Patten MBA in 4 months???

[Yanji]

While most for profits are terrible and do have stigma attached to them, I disagree that Patten would fall into that stigma category. Patten is unknown and that is a good thing since they are for-profits. One of the reasons for-profits get slammed is their high cost and Patten is the opposite of that, offering one of the most affordable degrees in higher ed.

The problem is that it's nigh impossible for someone without previous knowledge to distinguish the nuances between proprietaries. When someone gets arrested on the street, people passing by automatically assume that person has committed a crime, even if they do not know the circumstances and the person is not a criminal until convicted in court. Being a proprietary simply makes you guilty by association. Additionally, high tuition is only one of the ways in which for-profit colleges exploit students.

From an employment perspective, first impressions are everything, and while graduating from a for-profit school is not necessarily a deal-breaker, it certainly raises eyebrows for the wrong reasons. Granted, going to a relatively unknown school will ameliorate this somewhat, but obscurity will not help when applying to a subsequent degree program. If there's one place that actually checks these kinds of things and cares, it's academia, which holds a far dimmer view of proprietaries than private industry or the government does.

[mednat]

The "stigma" is the stigma that is attached to private for-profit schools. While it's unfair to lump all of the schools together, the failure of Corinthian Colleges (Heald being the most well none brand) is a strong reminder of the possible issues.

Patten falls in the same group as ITT Tech, DeVry, Heald, University of Phoenix, Kaplan, Strayer, Capella, etc. While I am not commenting on the quality of the education, you should realize you will run into people who will have a negative view on the school. You will run into the same challenges in both the professional world and the academic world, long after people stop caring about your GPA.

Also out of curiousity, what 'opportunities' are you running into outside of grad school that require a 3.5 GPA?



MBAs tend to be the second graduate degree you get, not the first, if you are intending on having more than one graduate degree. There is no wrong way to do it, but a MBA is considered a professional degree. Generally it's the degree people go back for to add practical acumen to their more academic pursuits from a traditional graduate degree. Why are you doing the MBA before the other graduate programs? Why are you doing two graduate programs?

I agree with you in principle. If I had little industry experience, I would be looking at a state college MBA program. I have over 15 years of experience in my field and really want an MBA for these reasons:

1.) I just completed my BSBA coursework and it makes sense to take similar classes to take advantage of the material overlap.
2.) To check a box on job postings for "Graduate degree preferred"
3.) I believe I can do it quickly and cheaply.

Without #3, I would just forego the MBA, because the material is not particularly interesting to me.

My interest in other graduate programs is mostly just from a desire to learn and to allow for the possibility of a career change in the future. I intend to pursue these at traditional schools (probably using an online format).

[GoodYellowDogs]

Same reason I'm doing it. I agree with you.

[cptdilbert]

The problem is that it's nigh impossible for someone without previous knowledge to distinguish the nuances between proprietaries. When someone gets arrested on the street, people passing by automatically assume that person has committed a crime, even if they do not know the circumstances and the person is not a criminal until convicted in court. Being a proprietary simply makes you guilty by association. Additionally, high tuition is only one of the ways in which for-profit colleges exploit students.

Bingo. Even with an unknown program, you don't know what will happen. Patten is a great example. Patten went from a Christian non-profit, to privatizing in 2012 under a parent company called UniversityNow. They are a venture-funded startup company now. If they keep the Patten brand, there is definitely a possibility they will end up with bigger name recognition.

Or they can stay a smaller, not well known, under 1,000 student body school.

And now the University of Phoenix is under investigation, meaning the stigma of for-profit education is going to stick around a while.

[iwant2stalku]

I just wanted to back and update that I did enroll in Patten back in August and finished the MBA program on Thanksgiving day.

Say what you will profit/non profit, all schools have expenses, so they have to make money one way or another or they couldn't exist. I really feel Patten avoids the stigma of a for-profit school by not accepting government money-i.e. GI or student loans. In real terms, this means a student loan default rate of zero and they can't be accused of using predatory lending to boost enrollment (a tactic used by many for-profit schools).

