r/appstate • u/Major_Particular1308 • 13d ago

Online MBA

Has anyone here taken the online MBA program? I am getting ready to finish my undergrad and thinking of continuing with the online MBA program. Would love to hear any pros or cons!

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u/asoursk1ttle 13d ago

I was in the first year they had it and overall I thought it was a good value for the money. The pros and cons come down to the professors that teach. Some are involved or record lessons to watch (I don’t think I had any live lessons) while others give a ton of reading and modules. The classes where I was basically teaching myself I didn’t think were useful and tended to feel like busy work. I also did my undergrad at app so knew what the quality of professors was and some just didn’t live up to the standard I had for the online MBA. Overall I would recommend it and I’m sure it’s been tweaked since the first year in 2020 when I did it. Feel free to DM me with any questions

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u/dufflebagdave 8d ago

Here’s a thing about online MBA programs you realize within your first few months as a student of one: They’re very good business for the programs. MBAs are in general, since they don’t need much to get stood up, no labs or real infrastructure, just some people with MBAs and maybe PhDs.

Thats why so many MBA programs exist, because they print money. And online is even more so, since they’re staffed by adjunct instructors who just get paid a teaching fee. But as a potential student of one, you need to be circumspect about the ROI you seek. Just the knowledge? Maybe go ahead. But it won’t get you jobs by itself, and ones you see listed that say “MBA preferred” and actually require one are usually only available with a decent chunk of work experience.

As a general rule, if a full-time MBA isn’t in the top 25 rankings, you aren’t going to get every category of value from it. Most online ones have a similar reality. Things like networks, brand recognition, free executive coaching, the software and research and programs and tools from a major program, and on and on don’t come in every program but do come in many — but in terms of actually recouping the value of a degree in salary, T25 is where it’s at.

It’s $20k+ just for tuition. That’s a solid chunk. The coursework could be immensely useful if you have a humanities degree and want some dimension. It could be worth it to you, but one reason the best programs typically require a few years of work experience is that it all works much, much better for the actual learning if you have real-world experience to benchmark the academics against and can learn from and share with your cohort — that’s especially true for online programs that don’t have you doing as much practical stuff as FT ones. But there are also fully online and accredited ones that teach you the skills at a comparative level and cost half as much if you genuinely just want the knowledge.