SWB's picture Submitted by SWB on
in

Forums

Career Management

I am currently working as a low level manager at a large company and am considering going back to school. I can either get my MBA from the local University in my town or I can get it online.

Is it more important to get an MBA or get an MBA while working full time?
Are online degrees respected options in the work force?
Does anyone have any recommendations for online schools?

Note: I can get my degree much quicker if I do it online then if I go to the university part time.

If this post has been covered in another post I apologize and could someone direct me to that posting.

maura's picture
Training Badge
Submitted by maura on Friday October 12th, 2007 12:34 pm

There have been a couple of related discussions recently - here's one that seems to cover similar ground.

[url]http://www.manager-tools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1920&highlight=onlin...

ashdenver's picture
Submitted by ashdenver on Friday October 12th, 2007 3:10 pm

P.S. I ultimately opted for the brick & mortar option.

CalKen's picture
Submitted by CalKen on Friday October 12th, 2007 6:45 pm

I have actually earned MBA's from both types of schools, and I found that they each have the advantages and disadvantages.

Online schools have an advantage in that they are more flexible and if your job entails a lot of travel (as did mine) then this may be the best option. The main drawback that I saw about online degrees is that you get what you put into it (since it is online you can easily have someone do your work, or put less effort into it). What I found is that a lot of students were in the MBA class who had questionable skills (which came out in their discussions) yet could do the minimum required. If you are a very disciplined person you actually work HARDER in the online course as you have to discipline yourself to do well.

Brick-and-mortar's main advantage in convenience. Once again, if you travel a lot you have to catch up and do stuff, and if it is attendance based grading then your grades would suffer.

All in all, what I would say is that if you are able to motivate yourself and are disciplined then I would go with the online approach. With that being said, if I had the choice between both options I would pick the brick-and-mortar school if my work schedule would allow me to. I worked much harder in an online course than I did my brick-and mortar degree (less professorial access) but the structure of a brick-and-mortar class (in which in my cases were cheaper than online - which made no sense) helps keep you on track.

Jut my opinion, hope this helps.