MBA: Indiana vs. Drexel

This board has been extremely helpful so far, and I'm hoping to get some input into the next big decision I'll have to make on my educational path.

As I've mentioned in other posts, I'm completing my undergrad business degree via testing with Excelsior. At my current pace, I should be finished sometime in May. I then plan to enroll into an MBA program with one of the better known schools. The 2 that I'm looking at right now are the Kelley Direct MBA program at Indiana, and the TechoMBA at Drexel. They're both pricey, with IU at $38k and Drexel at $43k, but I'm justifying this cost by going cheap on the undergrad. Also on the table is something like the Masters in Management and Systems from NYU, although I'm leaning towards an MBA.

Anyways, here are a few pros and cons as I see them coming into play:

Indiana
Pros: top 25 MBA program, I live in the region so could take advantage of IU's relationships with regional employers, general MBA might open other non-tech career doors down the road
Cons: no tech focus, general MBA won't pertain as much to my current IT career as a tech-focused masters, can only enroll in fall and will be tight getting Excelsior degree by IU's June 15 application deadline

Drexel
Pros: in general is a prestigious school, MBA has a tech focus that will help with current career path, can start program in fall or spring
Cons: not listed in top 3 tiers of MBA programs, slightly higher cost, out of my region, name not as big as Indiana, increased residency

Overall, I guess I'm trying to answer the question of whether rushing to get into the Indiana program with its top reputation, proximity, and possible better long-term benefits are worth it over the present day benefits that a less prestigious Drexel tech-focused MBA would bring?

 

You may want to apply to both - I know that Drexel's program is pretty competitive, and having a RA degree will work against you at an AACSB school. Good luck.

 

?

I can guarantee you you will almost always have to have an RA degree to get into an AACSB accredited program. Maybe I missed something in this statement.

Kelley will be harder to get into than Drexel. It is a top ranked school. If you are willing to drop down to Drexel's ranking level there are a lot of other MBA's available for that kind of money or much less that have IT management specialties. UMass-Amherst may actually rank higher than Drexal, cost less than Indiana and it 100% DL. Oklahoma and Nebraska at Lincoln also have programs at that level. Arizona State is listed as one of the top Techno MBA schools by Computer World (and pretty high by Business Week as well) and it is also cheaper than Drexel. The 2 year program is about $35 k for everything. I think it does have a short residency though. Be sure to do your homework before you commit.

 

Please choose Indiana, our economy could use the money!

 

Re: ?

What I mean is that if you are applying with an undergrad from a non-aacsb school (Excelsior - RA only, right?) to a AACSB school, it may not be transferable, you may not accepted, and you may have to take pre-reqs.

I would apply to both, since they both are strong schools, with a strong reputation, since you may not get accepted based on this above.

 

That makes more sense...

However, having a non-AACSB RA undergrad degree is not that big of a deal. You will have to take pre-req's if you do not have the required undergrad classes regardless of whether or not the undergrad degree came from AACSB accredited school. AACSB as a a professional accreditation really comes more into play when you start talking graduate education. There is, actually, another accreditation which was, historically, primarily for schools without graduate business programs. It was the ACBSP. That distinction has blurred somewhat.

 

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Han,
I've not seen an MBA program that requires an undergrad from an AACSB school, they typically only require a degree from an RA school. I've also not heard of anyone being turned away from an MBA program at an AACSB school based on the lack of an undergrad degree from an AACSB school.

Chris,
I've looked at ASU and Nebraska-Lincoln as well. ASU's online MBA is only a general MBA, no tech speciality like they offer on-site. Thanks for pointing out the UMass-Amherst program. Although they also don't offer a specialty per se, they do allow 3 elective courses and have a very large catalog of electives with some tech-focused courses. They also allow up to 6 credits before enrolling, so that would take care of the timing issue with Indiana. While the Drexel program may allow me to put MBA-Technology in my resume where the UMass does not, that might not be worth $21k in edu costs.

 

Re: Re: ?

Huh?!? My understanding has always been that if you do not have a business degree, you have to take certain pre-reqs (stats, econ, finance, etc). I haven't seen anything that says you need an undergraduate business degree from an AACSB school when looking through requirements for admission.
Do you have anything to back this up?

 

Another nifty thing about UMass

Even though this may not apply in your case, UMass has a single foundation course to allow non business undergrads to meet the pre-req requirements. It adds $3k to the total cost but it is a one shot deal that comes with a certificate. More convenient than Touro had where they required (if I remember right) you to take 3 or 4 courses.

