Question about MBA/Grad School

[Alamo_Beer]

Hey I've got a question for anybody that knows anything about MBA programs or Grad school in general.


How many hrs can you take in a semester? and How many hrs do most people take?


In undergrad you can take 18hrs a semester but most take 12-15hrs.



the thing is I'm thinking of doing the MBA program at our school which is only 30hrs since i'm already a business major but my girlfriend and I are arguing about how long it'll take based on how many hrs you can take during a semester.


THANKS GUYS

 

[Beerrific]

I am a grad student. We can take up to 21 in a semester although it is never recommended. To be full time you usually have to take 12 hrs. Most people I know register for no more than 12 hrs of classes (some less and top up to 12 with research hours).

I thought that MBA programs had all that fairly laid out. Some schools do night/weekend classes so that limits the number of classes you can take. If that is not the case and you aren't working full time on top of classes you should be able to do it 2 semesters easily.

Most schools have the same rules as far as credits for grad as undergrad.

 

[TheJadedDog]

I recently finished my MBA, classes were 3 hours long and FT students had to take at least 9 hours to qualify as FT but could take up to 15 hours (although it was not recommended). The total number of required hours does depend on the school to some extent, accredited schools have a minimum they must meet while others do not.

If you are already a FT student and plan to go straight into grad school I would suggest taking the same number of hours or fewer as you are taking now (the classes should be harder if you are in a decent program). If you plan on working full-time I would not recommend taking more than 2 classes a semester but that's just me.

I went PT for my MBA, went to school in the summer, and finished in 2.5 years. Best investment I ever made as my new job doubled my salary.

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Thanks Beerrific!

thats just what I was looking for.

I just wasn't sure if there was a limit on the hrs you could take. For some reason I had it in my head that you could only take 2 or 3 classes a semester in grad school.

The MBA program at my school is fairly laid out, I just wasn't sure how long 30 hrs normally takes people.

Thanks again.

PS: what are you majoring in? I'm a managment major looking to get my MBA

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Thanks Jaded

I'm hoping to take AT LEAST 12hrs a semester...to finish in 2 semesters and a summer.

It's a pain in the ass bc my girlfriend wants to get her PHD in Austin but we're down here in Corpus and we're graduating a the same time. If it's only a year or so she'll wait for me (she did follow me down here......she's a lot smarter than I am and could have gotten into a better school) but if it's longer then I'll either have to go some where else or I don't know we'll just have to figure it out.


Thanks again guys

 

[Cheesefood]

I finish my MBA in July. I'll end up with an MBA in Finance and Database Systems and a Graduate Certificate in Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence. All in all it's 19 classes (since I wasn't a biz undergrad) and it's taking me 2.5 years to complete.

Can't wait till I'm done. Love it, but man is it time consuming.

 

[david_42]

I did my MBA in two years and a summer, but I also took four classes in solar engineering and architecture. I had to do the full 54 hours, as my undergraduate degree was in Engineering Physics.

I loved the graduate engineering classes. The other students would freak when I told them I was a business student ... and aced the course!

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Sweet. So you guys think 30hrs is do-able in a year and maybe a summer?

I'm going to an grad school open house thing next wednesday so I'll know more about it then.

Thanks for all of your help

 

[david_42]

If you plan on taking some courses in the summer, be careful to check availability. Most places have a limited number of summer classes.

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

'scuse me! EAC alert here. Don't you folks have something better to talk about in this section than grad school?

This part if the forum is, after all, the place for people who have a couple under their belt and want to talk a little (or a lot). If I ran into you guys in a bar and you started talking about MBA school-- well, let's not even think about it.

Lighten up, though, ok?

 

[Pirate Ale]

Thanks Beerrific!

thats just what I was looking for.

I just wasn't sure if there was a limit on the hrs you could take. For some reason I had it in my head that you could only take 2 or 3 classes a semester in grad school.

The MBA program at my school is fairly laid out, I just wasn't sure how long 30 hrs normally takes people.

Thanks again.

PS: what are you majoring in? I'm a managment major looking to get my MBA

I got my MBA 5 years ago, and the best advice I can give you is this: Don't go straight to grad school upon graduation, especially at the same school. 2-3 years work experience is a must to make the MBA worth while, especially if you have an undergrad degree. I know several folks who went straight through, and the pay off in salary and knowledge gained was not realized.

