University of Maryland University College : Master of Business Administration Reviews
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Guarddog_11
(In Progress) on February 15, 2012
(email verified)
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Good program, worth it for the right situation
Bottom Line: Recognized state school, good for "older" professionals who do not have time to go full time or leave their jobs. Fills in 'blanks' in a resume for advanced degree. Works perfectly for government jobs (federal) that require an advanced degree. You can also get hired at a higher GS (ranking level) within the government for the advanced degree. If you do well, you may be invited to join Phi Kappa Phi if you do well grade wise (Top 10% of your class). It is a bit spendy ($95 for first year or $375 for lifetime membership), but again, for government jobs it makes you eligible to be hired at a higher level--which means higher pay that would more than cover the cost of membership).
I enjoyed the case studies. As far as cost of materials, they are available electronically during the class and UMUC is trying to get away from purchasing materials (also mandated by new Maryland law). I noticed this for my last two classes.
Downside: Your classmates.
I graduated from a top 20 university, undergraduate. Classmates will be from top schools, and well, not so top schools. So, be prepared for a very wide disparity in qualifications and a lot of frustration. Grading is all over the place, but in general if you just show up and do decent work, you'll get a B. Remember an 80 is a B as much as an 89 is a B. If you do a lot of the work and a teammate cruises, let's say the team grade is 89, but their individual grade is 72, they will still receive a 'passing' grade of B. If you receive 90s and 88s, you will get a B...see the problem? I was wondering how some people made it this far, but if you take the situation to the extreme, if the team is receiving 92s and 95s, the "poor" student can get as low as mid 60's and still "pass"...and that person may be on your team.
So, really just focus on your own work and do the best you can in the team setting. Always ask the professor if you can pick your own team and choose your teammates wisely. It will make a big difference in your experience, huge difference between an enjoyable class and a nightmare (literally).
The program is solid and is getting better since the time I started two years ago. The technology could be better, but it works. The professors seem to be getting better and I would say three of mine were very good, two were medium, and the remaining few not very good. I do think the professors should be REQUIRED to respond to students within 24 hours of posting. Sometimes professors wouldn't respond for a few days, which was frustrating because assignments were due in just a few days. The new schedule of Wednesday to Tuesday (versus Monday to Sunday) may seem odd at first, but it is much better and makes the weeks go by faster for some reason.
I wonder about the people who review the program and say it is a cakewalk and easy to get an "A". While I do have straight A's to date, they have not been easy. If you are on a good team, then the work could be "easy" and the classes are enjoyable. I was on a few good teams, and the program was a joy and the As were indeed 'easy'. I was also part of a few bad groups, and it was a nightmare-could have easily had a B if I hadn't put in a lot of extra work to make the paper an "A"paper. When you can choose your teammates, choose carefully.
The first few classes will be hard because they are 'weeding' out people and your teammates will be all over the board. This is mainly because there is no GMAT requirement and the first few classes serve that purpose of removing poor students. You will get teammates all over the map. Some will be graduates from top tier schools, and others you wonder how they made it past Jr. High.
That being noted, this is an issue with any school. I have friends who went to brick and mortar top programs, and you run into the same problem. There are some people who do a lot of work, and some people who just 'cruise'. The programs were at Duke University and University of Pennsylvania.
Finally, they could disperse the work more evenly. Some weeks are so light you're wondering what to do,and other weeks are incredibly loaded--especially for the working professional.
Hopefully I've answered a lot of questions. One last thing is that nobody has questioned UMUC on my resume and I have been to several interviews. I do put down University of Maryland UC so as not to confuse it with Smith, but again, nobody has asked.
I am glad I went through the program and am proud of my degree, it was a lot of hard work.
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Jkreed7
(In Progress) on August 13, 2011
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PAY ATTENTION
Look. I've read all the emails from this is a "diploma mill" to bashing elitist Ivy League snobs. Everyone needs to step back and look what is being offered. Is this school Harvard, no. Is this school accredited and a part of the Maryland University system, yes. Is the majority of the students 20 somethings, yes. Does every other University from Harvard to the worst state run school have 20 somethings yes.
I'm finishing the program in one more semester. I am an experienced professional that has been in the work force for 25 years. I received my undergraduate from a CAL state university school. I am now a Chief Lending Office (CLO) at fairly prestigious bank. Yes, I am part of the C-suite of officers and I am compensated very well for my position, talents, intelligence and contributions to the bank. I haven't owned a business and then sold it for millions living the life of ease. However, I am a professional who has done well not because of where I went to school. I've done well because I've worked hard, treated people well, consistently performed and have garnered respect and expertise.
UMUC is a great school. It's not Harvard nor did I expect it to be. If you want to call UMUC a "diploma mill" then call Harvard I highly priced exclusionary club that manufactures the elitists in our country. In other words, it doesn't matter, we live in a society of competitive individuals looking for ways to differentiate ourselves over someone else. The secret is, if you work hard, apply yourself and learn from others regardless of the school you'll do well. If your intentions are to run Fortune 500 companies you may well have to go to an Ivy League school, however, I know a lot of extremely successful and wealthy people who didn't..... I think the MBA is challenging, but not so arduous that a working individual, such as myself has to look themselves away month after month to complete course work and keep my job and stay married and never see my children grow up.
The school provides the service it was meant to provide. Getting an education for those where going to a traditional brick and mortar on campus school, most likely outside of the age 25 and higher can do it and through their efforts grow within their companies they are working for.