I still stand behind my decision to enroll. I paid in cash, the tuition included all my books and materials. The professors were responsive, one even called me when I was stuck because I'd failed a project. It got me where I wanted to be cheaply and quickly and without any major complaints. $2k for a regionally accredited MBA in less than four months with a 3.83 GPA. I can't really complain.

[alleycat]

Great job!

[derek12538]

Those who have finished this program with such speed and efficiency are inspirational to say the least.
I know there are a few others who are in this program here and on the "other" board... maybe we need to start a virtual cohort with the goal of finishing this endeavor by the end of 2016?

[cookderosa]

I still stand behind my decision to enroll. I paid in cash, the tuition included all my books and materials. The professors were responsive, one even called me when I was stuck because I'd failed a project. It got me where I wanted to be cheaply and quickly and without any major complaints. $2k for a regionally accredited MBA in less than four months with a 3.83 GPA. I can't really complain.>>

Are you kidding? That's phenomenal.

[GoodYellowDogs]

Do you have an outline of how long it took you for each class? I withdrew because I wasn't motivated last year. However, I really need to do it this year and would like to keep it to one term. I'm looking for motivation and an outline to try to stick to that I know is doable. Thanks in advance for any input you can give me.

I just wanted to back and update that I did enroll in Patten back in August and finished the MBA program on Thanksgiving day.

Say what you will profit/non profit, all schools have expenses, so they have to make money one way or another or they couldn't exist. I really feel Patten avoids the stigma of a for-profit school by not accepting government money-i.e. GI or student loans. In real terms, this means a student loan default rate of zero and they can't be accused of using predatory lending to boost enrollment (a tactic used by many for-profit schools).

I still stand behind my decision to enroll. I paid in cash, the tuition included all my books and materials. The professors were responsive, one even called me when I was stuck because I'd failed a project. It got me where I wanted to be cheaply and quickly and without any major complaints. $2k for a regionally accredited MBA in less than four months with a 3.83 GPA. I can't really complain.

[iwant2stalku]

Do you have an outline of how long it took you for each class? I withdrew because I wasn't motivated last year. However, I really need to do it this year and would like to keep it to one term. I'm looking for motivation and an outline to try to stick to that I know is doable. Thanks in advance for any input you can give me.

I most certainly do. Completing all my degrees has made me a time and organization freak. I had a printed paper calendar, where I X'd out holidays and numbered every day of the term and the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 points and which classes I needed to be in at those points to be "on target". I also should have crossed out the last two weeks because, as I later found out from my adviser, they WILL NOT enroll you if you have less than two weeks left in your term. Thankfully, I had more than that left when I enrolled in Investment Analysis.

I attached the spreadsheet I used to keep track of my days in each class. Finance #1 and #2 are because I failed the project the first time and had to resubmit it. Global Economy and Investment Analysis had two projects and no Final Exams. I left my projections (best case=green and worst case=red) for when I anticipated I would be in each class. I was trying to redo MBA Foundations since I had a B in that class and really wanted a 4.0, but ended up with a B in Investment Analysis too and there just wasn't any time left in the term to be re-enrolled in anything else. Again, I'm not complaining here, I'm just an over-achiever. In case you haven't noticed...

The basic strategy is to get in the course, get the project completed as fast as you can. More specifically, do the highest quality project you can do just in case you screw up on your final exam AND do it as fast as you can. The projects all require extensive research. Papers and case studies are usually around 10-15 pages and APA formatted. Study, read through the textbook, do the pre final and final while you are waiting for your grade to come back. It was an insane amount of work for four months. About halfway through I wanted to quit. I was so tired, between all the studying and the baby still waking every 2-3 hours to eat at night, and my brain was so fried. You can choose to make excuses or you can find a way to make it work and keep pushing.

I'm excited, but in a way, kind of ashamed that I got it done that fast. Only my closest friends and family (and of course this thread) know that I did it in four months. My main fear now is that people will think it was a diploma scheme and I didn't really work to make it happen since it was completed so quickly and most people take years to finish. The truth is (not including my Finance re-submission) my average turnaround for projects is 3.92 days. Most of them were A's. Several were above 95%, one was 100%. I am actively looking to go back to work, so when employers ask about it, I just say I have it and give the GPA if they ask for it and then talk about what I studied.