Thursday, August 12, 2010

Publicly Traded Online MBAs - Guilty by Association

By : Ken Sundheim

If you are reading this, you go to a reputable university as I don't send these to the colleges which I am going to be discussing. As you further your career and want to extend your education possibly to a MBA, do not choose the main publicly traded colleges which you see all over TV and print ads. As you have learned through school, publicly traded companies have a responsibility to their shareholders. Shareholders are #1; no exceptions.

The main problem lies is that their loyalty to the investors eclipses their loyalty to the students. Again, every three months, the school has to bring in more revenue and show a better profit margin than the previous quarter and quarter prior to that. How does a college do this?

These do it exactly as you would think. The schools lower their admission standards and allow more students in. Therefore, admission standards begin to get very, very low. Additionally, I would speculate that, at the sign of first profit loss, the various schools begin to start to pay professors less money to keep profit steady. This would result in having to recruit cheaper professors who are not as well qualified and are probably not used to the type of educational environment at these schools to the extent their previously incumbent was. This is just a hunch that I have, but I would presume that I'm betting with the house as to whether this goes on.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as to what you would associate yourself with if you decided to go to one of these schools. By the time you arrive, the school is going to be much worse than it is as I am writing and you are reading this article. As a favor to a career resources person at one of these colleges, about two months ago, I offered to mock interview two students. Something was off. This could not be blamed on the professors or career counselors either. It was directly indicative to the company who owns this school, attempting to make numbers, thus throwing in anybody who wants to go to college in the classroom.

To say the interviews went fairly would be an understatement. As a matter of fact, one student gave me possibly the worst interview I have ever had witnessed from a job applicant. Then, I asked for writing samples from each. One student sent hers in, the other I never heard from. This person's writing was at a 10th grade level. I'm not being harsh, I am just telling facts with this statement. For both the government and tax payers, this is getting to be agitation. Everybody is getting sick and tired paying these schools to produce no results and leave naïve students with a hefty amount of high-yielding debt.

So, after reading this entire article, I'm sure you're wondering as to how you fit into this formula. If you decide to pursue a MBA from one of these schools, your value on the job market will actually (in cases which I've seen) lower, thus making it more advantageous if you never went at all. When going through resumes, I don't like to see applicants who have a MBA from this type of institution. The schools may have been better back 10 or so years ago, however they now have a tarnished reputation. I don't know when the transitions happened, though keeping up with the exact timeline is not part of my job.

If you want to go get your MBA, don't do it via an online degree from one these businesses / educational centers. If you are truly serious about getting your MBA, do it at an accredited university and make sure there is some class attendance involved. Simply being in an education environment lends itself to learning; this is opposed to sitting in front of your computer. Now, all online degrees are not bad. Please don't misunderstand me. Conversely, the ones I am referring to are exceedingly poor in nature.

Here's a rule of thumb. If your econ professor may or may not have stock options at the school, it is best not to enroll.

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