WGU Grad - enroll before TESU BA degree conferred?

[bjcheung77]

I wouldn't worry too much about the Stigma that comes with these schools. I would rather get to that educational goal and learn what I want.
Basically, whatever school I look at, it needs to match what I look for - cheap/easy/fast, and "better" suited for me than other institutions.
Capella was one of the schools I am looking at for the Doctorate/PHD level, at the Master's, it's 4th on my list...

[jsd]

Depending on what you are trying to do with the degree, it's a bad idea to ignore stigma. If you're just doing it for personal reasons and lifelong learning, then sure, fine. But there are a lot more cheap, easy, and faster ways to learn things than a degree from a shady for-profit.

[Doodlebabe]

Okay, that's twice now that there are better or comparable options to WGU that have been mentioned but no schools listed. Care to share @jsd or @Thorne? Looking for an MBA program but my question still stands about enrolling before a physical degree is in hand but proof from undergrad school can be provided.

[jsd]

I mean, waiting for April and doing WGU would certainly be preferable for me than doing Capella immediately, even if Capella allowed it. But it's up to you what you want to settle for and what your goals are.

[Thorne]

Okay, that's twice now that there are better or comparable options to WGU that have been mentioned but no schools listed. Care to share @jsd or @Thorne? Looking for an MBA program but my question still stands about enrolling before a physical degree is in hand but proof from undergrad school can be provided.

University of Texas of the Permian Basin: MBA or MBA Finance. GMAT is waived if you have an UG GPA of 3.25 or better. For those with a business degree, the MBA is 30 credits and the MBA Finance is 33. Without a business degree, the MBA is 36 credits and the MBA Finance is 42. AACSB Accredited. Total cost for either program is around $10,000.

Amberton University - MBA Strategic Management: . No GMAT last I checked. 36 credits for business majors, 48 for non-business majors. In theory, you could take 12 credits via a VESi provider (EDUC courses) at $90/credit and transfer them in, cutting your MBA down to 24 credits. Not AACSB accredited, sort of a no-name outside of Texas. If you did have to take all 48 credits at Amberton, you're looking at $12,600. If you knock out the prerequisites elsewhere and get the 12 VESi credits transferred in, you're total cost is around $90*12 (VESi) + 8*$795 (Courses@Course Cost) for a grand total of $7,440.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign iMBA: According to the pamphlet, this results in an actual MBA, not an iMBA. Top-50 business program, AACSB accredited, costs around $22,000 for the whole degree. Obvious downside is cost, but you also have to be aware that you might need to submit GMAT scores (they want GMAT scores if you don't have the necessary 3 years of experience). 72 credits, all online through Coursera, taking 2-3 years on average.

Depending on where you live, you can also check your local state universities. As a Texas resident, I could go to about a third of all state universities for an MBA and come away under $15k. Many of the A&M schools offer around $400/credit for out-of-state tuition if you want to go with one of those. You'll have to do some research, as this is obviously not a comprehensive list. I've got a personal spreadsheet of programs I'm interested in (these are included), but it is only really accurate for Texas residents.

[sanantone]

I wouldn't worry too much about the Stigma that comes with these schools. I would rather get to that educational goal and learn what I want.
Basically, whatever school I look at, it needs to match what I look for - cheap/easy/fast, and "better" suited for me than other institutions.
Capella was one of the schools I am looking at for the Doctorate/PHD level, at the Master's, it's 4th on my list...

Capella is pretty expensive for a doctorate.

[dfrecore]

Okay, that's twice now that there are better or comparable options to WGU that have been mentioned but no schools listed. Care to share @jsd or @Thorne? Looking for an MBA program but my question still stands about enrolling before a physical degree is in hand but proof from undergrad school can be provided.

You must have your degree conferred before you can enroll in the MBA at WGU.  No exceptions.

You could find out when degree conferral is, and have all of your transcripts there, ready to go, so that you can start on day 1 after conferral.

[rlw74]

WGU was pretty strict about having degree in hand. I finished all coursework in June but degree didn't confer until September. The program I was looking at needed a couple of undergrad prerequisites. They wouldn't even let me take those before final transcript. Unfortunately, if I had been proactive I could have probably gotten the courses onto my TESU transcript but I was after the deadline. My graduation audit had already taken place. You might look into the program you want for WGU and have them review your transcripts. If you need a few prereqs you might be able to use your time to finish those up and get them onto your TESU transcript. It doesn't do much for helping you start sooner but at least it sets you up for starting day 1.

[Doodlebabe]

Okay, that's twice now that there are better or comparable options to WGU that have been mentioned but no schools listed. Care to share @jsd or @Thorne? Looking for an MBA program but my question still stands about enrolling before a physical degree is in hand but proof from undergrad school can be provided.

