B.S. in Business Administration from Kaplan- Please Help and Thank You

[onlinestudent101]

Has anyone completed the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Kaplan University? My employer is paying the tuition. I have transfer credits and was told I need 10 more classes to complete the degree. Are the classes at Kaplan difficult? Are they mostly writing assignments? From my understanding, each class is 10 weeks long. I am working a full-time job.

Does anyone know if it is possible that Kaplan University will allow me to take some of their Master of Science in Management or Master of Business Administration courses and use them to satisfy some requirements of the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree? I am eager to start a graduate degree even though I have not yet completed my undergraduate degree.

[videogamesrock]

Sounds like a great deal, free education.

[sanantone]

Could you have chosen any school? Even though your employer is paying for it, I would have chosen a different school if I were you. There are other schools that are more flexible and have a better reputation than Kaplan. I don't know if this type of program exists at Kaplan, but there are schools that will let you use some MBA classes toward a bachelor's in business shortening the time it will take to complete the MBA.

[futuremrsmlb]

I completed 30 credits with Kaplan. My experience was that the classes were easy. I did not like the required seminars. One word of caution: When I interviewed for my current position I had Kaplan on my resume and the plant managers response to it was "What is that". I was offended! And transferred immediately. The name game, sigh!

[cookderosa]

Has anyone completed the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Kaplan University? My employer is paying the tuition. I have transfer credits and was told I need 10 more classes to complete the degree. Are the classes at Kaplan difficult? Are they mostly writing assignments? From my understanding, each class is 10 weeks long. I am working a full-time job.

Does anyone know if it is possible that Kaplan University will allow me to take some of their Master of Science in Management or Master of Business Administration courses and use them to satisfy some requirements of the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree? I am eager to start a graduate degree even though I have not yet completed my undergraduate degree.

Only needing 30 credits means you're bringing in a ton of credit already. Sometimes it's hard, no actually it's FREQUENTLY hard to make that many previous credits fit into a degree. I think you're getting a great deal. If you have the option of using tuition reimbursement, and you only need 10 classes, you've got a great situation, I say go for it.

What I would NOT do is merge your masters into this program. When you apply grad level courses to an undergrad degree there are some potential pitfalls.
1) if you don't finish the master's degree, the likelihood of transfer elsewhere is not 100%
2) graduate course are a lot more work, adding barriers to completing your BS that don't need to be there. I think it moves BACK your goal post instead of bringing it closer.
3) if you are eligible to take grad classes, they are going to be at graduate level tuition rate (much more expensive)

There is a school of thought that having your undergraduate and graduate degree from the same schools isn't as strong as choosing 2 schools. I would tend to agree, though I think it's probably not a deal breaker, just food for thought.

If it were me, I'd take the 10 at Kaplan (for free) and then continue to use tuition reimbursement if possible to earn an MBA at a different college. Before you enroll, you can research costs and prestige and all of that, but I think you're on track for now.

[cookderosa]

I completed 30 credits with Kaplan. My experience was that the classes were easy. I did not like the required seminars. One word of caution: When I interviewed for my current position I had Kaplan on my resume and the plant managers response to it was "What is that". I was offended! And transferred immediately. The name game, sigh!

without looking it up, my prediction is that the average person can only name about 200 colleges. Of course anyone can say there are 50 states, so University of X State (there's 50) and X State University (there's another 50). So, the other 100 is made up of all the Ivys, the Big 10, every college in the towns you've lived in, the college you graduated from + competitors, the big players in your career/ industry, and 5 or so for-profits that advertise all over the internet.

So, if someone doesn't know the name of your college, don't be shocked. There are about 39,000 colleges out there.

[sanantone]

I completed 30 credits with Kaplan. My experience was that the classes were easy. I did not like the required seminars. One word of caution: When I interviewed for my current position I had Kaplan on my resume and the plant managers response to it was "What is that". I was offended! And transferred immediately. The name game, sigh!

In the case of for-profits, it's better to be unknown than known because they usually have a bad reputation. People often have heard about Kaplan and lump it together with University of Phoenix and Devry.

