Boston U, Mississippi State, or Auburn

[joshua27]

Has anyone on this board attended Boston University, Mississippi State, or Auburn University's online MBA programs?  I have applied to all 3 and am awaiting admission.  Like most programs from larger schools, the websites don't have a ton of information to go off on the website.  I'd love to ask prior students a few questions.  

Namely the following:

1.  Did you have to buy books?
2.  How long did the program take and how fast can it be done?
3.  What were the classes like?
4.  What were the assessments like?  Exams (open book? proctored?), research papers/assignments?, mostly group work?
5.  What did it end up costing you when it was all said and done?

Thanks in advance for any insight you might have into these specific programs.

[ss20ts]

I wonder if anyone on here has attended any of these programs. I haven't seen much chat about them at all. I'm guessing that's due to price and length of the programs? I spent 10 months and less than $9000 on my MBA.

I've only seen a couple of colleges who included books in tuition aside from CBE programs. There's usually a fee to cover the book rentals so they're not really free. I had this at Charleston Southern University. I had to pay to ship the books to me and pay to ship them back. If they're late, there's HUGE fees.

How long it takes to complete those degrees should be on their websites. A lot will depend if you're full or part time.

In my MBA program, I only had 1 class with a group project and that was a class I elected to take as it wasn't a requirement. I personally would avoid any group projects in online classes. In my experience, they're 10 times worse than B&M group projects. At least with B&M projects, you see each other in class and have an opportunity to talk to the professor. Emailing a professor just isn't the same. And trying to get people in the group to respond is an absolute nightmare.

In my MBA program, there was a lot of writing. Lots of reading as well. Amberton's MBA programs have like 6 (maybe more) concentrations. In mine, I had a lot of freedom to take the classes I wanted. The university also has the syllabus for each class on their website so you can see what work is involved before enrolling in a course. This was a really nice feature to have. I don't know of other colleges who do this. I wish more did!

[ReyMysterioso]

I may be able to get answers about MSU from an alum. I'll update if I get answers.

[bjcheung77]

@joshua27, you really should provide a bit more info so we will know your budget, timeline, if you have tuition assistance or reimbursement, etc (maybe fill in the addendum/template I usually point people to). Just wondering, when you applied to the Boston University MBA, did you go directly with them or did you go through the MOOC option instead? Example for the BU MBA, it can be had for $24K and students can finish in 2 Years.

[joshua27]

@joshua27, you really should provide a bit more info so we will know your budget, timeline, if you have tuition assistance or reimbursement, etc (maybe fill in the addendum/template I usually point people to).   Just wondering, when you applied to the Boston University MBA, did you go directly with them or did you go through the MOOC option instead?  Example for the BU MBA, it can be had for $24K and students can finish in 2 Years.

bjcheung77- budget, timeline, etc. aren't a concern.  I'm decided on attending one of these schools, they are all similarly priced, I just want some "first-hand" knowledge from people who have attended one of the programs.  I've applied directly with each school and am looking at spending somewhere between 25-30k.

---

I wonder if anyone on here has attended any of these programs. I haven't seen much chat about them at all. I'm guessing that's due to price and length of the programs? I spent 10 months and less than $9000 on my MBA.

I've only seen a couple of colleges who included books in tuition aside from CBE programs. There's usually a fee to cover the book rentals so they're not really free. I had this at Charleston Southern University. I had to pay to ship the books to me and pay to ship them back. If they're late, there's HUGE fees.

How long it takes to complete those degrees should be on their websites. A lot will depend if you're full or part time.

In my MBA program, I only had 1 class with a group project and that was a class I elected to take as it wasn't a requirement. I personally would avoid any group projects in online classes. In my experience, they're 10 times worse than B&M group projects. At least with B&M projects, you see each other in class and have an opportunity to talk to the professor. Emailing a professor just isn't the same. And trying to get people in the group to respond is an absolute nightmare.

In my MBA program, there was a lot of writing. Lots of reading as well. Amberton's MBA programs have like 6 (maybe more) concentrations. In mine, I had a lot of freedom to take the classes I wanted. The university also has the syllabus for each class on their website so you can see what work is involved before enrolling in a course. This was a really nice feature to have. I don't know of other colleges who do this. I wish more did!

ss20ts - I've struggled with this decision but finally decided to go to a "name" school for my graduate degree.  I work for a Fortune 300 company and people do look at your LinkedIn and judge you based off of your educational creds.  Do I think that I will receive a better education than I will at LSU-S (another AACSB accreditted school?, NO).  I have applied and been accepted to LSU-S on the off chance I don't get into one of these other programs.  That said, I am admitting up front that this is a superficial decision.

[ReyMysterioso]

If you are in the South, I'd lean towards LSUS, MSU and Auburn over BU since one of your biggest motivators here is to go with a "name." Schools are ultimately regional beasts and brand value depends on people feeling like they have familiarity with the brand. BU isn't in the SEC and for better or worse, nobody down here pays attention to them. I have a undergrad and graduate degrees both from new England. Since I never lived there, and everyone I meet and work with in the South went to southern schools and mostly think of higher ed in terms of brick and mortar, this often leads to confusion.
"Oh does it get real cold in the winter up there?" "Iunno." "Wait. How much time did you actually spend in Connecticut?" "About 48 hours." ?

And yes... unfortunately some people still do get snobby about distance education.

[joshua27]

If you are in the South, I'd lean towards LSUS, MSU and Auburn over BU since one of your biggest motivators here is to go with a "name." Schools are ultimately regional beasts and brand value depends on people feeling like they have familiarity with the brand. BU isn't in the SEC and for better or worse, nobody down here pays attention to them. I have a undergrad and graduate degrees both from new England. Since I never lived there, and everyone I meet and work with in the South went to southern schools and mostly think of higher ed in terms of brick and mortar, this often leads to confusion.
"Oh does it get real cold in the winter up there?" "Iunno." "Wait. How much time did you actually spend in Connecticut?" "About 48 hours." ?

And yes... unfortunately some people still do get snobby about distance education.

Ray- I agree that the name recognition of a SEC school in the south is paramount.  I work for a large corporation in Atlanta so everyone knows MSU, Auburn, etc.  MSU and Auburn are the cheapest of the "big name" SEC schools for online MBA.  I'm mainly interested in Boston U because it is not only a fairly affordable online MBA, it is also a top ranked business school period.  Questrom is a top 50 b school.  

As an update to this post, I also applied to The Citadel's mba program today.  While not an SEC school, anyone from the south knows The Citadel and the name carries weight.

[Pats20]

I would think BU would have pretty good weight in Atalanta or anywhere. I understand regional weight, but it’s not like it’s a no name school.


My choices in Order of what was suggested if I lived in Atlanta 
1) Auburn 
2) BU
3) Mississippi State
4) Citadel

[joshua27]

I would think BU would have pretty good weight in Atalanta or anywhere. I understand regional weight, but it’s not like it’s a no name school.


My choices in Order of what was suggested if I lived in Atlanta 
1) Auburn 
2) BU
3) Mississippi State
4) Citadel

Agreed Pats20.  It's not a no name school anywhere in the country for sure.  While doing some research tonight I discovered that Ole Miss has a program that is slightly cheaper than Auburn so now I'm torn on if I should apply to it as well.

[bjcheung77]

It's a good idea to apply to institutions you're really interested in, so have say your top 3 choices and also a backup 3 choices, just in case the first three you don't get into. You want to make sure you have the prerequisites for all of the institutions, each will have various minor differences, so having all the prerequisites for each one would keep you covered in case you wanted a specific one you have your eyes set on...