On-campus or Online MBA? Help!?

Question

What is the difference between getting an on-campus MBA or an online MBA? Is getting an on-campus MBA more "honored" so to speak or is it really just for convenience's sake that we can go online?

Am planning to get my MBA by next year and would like to know what would be better. Time is not an issue as I can attend the weekend and evening classes on-campus, no problem.

Hope someone can help me out...

Answer 1

The hiring preferences and perceptions vary among the HR pros and the people making the final hiring decisions.

But since you have time...had you thought about doing a "term paper" on the subject, then call Human Resources depts of various firms in the areas/industries of your interest...where you might be seeking a job. Tell them you are conducting a survey for your term paper and ask them:
1) do you perceive a quality difference between an online MBA and a traditional residential campus MBA?

2) if a difference is perceived, what is it?

3) have they ever hired people who earned online MBAs?
If so, was there a noticeable difference in job performance?

4) then also contact the schools for online and residential MBAs and ask them where their graduates have gotten placed / hired.

That should give you some good data to make a decision about your situation.

Answer 2

You're asking the wrong question. Online vs traditional hasn't been the question for several years now - online is a methodology that's here and is working. Most employers are now using it for their own employee training.

The right question is "from where?"

Try this exercise as you ask people:

Is it better to get an online MBA from UMass or a classroom MBA from East Podunk State?

The reputation of some schools is low regardless of delivery method. Those that advertise heavily on infomercials for example. Some schools have such a high reputation that nobody cares whether it was online or classroom (Harvard, Stanford, etc...). Most are somewhere in between.

Keep in mind a couple things though. 1) online classes from a good school are WAY harder than in-the-seat classes. 2) online requires that you are very self-motivated. 3) the diploma doesn't say "online" on it.

It's possible that the very best option is a combination of the two methods. Very many programs offer courses online and in the classroom.

As for "honored" - it's all about who awarded the degree. It's the reputation of the college and not whether it was online or traditional. If you have an extra $100K laying around, Duke U. has an online MBA that very very few employers would look down on...

Part of the problem is that if I say "I have an online degree" people first think University of Phoenix and not Harvard University. They relate this method to what they know. Harvard has some very solid online programs though (as does UMass, U Florida, UC, etc...).

There's more than convenience at issue here. By going online, you can pick a program at a fine college that you'd not be able to move to. Or, as some people do, you could pick an easy to get into college because it's easy to get into. The only thing DL does is remove the geographic restrictions.

Bottom line is to pick the best college you can get into and attend -- whether online or traditional.

Answer 3

Ugh, don't even consider an online MBA if you have the possibility of doing it in a classroom. MBA is not simply a degree for the books, it's so you can build upon teamwork and get the hookups with other influential people in the business community. Professors in biz schools for example have enormous amounts of connections. I used to sometimes just go into a prof's office and engage in small talk. That lead to a lot of referrals for me. But you can't really have a relationship with a prof through email exchanges. You don't get to know your other classmates as well. In any half-decent MBA program you're going to have an interesting diversity of classmates. But you'll never get to know anyone through just email exchanges. In the end, an online MBA will probably educate you book-wise just the same as the classroom environment but you'll be far behind in social connections. MBA gives you rare opportunities to do team projects such as business plans, community business consulting, and such. Also, in my experience, most people taking online classes do so for the specific reason (no surprise) that they are too busy with work or family. They have little time to devote to the class and don't want to engage in anything social to begin with; just them finishing an exam with a C is good enough. Such a waste of time and money for an MBA.

Answer 4

It's probably considered better to get a degree in a classroom environment as opposed to online. The reason is that there's more interaction with the instructors and other students on a personal level, especially where group discussions and team activities are concerned. In any case, just be sure that it's an accredited institution of higher learning and keep that GPA up.

Answer 5

I disagree. i'd desire to assert that the meaning in each assertion is distinctive. retaining "The Bible is the international of God" or "there is not any God" is a assertion approximately what one considers to be information; it particularly is, those statements purport to be examples of ideals that are the two real and justified. on the different hand, the statements that comprise the ingredient out of concept purport to be neither justified nor real. and end being so anti-semantic. (specific, I did answer this question merely to get that humorous tale in...)