I have an MBA, but it's an MBA with no national recognition... Advice

[GRE_Kickboxer]

Good advice, Ancalagon. You have helped. Thank you.

[desimba]

Small correction there. If you enroll into a PhD program and leave then you do not get an MBA. The curriculum is completely different between an MBA and a PhD. There are some Econ programs which give you a M Phil/ MA in Econ if you leave after completing all your courses but that is rarely true in business schools, as best as I know. So I am not sure if joining a PhD program and leaving in between if you feel that it isn't quite working out will do you any good.

To the point of having a 2nd MBA, I don't think it would look that odd. I know of a number of folks from India (which is where I am from) get an MBA-equivalent degree from India's best institutes (the Indian Institutes of Management) and then come to the US and get a 2nd MBA from Chicago/ Harvard or places like those. So I don't think it would be all that good. Also if you think that the 2 years is too long, you could enroll for a 1 year MBA program. Purdue, Cornell, Northwestern all have 1 year MBA programs which are quite good.

[GRE_Kickboxer]

Thanks Desimba!

[Ancalagon The Black]

In Harvard, you get an MBA after 2 years (if you meet all the course requirements) if you have enrolled into the PhD.

[Ancalagon The Black]

And I know this because I asked the admissions coordinator to clarify my doubt ...

I know of at least one gentlemen having a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from IIM-A who did a MBA from Harvard and another guy from XLRI who got it from Cornell...

[chartreuse]

Desimba --

I have seen many cases in where people get their MBA's abroad (outside of US) and come to the US and get a second MBA. They do that because the American MBA (usually done at places like Chicago/Harvard) are well recognized worldwide. However, getting two MBAs within the States does look a bit odd on the resume in my personal opinion because one is getting repetitive degrees for the same thing - MBA- in the same country. I think there are other ways to enhance the resume because after all, it is also about the creativity in which a profile has been enhanced as well.

[MBA_Still Searching]

GRE_Kickboxer:

Just found your post today and it seems that you are in the same situation that I am. I received my MBA from a non-AACSB school as well. I only did it because of cost and convienence as well. I finished my MBA 4 years ago and have only found crappy employment prospects of 40k/year and most Fortune 500's ignore me as well. Since my MBA ended, I have spent the majority of my time either unemployed or taking jobs that paid peanuts to get by. I have realized that no one worthwhile is going to hire me and I am too looking into MS Finance Programs as well. There is no other way to do it.

MBA & Still Searching

[AstralTraveller]

To both "GRE Kickboxer" and "MBA&Still Searching":

I agree that another MBA would look kind of weird. A good idea would be to enroll on a doctoral program, but only if you are committed to research.

Otherwise, you could try to fool the adcoms and maybe sneak into a top-ranking or Ivy League doctoral program in Business, maybe leaving with a MA/MPhil/MSc after a couple years, moreover considering that most of said programs offer full funding (I assume that tuition is huge for MBA's). I say this because I *think* --and please correct me if I'm wrong-- you are not willing to attend a full 4-5 year program to finish the PhD.

Anyway, there seem to be some really nice masters programs at some top universities, depending on what you're up to. I am no expert on this subject, by the way, but I have stumbled across some master programs:

On the Economics side of the spectrum, you could try the London School of Economics, NYU, and Boston U. For an Operations/Engineering approach to Business, there's the program at MIT at Sloan or even at the OR Center, and since you specifically wanted an Ivy, the ORFE department at Princeton has some professional masters (M,Eng.) you could be interested in. Stanford's MS&E department seems really sweet to me as well. I'm sure there are several other good programs in Finance I am not aware of.

I don't know how many Business Schools on the top of the spectrum --Penn's Wharton, Yale's SOM, HBS, Cornell's Johnson, Dartmouth's Tuck, Columbia (there are no more Ivy B-schools beyond these 6), NWU Kellogg, UCLA Anderson, Stanford GSB, Chicago GSB, NYU Stern, MIT Sloan, Berkeley's Haas, and a couple more-- offer master's programs besides the MBA and the en route doctoral MA/MPhil/MSc. I say this because you --Kickboxer-- don't seem willing to attend a non-Ivy or non-quasi-Ivy school.

Ah, and about MBA's, I believe that besides Chicago and Harvard, no other highly-prestigious B-school offers the MBA en route to the PhD. Once again, I'd love to be proven wrong.

Cheers,
AstralTraveller

[tkkoh]

Some schools have specific restrictions on PhD students doing MBA courses. You may get out with a MSc degree though.

[PMPIT]

Originally Posted by GRE_Kickboxer

Guys, I have an MBA in entrepreneurship from a school that is not AACSB certified. It is certified by a couple of other agencies.

My school "University of St. Thomas" is well respected in MN, but has no national recognition. This is starting to become a problem.

I want to get a degree from an Ivy League school that will help me find a great job much easier. Right now I really feel like I have to sell myself to land hot jobs.

My GRE scores are fantastic Q: 800 V: 740, my GPA is high, and I have a BA in sports psychology. I have taken a lot of math classes, physics classes, anatomy, biology, animal biology, physiology, Calculus I and II, chemistry classes etc.

I am wondering if you guys have any clever ideas on what might be a clever way to get a degree at a TOP institution so that I have less difficulty getting recruited for great jobs.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I'm starting to think that PHD in business may not be the smart way to go.

I am in the “exact same boat”. However, I have found that many top universities will not accept you if you already have an MBA. Please note the email response below from Cornell. I did find that Wharton and Purdue will accept students who already have an MBA Unfortunately, I would probably not make it into Wharton, and I am not sure Purdue would do much more for me then my current MBA.


“Thank you for your interest in our Executive MBA program. Unfortunately, due to the fact that you already have an MBA degree, you are not eligible for our program.

Our decision not to offer admission to candidates who have earned MBA degrees is based on careful consideration. Although we do understand that some of what you would learn in the program would be new and that you would be studying with an executive group who would enhance your business education, we also know that much of what you would be studying would be a repeat of courses you had taken already. We don’t believe that is good for you or for us.

In addition, while you would bring excellent experience to the program, we would be excluding someone else who has not earned an MBA degree. Given these considerations, our general policy is not to consider someone who has earned an MBA degree (or the equivalent). We understand that many other schools (but perhaps not all) have the same policy. And to my knowledge, neither medical schools nor law schools admit doctors or lawyers to their programs, although there may be exceptions to this rule.

At this time, because you have earned an MBA degree already, I regret that we will not consider you for admission to the Cornell E MBA Program.”