 

Re: Re: Re: ?

I have experienced it. I took a class at a RA school, and when trying to transfer it, I was told that it was not considered equivelant.

No school that I know of publishes their standards to how they determine what classes are equivelant to theirs, but since I went through it, I just wanted to mention it.

Also, when I went for the MBA, they went through the transcript, and asked for information on some of the classes, to make sure they covered the material in the prereqs. I had an undergrad in business.

 

Just to add to Chris's last point for anyone that comes across this discussion via search down the road. Indiana also offers non-credit self-paced "primer" courses in Statistics and Accounting if you're lacking those on your undergrad transcript or just need to brush up. They're $150 each, pretty cheap way to get those missing prereqs.

 

Not the same thing

This is what is rightly called one of the biggest rip offs in college today. Colleges do it all the time and if you fight them over it they will usually back off. A common tactic is for 4 year schools to label intro courses 3 level classes and then refuse to accept them from CC's where they are usually 1 or sometimes 2 level classes. Some states are putting a stop to it by coming up with common numbering and reviewing standards.

 

Re: Not the same thing

I agree!! I know there is a website that published the California CC to 4 year UC and CSU equivelants....

 

I would go for the NYU MS if you have the cash for it. What do you think future employers will me more impressed with an MBA from Drexel or Indiana or an MS from NYU? No matter what people tell you the truth is that if you want to work for a big company the name of the school is very important.


I'm also thinking about the NYU MS. I don't have that kind of cash but I am actually thinking of going in debt to get the degree.

 

I'd go for IU...

To me, the Kelley name will help a lot, especially when looking for a job. People that hire MBAs generally have MBAs, and those people are (somewhat unexpectedly) swayed by branding.

But if you're having trouble making up your mind, why not apply to both? Compared to the $$$ you'll spend on your degree, a few extra bucks in the application process is no biggie. You may find (not to be negative, the MBA admissions process is pretty competitive, even for part time and executive programs) that you may not get into both schools. In that case, your decision is made for you.

 

An MBA from Kelley...

Kelley is a top tier business school. An MBA from Kelley would probably carry more weight than MS from NYU. An MS is widely viewed as more of a practitioner's degree whereas an MBA is almost a professional degree. This is primarily true for the elite schools, though, which both NYU and Kelley are. BTW the NYU MS is not from Stern which is the business school at NYU which has the elite reputation. That is not to say though that it is a dud degree by any means.

I would go with Kelley and a couple of other schools other than Drexel. Yes, Drexel is a good school but it's business rankings do not give it any special cachet to justify its cost and it is not really that widely known. It is to us because we are doing our research. Who you have to worry about is future employers and around the St. Louis area where I live it wouldn't be that widely known. There are other more widely known schools which rank higher that cost less (unless you live close to an area where Drexel is well regarded then you have to put that factor into account). I like U-Mass for its cost, reputation and quality. Like you mentioned, you could do your own concentration in MIS.

Just so you know, you can finance the degree on a Stafford which currently has about 2.8% interest over 10 years. When you are done, you could consolidate your student loans at their average rate for anywhere from 10-30 years based on the total amount (over $30K can go up to 20 years). Do the math and see what you can afford and make a decision from there.

 

chris, thank you very much for your thorough and informative feedback. Guess I just need to keep my nose to the wheel and meet the prereqs for the Indiana application by the June 15 deadline so that I can include them in the schools that I do apply to.

 

Re: Re: Not the same thing

Han, I think this is the website:

http://www.can.csus.edu/

 

Indiana vs Drexel

My choice would be Indiana - very well know nationally and highly respected. Drexel is ok, but doesn't come close to Indiana. A degree concentration is just a few courses so take a few graduate tech mgmt classes at Indiana within or outside the degree.

Good Luck !

 

Thanks again to all for the tips and feedback.

Another related question. Does anyone know what AACSB schools with online programs will allow you to take an MBA-level class without going through the admissions process? It looks like UMass-Amherst will allow you to take up to 6 credit hours without enrolling into the MBA program, but I'm not finding any others.

The reason for asking, Indiana and most of the other schools that I might consider allow you to transwer in up to 6 credit hours from other AACSB schools. They count as electives, which is where my problem with UMass is. All of the courses that UMass-Amherst offers this summer appear to be core classes and are very similar to IU's core classes. I'd hate to take a class to transfer in to IU's program and then have to take an identical course to meet a core requirement because the transfer course is an elective. I'm hoping to get a course under my belt over the summer just to make sure this MBA path is something I really want to invest the time and money in.