Think about it, you will be rehashing the basic concepts and classes you just finished, and if you stay at the same school, you will most likey have the same instructors, or at least the same general philosophy. AND you will graduate with an MBA, but no "real world" experience.

As a manager, in charge of hiring salespeople, I can tell you that looking at a resume from someone who went straight through, and someone who worked then went back, I choose to talk to the person that went back over the other. I don't mean to sound harsh, or rain on your parade, but I was in the same situation as you, and a professor gave me the same advice, and it really paid off. I worked 2 years, then went back at night to get the MBA. The company paid for the degree, and I got a better MBA out of the deal, plus a better resume. It paid of HUGH at promotion time. I have had three promotion since 2002. Good Luck either way.

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Thanks Pirate Ale!

That's in fact what I want to do. Thing is my parents are all gung-ho about me going head and doing it (meeting their goals through me you know??) so it would be easy to just get it over with.

Thing is I'm SOOO burnt out on school and being broke all the time that I'd LOVE to get a real job.

We'll see how it all goes. I'll talk to my old man.

Thanks guys


mmditter- yeah i know what you mean...sorry. didn't know where to post this and I thought I'd try and get some real people's opinions instead of just looking around online.

 

[hobbsj]

i'm in grad school at UT and my program will only let you take 9 hours. problem is 9 hours is the minimum to be considered full time. so if you have to drop a class, you can't get all the funding. it really depends on where and what program.

 

[TheJadedDog]

I got my MBA 5 years ago, and the best advice I can give you is this: Don't go straight to grad school upon graduation, especially at the same school. 2-3 years work experience is a must to make the MBA worth while, especially if you have an undergrad degree. I know several folks who went straight through, and the pay off in salary and knowledge gained was not realized.

Think about it, you will be rehashing the basic concepts and classes you just finished, and if you stay at the same school, you will most likey have the same instructors, or at least the same general philosophy. AND you will graduate with an MBA, but no "real world" experience.

As a manager, in charge of hiring salespeople, I can tell you that looking at a resume from someone who went straight through, and someone who worked then went back, I choose to talk to the person that went back over the other. I don't mean to sound harsh, or rain on your parade, but I was in the same situation as you, and a professor gave me the same advice, and it really paid off. I worked 2 years, then went back at night to get the MBA. The company paid for the degree, and I got a better MBA out of the deal, plus a better resume. It paid of HUGH at promotion time. I have had three promotion since 2002. Good Luck either way.

I could not agree with this sentiment more. It was painfully obvious in all my MBA classes who had some experience and who came to the program straight from undergrad.

Look at it this way, university classes teach theory (and as several here have noted, everything works in theory); no where does the real world work the way they say it does.

If you have a few years of work experience under your belt, you'll be able to see where the theories make sense and where they don't and you're education will be much better for it.

 

[Cheesefood]

In work AND in school, we openly laugh at people who went straight to MBA. It's humorous because we know these people are no better than someone with 1 year of on-the-job experience. Rarely will you hear from someone who will recommend it.

You need time off from school. You need to figure out "what you want to be when you grow up." What if you hate business and decide you want to get a Master's in Psychology or something else?

Don't let your parents bully you. You're an adult. Start your MBA when you're 25-26 and carefully think about what you want to do.

EDIT:

Here's some advise you CAN use: Find a job in a good company and identify who in your department (top management wise) is going to help your career the most, and make him or her your mentor. Learn from them for a few years and try to absorb as much as possible.

 

[Alamo_Beer]

good stuff guys

I deffinatly have some thinking to do...

I apprechiate all of your help/advise...I had never thought of it like that.


Thanks again!

 

[Bernie Brewer]

SWMBO got her MBA a couple years ago. She took one of those "accellerated" programs. One class at a time, one night a week, every week, including summer, for about 2 years. I don't know how "accellerated" it was, but she was able to continue working during the day and atten her classes at night.

 

[brewman !]

There are a lot of MBAs here ! I've got one too.

 

[brewman !]

There are a lot of MBAs here ! I've got one too.

 

[uwmgdman]

FWIW, I'm not in the business area, but I went back to grad school and got my master's after working for 2 years in the field (sciences). At UW for graduate students 8 credits is considered full-time, 12 is max per semester. Good luck with school.