperate looks in their eyes as me. That was a tough go.

    Now in an MS in accountancy program through another university, and one class, the advanced financial, was the toughest one I've ever taken at any level, including law school. More nuts-and-bolts, just nastier and higher expectations. Did multiple regression analysis, and was way over head in cost accounting. Corporate tax was a killer. Have such respect now for these young people who can fight their way through an accounting degree and an MS or MAcc, and have to think it's similar for those doing the more rugged types of biz, such as finance. These kids who go onto careers where they can make mid-six digits and higher if they make partner have earned their stripes. 3 classes left in the MS, excited but exhausted. What an ordeal!
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2019
  13. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    I am excited yet nervous too. My undergraduate biology education had plenty of quantitative coursework and the MBA had accounting, economics and finance. However, this MS in Finance with OU is going to be a different beast than anything I have attempted to take on. However, the networking opportunities and the name that the Price College of Business has within the state of Oklahoma is extensive. On top of that, I really want to pursue a PhD in Finance at OU and doing their MS in Finance is hopefully going to assist me with admissions.

    What was your undergraduate education in?
     
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  14. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    You'll like this: art. That's right. I worked as a starving artist for about a year before I said "Heck with this, I'm going to law school." And that opened up another can of worms. BTW, you get into the PhD program at Price and get through, that will set you up for great jobs in academia. Finance is the only field in biz academia that pays > accounting. Directional State Us like where I teach pay $160K+ to start, Flagship Us pay $200K+. And you'll have a life where you can spend time with those kids and watch them grow up. A lot of research can be done from home (as I'm taking a break from now...writing this blasted, slowly-driving-me-insane textbook), and the office hours and teaching really only require you to be at school 15 - 20 hrs a week. Even though I'm working on the book, I have three kids running around the house and a grandkid.
     
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  15. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    [truncated previous post]
    Even though I'm working on the book, I have three kids running around the house and a grandkid playing here, and am able to spend time with them while being paid as a professor.
     
  16. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    That is fantastic! I have 2 year old twins and a 3 month old. My wife and I have talked extensively about the decision to pursue my MS and hopefully my PhD and thankfully we are on the same page. Price has placed their last 9 PhD graduates in universities with an average salary of $175,000. That is not too far from what brother makes as an ER Physician.
     
  17. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    That sounds about right. There's probably one, maybe two, who took a job at smaller college somewhere dragging the mean down a little. Wouldn't be surprised if the median were even higher. You won't be able to have many Euro vacations with the whole gang, you won't be able to afford a Bentley or a 7,000 sq ft mansion in a city, but you will be able to take care of the family and not be absent daddy. One of my colleagues worked in Big Four accounting, major metro, before getting into academia. He was putting in 60 - 80 hours a week, grinding towards that coveted partner position someday that would bump him up eventually into the $500K to $1M range, and then he realized he would be nothing but a revenue production unit, wouldn't have a family life, the wife and kids he hoped to have someday would hardly know him, so he dropped out, went into a doctoral program, pushed through it in only 3 years--practically killed himself--and now he makes about $170K a year teaching and he has tons of free time. When he works, he works hard (I know, he's in the next door office), but he has lots of time to have a life and he still makes more than enough to take care of the family he one day wants to have.
     
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  18. TelcoJoe

    TelcoJoe New Member

    The person who stated this is an Admissions Counselor with the program. Specifically, " I wanted to mention that there are pre-requisites to the program if you do not have a Master of Business Administration. There will be a minimum of 9 MBA courses that you will need to take prior to starting the program. That is 3 courses shy of earning an MBA. We could potentially see about transferring in 6 credit hours from your other degree, so you would only need to take 10 classes and just earn an MBA."
     
    FTFaculty likes this.
  19. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    That is ridiculous.
     
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  20. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    Beyond ridiculous.
     
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