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  1. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Worthwhile for some - but definitely not a degree. We've been the route on mini-micro-nano-pico "degrees" in other threads. The good ones are like a book I have - "The Portable MBA for Investment." Great info, but certainly not an MBA degree source.

    And always, some weasel(s) will try to pass off their "mini" as a full-bore degree.
     
  3. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Happens all the time.

    The other common one is people accumulating 60 credits and then saying they have an associates degree. I think the bulk of it is intentional deception. Though I do believe there is just a segment out there who don't realize that "MBA" means something other than "I have some business training."
     
  4. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    I'm curious, what was your motivation behind getting the MBA?

    I see you have an MSM in Project Management. What are your thoughts on the PMP and PMI as an institution? Did you find the PMP not having any usefulness to pursue it since you have already have an MSM in Project Management?
     
  5. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    For the MBA, it was because my company was willing to pay the King's ransom that UofS was charging for one. I also felt a little weird about Scranton because I dropped out of a bachelors program, took an associates from there, but always felt incomplete. This kind of brought me full circle. Lastly, while I've not had issues with people "accepting" my MSM as being "equivalent" to a Masters in HR, I felt that I wanted to have at least one of my degrees actually SAY HR on it.

    I think the PMP is fine. I have the designation, I earned it while I was working on my MSM. I never really thought to list it here. I find that some organizations care more about the PMP than others. Mine is a fan, though it's something mostly seen on the engineering side. I think I'm only one of two in HR with the PMP.

    Over all, my view of the PMP and PMI is generally favorable. Even without CHEA recognition for PMI I felt PMI accreditation offered some measure of utility. I've also encountered institutions where they don't really care about PMI or its designations at all. I;ve not encountered any orgs where they had an active dislike for PMI.
     
    LearningAddict likes this.
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    The thing that gets me about that is that if they wrapped it all up through an assessment college they probably could have an Associate degree.
     
  7. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    When I was getting out of the Navy we had a transition assistance program. It was mainly focused on how to prepare a resume and how to interview. One guy was exceptionally arrogant through the entire week long class. Wouldn't shut up about how he was "fine" and would be doing better than most in the class because he had a Masters degree.

    Shortly after the class he came by Personnel to get his records in order for his separation. I noticed that we didn't have ANY degrees on file, I remembered him saying he had an associates, bachelors and masters. I told him the process for getting those degrees added to his service record. He brought in the documents and this guy didn't have any degrees.

    When he hit 60 credits, he decided he had an associates. When he hit 120, a bachelors. And somewhere around 150ish he decided he now has a Masters.

    He had some good coursework, mind you. And he had both a clearance and some IT certifications and so he did find work for himself after the Navy. But there was no way this was an actual degree plan. He had courses from multiple schools, the bulk of them at the 100 - 200 level. He had a nice cluster in IT. But the rest were scattered across music production, business, religion and a few other miscellaneous areas. Guy had a nice, well rounded education. If he took it to TESC I wouldn't have been shocked if he wasn't very close to a bachelors degree. But he was lacking the basics like public speaking and english comp.

    Still, in this guy's head, he had a Masters degree. To show you how broken his thinking was, he didn't feel a degree needed to be awarded by a single school. If you asked him where he earned his Masters he'd tell you something like "Oh, I studied at a number of schools." For him, if you did all 150ish credits at GWU then you got your degree from GWU. If you did it like him, well, you were just an independent scholar, I guess.
     
  8. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Years ago, there was an outfit called Ambai University. Unaccredited, and I believe there may have been pressure exerted to make them drop the word University. They awarded an MBA for oh, maybe $50, for reading their one pdf textbook and passing a multiple choice exam. A couple of Ambai "grads" were then able to "certify" their $50 MBA's through the MBA Certification process for around $400. They then had milled degrees that were certified as perfectly good, the same certification accorded to MBAs from top-notch RA schools (and some mediocre RA schools as well, of course.)

    The MBA Certification program was offered by the Certification Institute and tested with several four-hour exams over a period of several days at Prometric centres. For some years it was incorporated into the Western Governors University MBA program.

    The site (and I think, the whole credential) is gone now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_MBA

    After it stopped using the word University, and stopped awarding degrees, AMBAI continued on for a while, offering non-degree business courses. That site is also gone now.

    In short: If you have a milled, shortcut or mini-degree - find some org. - hopefully respected (or somewhat so, at least) that will certify or anoint your degree(?) into looking 'way better than it is.
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2019
  9. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    I was recently talking with someone at a party whose brother did pretty much this...except he did it with sketchy rabbinical schools. His "Certified MBA" was a test the government of Israel offers to certify Rabbis, trained at schools ranging from large, respected institutions, to private one on one instruction, for recognition by the government to be able to serve on government sponsored religious courts and as chaplains.

    It's one of those hacks that can absolutely work but is probably more work than just getting a legitimate credential the first time.
     
  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Indeed. But you and I both know, there are some people who just CANNOT go the legit route on anything. They will gladly go to extra work or expense just for the joy of fiddling/cheating etc.

    They keep degree mills, certification mills and accreditation mills in business.
     

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