Personally in every program I take I wish they was other information that had been provided. I wish the MBA had more course work in accounting and financial analysis as part of the MBA curriculum, but that is not what this program offers. It's not the most user friendly and I'm sure they'll get better at that too. IT DOES WHAT IT DOES WELL!! and it will allow me to acquire the education I want and yes it has prestige associated with it, but again, its not Yale, Princeton, Harvard and if that is what you really want then quit whining about it and go there and spend the $120K a year it takes to get that education..... The faculty are great here and they are up to date and engaged. The support could be better in assisting students to find better jobs or explore careers where there newly obtained MBA ranks high, however, this schools isn't funded and/or founded on providing those traditional functions. So if you need that help contact UMD or the UMD system to see what options are available, but make it happen for yourself....
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Allens3348
(In Progress) on December 18, 2010
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UMUC MBA
I am currently in the UMUC MBA program, and so far I have only mild complaints. All in all, I would have to say that the "team based" projects, required in the courses, can be problematic. When you have students form around the world trying to communicate through various mediums (including the Web Tycho), it can cause all sorts of mayhem. The other issue I have, which represents much of my dissatifaction with the program, is that the overall quality of many of the enrolled students can be low. I have had many bad experiences with other team members whose English and computer skills are greatly lacking sophistication.
I rate the program as an "8-ish" because it is really fast-paced and the material is rather difficult sometimes. I know other people who are attending the more well-advertised online universities and they have not had much difficulty with the material nor their class requirements.
Since I already have owned a successful company now for 15 years, I can directly relate to the material that is covered in the MBA program. I, however, do question the grading severity that seems to prevail in the program, which leads me to wonder whether they are making the program more difficult than it normally would be at a traditional brick-and-mortar university. In either case, I believe that the more difficult a program is, the more likely it is going to be effective.
Additionally, I would say that whoever stated that this is a "paper mill" program, surely is not in the program, nor has ever been in the program. If it was a "paper mill" program, I should not have to put much time into the classes and that has definitely not been the case. Since I carry a consistent "A", I think that would make me more qualified to be critical of the program. Sure, it would be nice if the program was "easier" and only required a few hours of my time every week, but in my opinion, if that is what you are looking for, then you probably should consider not pursuing an MBA. It is supposed to be an "education", not just a piece of paper that says "MBA" on it.
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Anonymous
(In Progress) on February 1, 2010
(email verified)
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Great Teachers, Poor Support
Overall, my experience at University of Maryland University College (UMUC) has been a good one. I earned my M.S. in Management (Accounting) there in 2005 and am currently working on my M.B.A. In terms of the quality of the teachers, materials, and student interaction, I would definitely recommend this school to my colleagues. The teachers are predominantly adjunct faculty, some of whom have a lot of real world business experience. As a good example, I had one professor, Richard Schmidt, who was the best finance professor I ever had. He was demanding, but he brought a lot of experience to the table, and his teaching has even impacted the way that I personally go about researching investments before laying my money down. The assignments are generally challenging and there are no on-campus/residential requirements.
In terms of support UMUC can be wildly uneven. Graduate Advising does a good job helping you navigate such issues as program changes and enrollments. However, Financial Aid and Student Accounts are often lacking in responsiveness, both in terms of time, as well as quality of response. Here is a good example: a student I know recently submitted a financial aid appeal for the Spring term and had it granted. However, the appeal was mistakenly entered for Fall. The student had his Spring aid cancelled because there was no appeal granted for Spring. When it became clear that this was a data entry error, the student was informed that they needed to resubmit the appeal. From personal experience, you can also give up on receiving written and/or e-mail correspondence when changes are made to your financial aid or student account.
Again, I have to give UMUC a great deal of credit. However, if you enroll please be advised to check your financial aid and student account status weekly, if not daily, in order to catch any potentially damaging (and unannounced) changes to them.
Take care and good luck!
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Dc2bay
(Graduate) on August 3, 2006
(email verified)
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Experience as an MBA grad from UMUC
I graduated from University of Maryland, University College in August 2005 after completing the part-timeMBA graduate program. Overall, the greatest value of the UMUC graduate degree is the program's affiliation with the University of Maryland college system. Unlike other for profit higher education institutions, the state of Maryland has a tradition of providing a high quality education and graduates of the UMUC program stand to benefit from that reputation. With that said the UMUC MBA program is geared towards working professionals who are already established in their careers and searching for opportunities to advance within their respective companies or a designed field in which they already have considerable experience.
One of the weakest aspects of the institution in general, is that there is little support in terms of career development or recruitment opportunities for individuals seeking to transition into a different career path after obtaining their MBA. To give you an example, while earning my MBA at UMUC, I was laid off from my job as a sales manager. I found that the university provided few career resources. The resources available were geared towards undergraduate, not graduate students. Also, with few exceptions, you also felt that you were simply a small number in a fairly successful program. I heard that with some other institutions, the graduate advisors take a more active approach and help the students reach their career goals through the graduate program. To its credit, I think the institution is able to attract top faculty due to its association with the University of Maryland’s higher education system.
The MBA program at UMUC is structured into cohorts. Students progress through the program at the same pace, providing support for one another during the more strenuous parts of the program. I highly recommend the combination online and face-to-face MBA program format, particularly for the requisite study group sessions. Having a physical "face-to-face" point of reference helps for the study group cohesion, group interaction and group involvement - a huge benefit in subsequent courses.
Overall, the UMUC MBA program is a great value compared to other MBA programs. The price per credit hour is the same regardless of residency status. Since I'm also pursuing another graduate degree at UMUC currently, I've noticed the University has taken great strides to leverage its alumni pool and have alumni serve as career mentors for recent graduates.
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