Need Advice

[ThatBankDude]

Okay so here is my dilemma. I finish my MBA in August 2019. I am wanting to pursue a 2nd masters. I had considered a graduate certificate but I want the 2nd masters for personal reasons. I want something that will help benefit me though and I am currently employed in the banking industry. I have looked Texas A&M - Commerce and their MS in Finance. I have also considered a MS in I/O Psych. Someone mentioned a MiM but I find that pointless since I will have a MBA. What is others inputs and thoughts? Any ideas?


___________________________________________
Masters of Business Administration
Southeastern Oklahoma State University
AACSB-Accredited
Expected 2019

Bachelors of Science - Biology
East Central University
Conferred 2015

[Merlin]

Okay so here is my dilemma. I finish my MBA in August 2019. I am wanting to pursue a 2nd masters. I had considered a graduate certificate but I want the 2nd masters for personal reasons. I want something that will help benefit me though and I am currently employed in the banking industry. I have looked Texas A&M - Commerce and their MS in Finance. I have also considered a MS in I/O Psych. Someone mentioned a MiM but I find that pointless since I will have a MBA. What is others inputs and thoughts? Any ideas?

If you're getting a second masters, I'd recommend something that interests you but is in a wholly different area than your first one if possible. If you just want to focus in a business area like finance, I'd get a graduate-level certificate from a well-known business school to compliment the MBA if it were me.

I'm thinking I may do something similar. Get the MBA first (maybe with a business cert) and then work on an MS in CS or something similar. If I don't go for the second masters I plan to start working on a doctorate-level degree of some kind instead.

[ThatBankDude]

Okay so here is my dilemma. I finish my MBA in August 2019. I am wanting to pursue a 2nd masters. I had considered a graduate certificate but I want the 2nd masters for personal reasons. I want something that will help benefit me though and I am currently employed in the banking industry. I have looked Texas A&M - Commerce and their MS in Finance. I have also considered a MS in I/O Psych. Someone mentioned a MiM but I find that pointless since I will have a MBA. What is others inputs and thoughts? Any ideas?

If you're getting a second masters, I'd recommend something that interests you but is in a wholly different area than your first one if possible. If you just want to focus in a business area like finance, I'd get a graduate-level certificate from a well-known business school to compliment the MBA if it were me.

I'm thinking I may do something similar. Get the MBA first (maybe with a business cert) and then work on an MS in CS or something similar. If I don't go for the second masters I plan to start working on a doctorate-level degree of some kind instead.

I have always read, and been told, that a masters in a similar field of study will do very little for one in terms of promoting. That is why I am leaning towards the MS I/O Psych or something else. I want it to be kind of tied into business but far enough away where it would benefit me a little bit. If I had a tech background, I would hop all over a MS-MIS. But I have not a bit of experience in the tech field.


___________________________________________
Masters of Business Administration
Southeastern Oklahoma State University
AACSB-Accredited
Expected 2019

Bachelors of Science - Biology
East Central University
Conferred 2015

[Merlin]

Okay so here is my dilemma. I finish my MBA in August 2019. I am wanting to pursue a 2nd masters. I had considered a graduate certificate but I want the 2nd masters for personal reasons. I want something that will help benefit me though and I am currently employed in the banking industry. I have looked Texas A&M - Commerce and their MS in Finance. I have also considered a MS in I/O Psych. Someone mentioned a MiM but I find that pointless since I will have a MBA. What is others inputs and thoughts? Any ideas?

If you're getting a second masters, I'd recommend something that interests you but is in a wholly different area than your first one if possible. If you just want to focus in a business area like finance, I'd get a graduate-level certificate from a well-known business school to compliment the MBA if it were me.

I'm thinking I may do something similar. Get the MBA first (maybe with a business cert) and then work on an MS in CS or something similar. If I don't go for the second masters I plan to start working on a doctorate-level degree of some kind instead.

I have always read, and been told, that a masters in a similar field of study will do very little for one in terms of promoting. That is why I am leaning towards the MS I/O Psych or something else. I want it to be kind of tied into business but far enough away where it would benefit me a little bit. If I had a tech background, I would hop all over a MS-MIS. But I have not a bit of experience in the tech field.

