08-17-2025, 02:36 PM (This post was last modified: 08-17-2025, 02:40 PM by Kjnova.)
I haven't been on this board in a while, thought I would give a quick update in case it's helpful for someone else considering their educational journey. tldr I graduated from the UIUC MSM a few days ago.
Background: Completed 120 credit hours as a traditional college-age student, but didn't graduate (some credits were electives that didn't fulfill requirements, then I took a job in another state, intending to return to finish, then never returned to finish for decades)
Went to UMPI last summer, completing a BBA in one session, with a 4.0 GPA.
Applied to UIUC MSM, Georgia Tech Master of Cybersecurity-Policy Track, Boston University Master of Data Science, and UMPI MAOL. Accepted to all. Decided to do MSM.
The UIUC MSM is about $13K and about one year, though you can go a little faster or a lot slower if you choose. I completed it in 10 months by taking a heavier than normal courseload in one 8-week session. I graduated on Aug. 11 with a 4.0 GPA and am now moving into the UIUC MBA, which stacks.
The MSM is 9 classes/36 hours. The MBA is 18 classes/72 hours, and is about $26K. (One class at UIUC is 4 credit hours, vs the more typical 3 hours, so the numbers are a bit inflated. The prices are actually billed per credit hour, with two classes costing around $2800.) A full course load is two classes/8 hours per 8-week session. It is not CBE. The work is divided by week, with due dates each week. You can't do a future week's work early. Most classes have required teamwork assignments that you do with fellow students, which often involve Zoom meetings, but not every week, only around the time of the assignments. Most student groups use a Teams channel for routine planning and communication.
The MSM coursework "transfer in" as 9 classes toward the MBA's required 18 classes. The only caveat I will mention is that the MBA has 7 required quantitative classes, and the MSM has only two. So, I now need 5 quant classes out of my remaining 9 classes, ouch. I hope I can maintain the 4.0 but we'll see.
In case anyone is wondering, this is "the" University of Illinois, the Fighting Illini, currently in US News & World Report's top 35 national universities in the U.S., not an alternate online-only campus or anything like that. Graduates can walk in the ceremony in Urbana-Champaign.
I am describing it in some detail to help people judge if this is the program for them. I recommend it, but there are many options and it's best to consider multiple options before deciding. If anybody has questions about the UIUC programs, please don't hesitate to ask.
08-17-2025, 04:01 PM (This post was last modified: 08-17-2025, 04:11 PM by Kjnova.)
(08-17-2025, 03:32 PM)NotJoeBiden Wrote: Lol, why is the MBA so many credits?
But actually, do you know if the MBA classes will be similar to the MSM program? Additionally, will your diploma say iMBA or just MBA?
The MBA is 72 credits partly because each class is 4 credits instead of 3. If each class was 3 credits, it would be 54 credits. That is still more than some options, but, this is a thorough program with 7 required quant classes.
The MBA classes and MSM classes are from a shared pool of classes. Though, the degree requirements cause some classes to often be taken by MSM students and rarely by MBA students or vice versa. An MSM student can take nearly any MBA class, but perhaps only as an elective. The 9 MSM classes I took fill 9 out of 18 required classes for the MBA.
The MBA does have several non-credit capstone classes required, which are not required and I don't think are available for MSM.
Awesome, congrats... Great work! UIUC IMSM is a great program (even if people just go for that one program, it's good by itself already). Some do decide to ladder that onto the MBA, but it's not necessarily a requirement for advancement. It's considered a ladder or separate degree depending on how you look at it. I think of it as similar to the UMPI MAOL & MBS or the WGU MBA & MSML, etc, some take both, but others are good with focusing on just one of them
(08-17-2025, 02:36 PM)Kjnova Wrote: I haven't been on this board in a while, thought I would give a quick update in case it's helpful for someone else considering their educational journey. tldr I graduated from the UIUC MSM a few days ago.
Background: Completed 120 credit hours as a traditional college-age student, but didn't graduate (some credits were electives that didn't fulfill requirements, then I took a job in another state, intending to return to finish, then never returned to finish for decades)
Went to UMPI last summer, completing a BBA in one session, with a 4.0 GPA.
Applied to UIUC MSM, Georgia Tech Master of Cybersecurity-Policy Track, Boston University Master of Data Science, and UMPI MAOL. Accepted to all. Decided to do MSM.
