New Illinois Masters in Management - 10K Only

I am really tempted to apply, but not sure if it would actually be worth the investment for me personally (My country's exchange rate is doing badly against the dollar right now).

What are your thoughts on a management degree vs an MBA? From what I read, MiM degrees are more suited for those with little work experience and who want to get an early headstart in their careers. I'm 25 with only 2 years of experience, so I guess I could go either way. I would obviously prefer to do an on-campus MBA at a decent school (if possible) since I believe it would hold more value, but the current job market is not looking so good, and a masters in management can help me stand out against the crowd. Plus, if you do the iMSM you can continue to do the iMBA (which I am assuming will cost an additional $10,872 given that the full iMBA program costs $21,384). Tough decision to make.

 

If that is the path, then go for it. It is not easy to get into the iMBA program directly. However, it not worth if you are not in the management work. I was denied admission 3 years ago. Even though I earned a Bachelor's, 2 Masters, and over 16 years of work experience from both corporation and military. The program admission might get easier since it has been 3 years plus competition with Boston University's Edx's Online MBA.

 

I listened to the webinar, and I’m just not seeing the real target market for this degree. It seems to be aimed at those who don’t have an undergraduate business background and lack the three years of work experience required for their iMBA.

That could be a useful niche, in a vacuum. But there are quite a few AACSB MBAs out there that would take such students with the GPAs to get in this program and have minimal leveling requirements, but, and this is a big but, none I know of with this combination of price point and general name recognition (not rankings) of a Big Ten school.

The webinar also mentioned the whole degree is not approved to transfer into the iMBA, I think only 12 or 18 hours. And Illinois has a ton of credit hours in their iMBA compared to most online MBAs. I really want to like this program, but I don’t think it’s for me.

 

That is very strange. Did you try to find out why exactly they denied you?

Ah, that is disappointing.

 

Oh, the program director told me that they have better candidates than me.

You should try to earn a respectable Certification in your industry. Work for another 5 years before seeking top MBA programs. If you do not have family obligations, then try to attend the on-campus program where you can find better opportunities and networking. If I have a choice again, I would choose an undergraduate technical degree from the most ranked school and an MBA from a top-ranked school.

 

That is very interesting that you got feedback from the program director. Typically, with a denied admissions decision, they do not give feedback on why.

While attending a full-time program on campus at a top business school would be nice, I think most of us here on DI are beyond the full-time on campus program phase of our lives. LOL