Only needing 30 credits means you're bringing in a ton of credit already. Sometimes it's hard, no actually it's FREQUENTLY hard to make that many previous credits fit into a degree. I think you're getting a great deal. If you have the option of using tuition reimbursement, and you only need 10 classes, you've got a great situation, I say go for it.

What I would NOT do is merge your masters into this program. When you apply grad level courses to an undergrad degree there are some potential pitfalls.
1) if you don't finish the master's degree, the likelihood of transfer elsewhere is not 100%
2) graduate course are a lot more work, adding barriers to completing your BS that don't need to be there. I think it moves BACK your goal post instead of bringing it closer.
3) if you are eligible to take grad classes, they are going to be at graduate level tuition rate (much more expensive)

There is a school of thought that having your undergraduate and graduate degree from the same schools isn't as strong as choosing 2 schools. I would tend to agree, though I think it's probably not a deal breaker, just food for thought.

If it were me, I'd take the 10 at Kaplan (for free) and then continue to use tuition reimbursement if possible to earn an MBA at a different college. Before you enroll, you can research costs and prestige and all of that, but I think you're on track for now.

I thought BSBA to MBA programs usually let you take the MBA courses at the undergraduate rate. At least that's what they do at TESC.

[swalke321]

It might vary from school to school but some do allow undergrads to take graduate courses that satisfy both undergrad and grad requirements, 1 course taken at undergrad rates will satisfy both the undergrad requirement and grad requirement. Some schools charge the undergrad rate even though it is a graduate course. Though there is usually a limit on credits earned (6 to 9). Other schools will waive certain requirements for Master degrees if they have been completed at the undergrad level such as business foundation courses or they may waive prerequisites and allow the student to choose an elective instead. Each school sets their own policy but a lot of schools seem to have an established Bachelors to Masters program for their students. The graduate courses would be a graduate level course so the course would be more advanced, some schools may have certain requirements, prerequisites before allowing an undergrad student to complete graduate level courses. The courses may or may not transfer it would depend on the school you are transferring credits to.

[cookderosa]

In the case of for-profits, it's better to be unknown than known because they usually have a bad reputation. People often have heard about Kaplan and lump it together with University of Phoenix and Devry.



I thought BSBA to MBA programs usually let you take the MBA courses at the undergraduate rate. At least that's what they do at TESC.

That's a newish policy for TESC. They changed a couple years back. Of the programs I've personally looked up (probably fewer than 10) none were at undergrad rate, which made TESC's change exciting. I don't know what everyone does, but I tried to check Kaplan's program and I can't even find where this is an option- I might just be over tired, but wherever the program info is, it isn't immediately obvious to me. ?

[cookderosa]

It might vary from school to school but some do allow undergrads to take graduate courses that satisfy both undergrad and grad requirements, 1 course taken at undergrad rates will satisfy both the undergrad requirement and grad requirement. Some schools charge the undergrad rate even though it is a graduate course. Though there is usually a limit on credits earned (6 to 9). Other schools will waive certain requirements for Master degrees if they have been completed at the undergrad level such as business foundation courses or they may waive prerequisites and allow the student to choose an elective instead. Each school sets their own policy but a lot of schools seem to have an established Bachelors to Masters program for their students. The graduate courses would be a graduate level course so the course would be more advanced, some schools may have certain requirements, prerequisites before allowing an undergrad student to complete graduate level courses. The courses may or may not transfer it would depend on the school you are transferring credits to.

I want to address just the part in red, because "may or may not" implies that you just have to look- but there is a difference between using those credits in an EARNED degree and having lose credits. If a student took grad level courses, just in general, then transfer is possible if you find the right school. I'd bet my last $1 you couldn't find even 1 regionally accredited college in the country that would allow you to take a grad course that was USED on a BA transcript and award new graduate level credit. I'm incredibly confident that the transferability would be zero. That's why I cautioned him against this, if he finished his BS and then didn't finish the MBA at the same school, those grad credits are gone. If he dropped out of the BS program before graduating, then it's possible he could transfer the grad credits, but then where is he going to use them? He won't have a BS; so he'd still have to finish it. I'm still in the camp of this is a bad plan.