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How relevant is Accreditation for an MBA program. Will an MBA help advance my career?

Veteran

Deepak Jacobi Irvington, KY

I am pursuing an MBA starting this fall. The college that I will be attending is accredited by IACBE. Does this mean anything at all? Any pros and cons that I should consider regarding the accreditation? Secondly how much of an advantage is having an MBA on your resume? I recently graduated with a bachelors degree in computer science.

10 July 2018 12 replies Education & Training

Answers

Advisor

Casey Jensen Saint Louis, MO

Good Morning Deepak,

I struggled with this very question myself. What degree should i get? What school? Is one better than the other? What about these certification things? Do companies really care what school I go to? How much does accreditation really matter?

I will say that you are not alone in your thoughts. The military does not focus on education from the right sources in the civilian spaces. The military does excel at training and mostly preparing you for the position you hold while in uniform. School are very good at marketing to military members even if it is not the best degree to obtain. After years of research I finally got an decent grasp on these questions...in regards to business degrees.

What degree should you get?
- That depends on what you want to do with your career. An MBA is a good multidisciplinary degree that provides practical knowledge and some skills into everyday business acumen. It can assist you with understanding how a company works and the major aspects of each department is responsible for. It will NOT provide technical knowledge that is gained through experience or highly focused degrees or certification programs. Also, most MBA programs use business math to solve problems. Yes, an MBA is generally heavily focused on math.

What School and Accreditation?
- The school and accreditation does matter. I recommend searching via accreditation and choose a school that matches that profile. I can only speak to the business degrees as that is what I have heavily researched. First, select a school that is REGIONALLY accredited from the US Department of Education MSA, NEASC, NCA, SACS, or WASC. Just a note, national accredited schools are not generally widely accepted for many professions.

- Personally, I would be cautious about the IACBE accrediation as they do recognize some nationally accredited schools.

- Degree specific accreditation provides additional oversight. For business professionals an AACSB is the current top tier of global programs. About 5% of business school hold this accreditation. This also means the requirements to enter the program are higher (e.g. higher GMAT scores, level of professional experience, length of program, weekly time commitment, etc.). The programs are also audited to ensure compliance with the stringent AACSB requirements. Read the below article to get a better idea of the differences between the business accreditation.

- https://www.business-management-degree.net/differences-comparisons-aacsb-acbsp-iacbe/

What about Certifications?
- I recommend looking into professional certifications as well as a Masters degree. As you continue to read job descriptions for middle to upper management positions a very likely trend will appear:
--- 1) Masters Preferred
--- 2) Certification (Insert specific info) Preferred
Many companies want people with certifications that are specific to what they are hiring for. What ever profession you pursue I recommend looking into the widely accepted certifications to give yourself a little more competitive advantage.

For example, I chose to get my MBA with a minor in Supply Chain from an AACSB accredited school and completed a Masters Certification in Advanced Procurement Management. Both of these complimented each other and gave me a competitive advantage to get my foot in the door at a fortune 23 company. Remember, your resume, including education, will get you an interview, from there you have to sell YOU!

This is an overwhelming amount of things to think about. If you ever want to have a more in depth conversation around education please feel free to message me and I will be happy to continue this conversation.

25 July 2018 Helpful answer

Veteran

todd moore Terre Haute, IN

Alway make sure your degree is accredited from a regionally accredited school. No sense to waste your time and money on something that no one will look at.

Advisor

FRANCIS TEPEDINO, ESQ. San Diego, CA

My "two-cents": I do not know which grad school you are planning to attend.

However my experience of some 40 plus years as a senior corporate executive and from founding my own succcessful consulting firm:

Go to a college that offers an MBA/JD degree.

There are a lot of MBA's running around. Darn few MBA/JD's.

Maybe I am an old foggy, but all the alphabet soup initials behind one's name seems a almost silly, unless the letters are J.D. That makes a difference.

Advisor

Kevin Hicks Freehold, NY

Some considerations:

I don’t think the GI Bill won’t pay for a non-accredited school course.

My MBA was from an on-line school. Probably wouldn’t help me compete with a peer whose MBA was from Harvard, but I was competetive for and assigned to an Army duty assignment that required an MBA, so it helped me in that case.

