Where's the best place to get an MBA (off campus or distance, of course)???

[commdiver]

You are missing the point of an MBA. An MBA is meant to teach you new ways to think, but also allow you to network. A large part of what makes top MBA programs so good is that they have a diverse group of working professionals who can share their experiences. If you are getting an MBA right out of school with no work experience, you have nothing to bring to the table. If a school is still willing to accept you, chances are that MBA program is not very strong.

[rebel100]

You are missing the point of an MBA. An MBA is meant to teach you new ways to think, but also allow you to network. A large part of what makes top MBA programs so good is that they have a diverse group of working professionals who can share their experiences. If you are getting an MBA right out of school with no work experience, you have nothing to bring to the table. If a school is still willing to accept you, chances are that MBA program is not very strong.

I more or less agree with this assesment...there are exceptions like the route ryoder followed but the MBA should be about more than the presented study material IMO.

[Yenisei]

I live out in the boonies in MT. Seriously though, I'm a couple hours away from MSUB.

The University of Wyoming, the University of South Dakota and the University of North Dakota all have respected AACSB-accredited MBA programs available via distance learning. Presumably all of those programs will have serious name recognition in Montana since it is a bordering state.

[rebel100]

Wyoming has a cool program!

[brajalle]

I would check out ULM, it's got a 30credit hour MBA that is AACSB accredited. I believe their format is 2 classes per semester, but I could be wrong - should run right around $10k tuition.

ULM Gateway to Online Degrees (GOLD)

[Ubuntu_user]

Good to know about Wyoming. I don't live too far from that school...

With all the advice posted here (thanks everyone) I've decided to focus more on getting some practical work experience and then seeing what direction to head from there.

[martialartist]

I found this MBA rankings and just thought it would be helpful, not all school has distance mba's, but the ones I have been looking at do...Imperial College...Warwick Business school (AACSB accredited.) Seem to be a fantastic value. There are other very good programmes there, but with steeper cost.


Business school rankings from the Financial Times - Global MBA Rankings 2011

[ryoder]

About the networking aspect. Of course networking is always good, but I have a few coworkers in brick and mortar MBA programs and they are not really networking with their cohorts. The reason is that the MBA is multi-disciplinary. You will have recent college grads in your MBA classes, computer programmers, construction managers, retail managers, real estate agents, stay at home moms, sales people, unemployed people, you name it. You may not find a single person in your class that is even working in the same industry as you. It is the new liberal arts degree or undeclared major for those who want to learn more about business and management. I understand that the marketing around the MBA tries to make people feel like the networking is so important. This is because it is intangible and unquantifiable.
Ask anyone who completed a B&M MBA about the program and the working in groups part will probably be their least cherished aspect. They will usually have horror stories about their cohorts as well.

Don't get me wrong, its not all bad, but I just wanted to present the other side of the coin.

[jt003806]

don't discount the value of networking w/ alums