Johns Hopkins Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management

Hello,
I am writing to see if anyone has any experience with this program. It's offered from their school of government as an online program. My concern is this: It's only a certificate but requires 6 courses (24 credit hours) and the total cost is approaching 24K. But it's also Hopkins, so maybe it's worth it. Any thoughts?

 

Credit-bearing certificates are a mixed bag. On the one hand, you take six courses and you get to put JHU on your resume. On the other hand, that's a hefty price tag and many employers don't fully understand what a "certificate" is and will, appropriately, accord it much less consideration than a degree.

I'm a firm believer in stacking education that paints a finer picture. For myself, for example, I will soon begin an MBA at my (associate's level) alma mater, the University of Scranton. UofS is a decent, if largely unheard of, school. With an AA from UofS and a B.S. from Colorado Tech adding the MBA from UofS isn't going to appear horribly out of place. It will also, in some ways, "compensate" for any negativity my for-profit undergrad (and MSM) might draw. At the same time it isn't such a leap that it makes people wonder if I'm lying (i.e. B.S. CTU -> MBA Harvard Business School). Scranton is also a completely appropriate school for someone at my job level and likely career trajectory.

But a graduate certificate is unlikely to do any of those things. To the last point it is also important to consider whether the school is appropriate for someone in your field, at your level (and the next few levels up) and in your industry.

Let's say I had the opportunity to earn an MBA from Harvard part-time via distance learning and for free. I'd be a fool not to take it. But I don't want to work on Wall Street. I don't feel like moving and I enjoy seeing my family. So very little in my life would change. My resume would kind of jump all over the place in the education section. Oh, and people might wonder why someone with an MBA from HBS was working as an HR Business Partner in Syracuse, NY.

Frankly, in my industry and at my level (and any reasonable career aspirations for the future) Harvard MBAs are not very common at all. That diminishes the degree utility for my specific circumstances.

Just because a school has an impressive name doesn't mean that impressive name will actually help your career. While I'm a fan of The Office I often shook my head at the notion that a paper company in Scranton would have both a Cornell and a Stanford grad in relatively low level sales positions. If you met one of those people in real life you'd likely be less impressed and more wondering "What happened that this guy is working here with that sort of education?"

Do some research. Find out where others in your industry studied. Look at the people in the positions you aspire to and see where they studied. If you find that your dream job is almost always occupied by someone with a degree from a state university then that's some interesting data. If you find that all of them went to Yale, well, again that's interesting.

Also consider the price. I believe Johnson and Wales has an MS in Non-profit for roughly the same price as the JHU certificate.

 

You could take 3 more classes, save $10k and earn an MPA in non-profit management from the University of Missouri online. Is it Johns Hopkins? No. However, it is ranked #33 in the country by U.S. News and NASPAA accredited. I'm in the program and I'm enjoying it. I think it would be a much better option than an expensive graduate certificate with almost as much coursework.

 

This relates to an ongoing discussion on this board regarding the value of brand names/prestige names in higher education. Is it really worth the extra money to have the (in this case) Johns Hopkins name on your resume? Personally I don't think there is a single, correct answer to that question. For the most part my answer is no but maybe that's just because I'm cheap. If my employer was picking up the bill I'd be more willing to go for the splashy name brand but short of that I'm going to go the less expensive route.

 

Thanks everyone

You've all been very thoughtful and helpful, thank you.