The UIUC MSM is about $13K and about one year, though you can go a little faster or a lot slower if you choose. I completed it in 10 months by taking a heavier than normal courseload in one 8-week session. I graduated on Aug. 11 with a 4.0 GPA and am now moving into the UIUC MBA, which stacks.
The MSM is 9 classes/36 hours. The MBA is 18 classes/72 hours, and is about $26K. (One class at UIUC is 4 credit hours, vs the more typical 3 hours, so the numbers are a bit inflated. The prices are actually billed per credit hour, with two classes costing around $2800.) A full course load is two classes/8 hours per 8-week session. It is not CBE. The work is divided by week, with due dates each week. You can't do a future week's work early. Most classes have required teamwork assignments that you do with fellow students, which often involve Zoom meetings, but not every week, only around the time of the assignments. Most student groups use a Teams channel for routine planning and communication.
The MSM coursework "transfer in" as 9 classes toward the MBA's required 18 classes. The only caveat I will mention is that the MBA has 7 required quantitative classes, and the MSM has only two. So, I now need 5 quant classes out of my remaining 9 classes, ouch. I hope I can maintain the 4.0 but we'll see.
In case anyone is wondering, this is "the" University of Illinois, the Fighting Illini, currently in US News & World Report's top 35 national universities in the U.S., not an alternate online-only campus or anything like that. Graduates can walk in the ceremony in Urbana-Champaign.
I am describing it in some detail to help people judge if this is the program for them. I recommend it, but there are many options and it's best to consider multiple options before deciding. If anybody has questions about the UIUC programs, please don't hesitate to ask.
Congratulations! What other options would you suggest?
There are a lot of factors. Assuming we are focusing on business degree programs and assuming no strong regional association preference, I think the two best values right now are UIUC and Boston University, which are both ~2 years ~$26K. UIUC has more stacking options, such as the MSM that I did, but if you know you want an MBA, most people just go straight into that program, and in that case, I think these two are both worth strongly considering. BU is more cohort-based, I think, while UIUC has more flexibility for overall pace. For instance, you can take two classes one session, then 1 class, then zero classes, then 3 classes or whatever fits your anticipated schedule and budget for that 8-week session.
But, there may be local options that fit better. For example, if you live in Alabama, the University of Alabama has a master of arts in management that is only a little more expensive than the UIUC MSM, and you would benefit from the in-state Alabama network. The University of Maine, not Presque Isle but the flagship campus, has an online MBA for about $25K. If you want something potentially faster and much lower in cost, there is the Western Governors MBA, and UMPI has the MAOL and now a Master of Science in Business.
Do any of these resonate, or, what type of program are you interested in? That might help narrow things down. Feel free to PM me if you'd rather.
There are a lot of factors. Assuming we are focusing on business degree programs and assuming no strong regional association preference, I think the two best values right now are UIUC and Boston University, which are both ~2 years ~$26K. UIUC has more stacking options, such as the MSM that I did, but if you know you want an MBA, most people just go straight into that program, and in that case, I think these two are both worth strongly considering. BU is more cohort-based, I think, while UIUC has more flexibility for overall pace. For instance, you can take two classes one session, then 1 class, then zero classes, then 3 classes or whatever fits your anticipated schedule and budget for that 8-week session.
But, there may be local options that fit better. For example, if you live in Alabama, the University of Alabama has a master of arts in management that is only a little more expensive than the UIUC MSM, and you would benefit from the in-state Alabama network. The University of Maine, not Presque Isle but the flagship campus, has an online MBA for about $25K. If you want something potentially faster and much lower in cost, there is the Western Governors MBA, and UMPI has the MAOL and now a Master of Science in Business.
Do any of these resonate, or, what type of program are you interested in? That might help narrow things down. Feel free to PM me if you'd rather.
Thank you so much for your response. I haven’t decided yet, but I will PM you if I have any other questions regarding UIUC iMSM/iMBA.
Name blacked out because the Internet is forever, but, this is the digital diploma I received today, for anyone wondering what words are or are not on it, etc. I should get the paper diploma in a week or two.
![[-]](https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/images/collapse.png)
![[Image: e7P9EJ4.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/e7P9EJ4.jpeg)