Yes, it is also my understanding that overlapping degrees in the same or closely aligned subjects rarely adds value. That is why I suggest a grad cert for focus areas given you already have the MBA.

Personally, I feel that Psychology is a great supplement to a business degree. That is why I took a bunch of psych courses in my BS. So the I/O Psych degree sounds like a nice bookend to the MBA. It would be a slam dunk if you were working in HR or organizational leadership within your bank but even outside those areas, it should add value.

If you are not interested in (or have little aptitude in) tech, then yeah a tech degree isn't going to be too valuable. Though MIS is based on using technology in business and is generally less tech-heavy than an IT or CS degree. Either way, I'd suggest that would also be a better candidate for a grad cert than a second masters degree if it was something you enjoyed.

I'd go for the I/O Psych degree if I were in your shoes.

[dfrecore]

I can't see how an MS in I/O Psych adds value to an MBA.

How about something entirely different. An MA in Military History or a graduate certificate in Terrorism Studies or Space Studiees or something like that would make you stand out in a crowd, and people would be interested in discussing it. An MS in I/O - ho hum.

[MNomadic]

I can't see how an MS in I/O Psych adds value to an MBA.

How about something entirely different. An MA in Military History or a graduate certificate in Terrorism Studies or Space Studiees or something like that would make you stand out in a crowd, and people would be interested in discussing it. An MS in I/O - ho hum.

I was looking at AMU's grad cert in space studies... Just in case the space force ever comes to fruition...

[jsd]

Different for the sake of different might not be the best option, even if it makes you more interesting at a cocktail party. I/O Psych is much different than Business Admin, and yet still actually useful to the type of career an MBA grad is likely holding.

(now, if you want an actual career in antiterrorism or space studies, then my "different for the sake of different" statement is not an applicable summary)

[dfrecore]

Different for the sake of different might not be the best option, even if it makes you more interesting at a cocktail party.  I/O Psych is much different than Business Admin, and yet still actually useful to the type of career an MBA grad is likely holding.

(now, if you want an actual career in antiterrorism or space studies, then my "different for the sake of different" statement is not an applicable summary)

Honestly, I've taken courses in Org Behavior/Org Theory/Psych, and I did not take away much of anything useful from any of them.  After a while, they all just run together.  It SOUNDS like it would be useful, but I do not think you're going to get a lot of use out of it.  Just my opinion, everyone can run out and get I/O degrees if they want.  Have at it.

[jsd]

Your valid criticism is the criticism of any business-centric program really... But on paper, business-centric psych gives you the added benefit of "different but relevant" as opposed to something like "space studies," which makes you stand out in a "why would you bother including this certificate/2nd degree on this management app?" way, imo.

of course, you have an HR background which far exceeds my very limited hiring decision background, so i guess what do i know?

[Merlin]

I can't see how an MS in I/O Psych adds value to an MBA.

How about something entirely different.  An MA in Military History or a graduate certificate in Terrorism Studies or Space Studiees or something like that would make you stand out in a crowd, and people would be interested in discussing it.  An MS in I/O - ho hum.

I don't see how an MA in Military History adds any value to an MBA. Plus it seems terribly boring. As a hiring manager, I personally would not see any business benefit to hiring someone with a secondary degree like that unless I was a military contractor maybe. On the other hand, a secondary MS in I/O Psych suggests someone who not only understands business but people as well. Perhaps not as much if it were a bachelor's degree but at the masters level, I'd assume they had developed some expertise.

If I were comparing two potential candidates for a senior business role, I'd pick the MBA+Psych candidate over the MBA+History candidate every time. Doubly so if they were expected to work with clients or had significant people management responsibilities.

As for interest, I think the history degree might be worthy of a conversation, but probably more about how they ended up with the history degree after the MBA. Seems an odd choice unless they were considering going into teaching or something. Then again, I'd be impressed if they indicated that they'd leverage the military history degree to give them an advantage in business strategy (by adapting military strategy to business) or something along those lines.