Veteran

John Parker, MBA, MSIS Vacaville, CA

There are times when accreditation is very important. I had a little bit of a career struggle after separating from the USAF and completing a MBA. So I attempted to apply for Army AMEDD and it was important to have a competitive package especially going up against candidates who already had a medical background and/or degree. My MBA from the University of Phoenix was frowned upon from recruiters and AMEDD officers that I consulted with on the basis of UOP's shaky accreditation history. I was not selected for AMEDD and I also was not selected to a few management intern programs with local gov't with HR departments boasting the degrees of other candidates in my applicant not selected letters. It spooked me so much that I went and got another second graduate degree from a school with a more respectable accreditation (Univ of Tennessee). Nowadays I tread carefully before mentioning my MBA that has so far been useless 12 years after receiving it. I occasionally get compliments when people see MBA in my signature......until they discover where it came from. I also feel like UOP owes me a refund. Choose your educational institution wisely.

Advisor

Matt Johnson Chicago, IL

Deepak,
Consider that your MBA will be part of your brand and you want that brand to say certain things, like you're smart and driven. I echo what Barry and Gene said. Accreditation is the least of your worries - you want people to recognize your school.

I disagree with Francis on the JD. While it's a great degree, the market is so saturated with newly-minted JDs nowadays that firms are now able to request that their Paralegals have that degree. It's one of the reasons I shifted my plan from pursuing a JD to pursuing a MBA. As far as JD/MBA's go - they sound great - and I'm sure you learn a ton - but there's not a single job description out there that requires both degrees.

Advisor

Joe Pierce Jonesboro, AR

I think the MBA was important to not only my advancement but to my salary Get it

Advisor

Gene Siciliano Los Angeles, CA

An MBA is an indication that you're smart and driven to get ahead. It matters right up until the time you have some solid work experience and success to put on your resume. From that point on your experience matters more than your degree or your MBA. The education gets you in the door. Your performance gets you up the ladder. And the accreditation of the school - doesn't matter at all. What matters is that people recognize the name of the school where you got it.

Advisor

John Glaccum Irvine, CA

Hi Deepak, thank you for your service. I started as a Quality Engineer after my undergrad and as I started to become more interested in managment and leading people I got my MBA through an accelerated program. The MBA did open doors for my when Management positions became available and the business knowledge has served me well in my career because it allows me to speak the language of business with Finance, HR, Marketing, Sales functions.

So I would say that an MBA is good if you are looking to progress into a management role. I believe it is important to have a degree from an accredited school. I found the following information and looks like the accrediting body you mentioned is recognized (https://www.onlineeducation.com/business/faqs/who-accredits-mba-programs),

Hope this perspective is valuable. All the best, John

Advisor

Tom Cal, CFA San Francisco, CA

It depends on your career and life goals.

There's a good chances an MBA is a suboptimal use of your limited time, energy, and benefits, and perhaps a waste of time, energy, benefits.

Some people say AACSB accreditation is important, but It by no means tells you a particular school or degree is useful for you.

Why are you considering an MBA?

What are your career and life goals?

What are alternatives to an MBA aligned with your career and life goals? (Ex. Professional certifications, specific courses, other training programs, orher degrees, etc.)

Advisor

FRANCIS TEPEDINO, ESQ. San Diego, CA

An MBA is fine. However there seems to be an overabundance of MBA's

If you are a very good student my suggestion is -- by Far -- a Juris Doctor. (Yes, expensive - a hard - difficult road). I went to evening Law School, ( USD in San Diego), so I know what you will be facing.

Question: How serious are you?????

A JD will open doors that you do not know exist. This is particularly true in business and industry management and senior management positions.

Advisor

Barry Sosnick Greenlawn, NY

It is a difficult question because it depends on your career goals.

I did not think about accreditation when going for my MBA. The reason was that the better business schools are all accredited. I had no intention of leaving New York, so I only looked at four schools: Columbia, NYU, Fordham and the honors program at Baruch. I assumed all were accredited because they were mid- to top-tier programs.

An MBA is important in certain professions: finance, consulting, etc. If you don't have an MBA from a top school, you will never get a job at a great consulting firm. In other career paths, an MBA is relatively unimportant. For computer science, it may not be necessary (I don't know enough about hiring in the field).

The value of an MBA is your network and it validates your ability to succeed (even if it isn't a great predictor). Your fellow students, mostly your year, become the core of your network and some of your best friends (two marriages among the 100 people in my cohort).

A great national or regional MBA program is a seal of approval for employers. They assume that if you graduated from a good program, then you are bright and hardworking.

The education is essentially the same: similar textbooks and professors. The biggest names at a top school are rarely seen by MBAs. The Ph.d candidates matter more, and most of a faculty member's time is spent writing research papers and consulting. It is the caliber of your classmates that matter the most.

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