University of Texas of the Permian Basin: MBA or MBA Finance. GMAT is waived if you have an UG GPA of 3.25 or better. For those with a business degree, the MBA is 30 credits and the MBA Finance is 33. Without a business degree, the MBA is 36 credits and the MBA Finance is 42. AACSB Accredited. Total cost for either program is around $10,000.

Amberton University - MBA Strategic Management: . No GMAT last I checked. 36 credits for business majors, 48 for non-business majors. In theory, you could take 12 credits via a VESi provider (EDUC courses) at $90/credit and transfer them in, cutting your MBA down to 24 credits. Not AACSB accredited, sort of a no-name outside of Texas. If you did have to take all 48 credits at Amberton, you're looking at $12,600. If you knock out the prerequisites elsewhere and get the 12 VESi credits transferred in, you're total cost is around $90*12 (VESi) + 8*$795 (Courses@Course Cost) for a grand total of $7,440.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign iMBA: According to the pamphlet, this results in an actual MBA, not an iMBA. Top-50 business program, AACSB accredited, costs around $22,000 for the whole degree. Obvious downside is cost, but you also have to be aware that you might need to submit GMAT scores (they want GMAT scores if you don't have the necessary 3 years of experience). 72 credits, all online through Coursera, taking 2-3 years on average.

Depending on where you live, you can also check your local state universities. As a Texas resident, I could go to about a third of all state universities for an MBA and come away under $15k. Many of the A&M schools offer around $400/credit for out-of-state tuition if you want to go with one of those. You'll have to do some research, as this is obviously not a comprehensive list. I've got a personal spreadsheet of programs I'm interested in (these are included), but it is only really accurate for Texas residents.

I'm sorry but...how are these comparable? They're far more expensive and time consuming.

[Thorne]

Okay, that's twice now that there are better or comparable options to WGU that have been mentioned but no schools listed. Care to share @jsd or @Thorne? Looking for an MBA program but my question still stands about enrolling before a physical degree is in hand but proof from undergrad school can be provided.

University of Texas of the Permian Basin: MBA or MBA Finance. GMAT is waived if you have an UG GPA of 3.25 or better. For those with a business degree, the MBA is 30 credits and the MBA Finance is 33. Without a business degree, the MBA is 36 credits and the MBA Finance is 42. AACSB Accredited. Total cost for either program is around $10,000.

Amberton University - MBA Strategic Management: . No GMAT last I checked. 36 credits for business majors, 48 for non-business majors. In theory, you could take 12 credits via a VESi provider (EDUC courses) at $90/credit and transfer them in, cutting your MBA down to 24 credits. Not AACSB accredited, sort of a no-name outside of Texas. If you did have to take all 48 credits at Amberton, you're looking at $12,600. If you knock out the prerequisites elsewhere and get the 12 VESi credits transferred in, you're total cost is around $90*12 (VESi) + 8*$795 (Courses@Course Cost) for a grand total of $7,440.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign iMBA: According to the pamphlet, this results in an actual MBA, not an iMBA. Top-50 business program, AACSB accredited, costs around $22,000 for the whole degree. Obvious downside is cost, but you also have to be aware that you might need to submit GMAT scores (they want GMAT scores if you don't have the necessary 3 years of experience). 72 credits, all online through Coursera, taking 2-3 years on average.

Depending on where you live, you can also check your local state universities. As a Texas resident, I could go to about a third of all state universities for an MBA and come away under $15k. Many of the A&M schools offer around $400/credit for out-of-state tuition if you want to go with one of those. You'll have to do some research, as this is obviously not a comprehensive list. I've got a personal spreadsheet of programs I'm interested in (these are included), but it is only really accurate for Texas residents.

I'm sorry but...how are these comparable? They're far more expensive and time consuming.

For the record, I said that the programs were of comparable cost -- not of comparable time.

UTPB is a 10-18 month program at $10,000. WGU is $3250 a term and the most common timeframe for an MBA (from everything I have read...ever) is 18 months (3 terms), or $9750 at WGU. If you think you can wrap up a WGU MBA in two terms or less (that's your judgement to make, I can't speak for you), then there isn't anything that can beat it in cost (save maybe Patten or Capella, which both seems to suck badly, and are probably about equal to WGU in cost anyway) and only a few that can match/beat it in time (again, Capella or Patten are the first that spring to mind).

The University of Illinois is, admittedly, far more expensive than the WGU MBA would ever reasonably be, but I tossed it out there as an example of a reasonably-affordable (compared to other top-50 programs, almost $50,000 cheaper), yet very, very high quality, degree. If you want speed, though, strike both Amberton and Illinois from the list.

If you don't like the other options and can put up with a bit of the online-only stigma, go with WGU -- but you need to finish in 6 or 12 months to be any cheaper or faster than UTPB. If you want it to be even cheaper and are willing to accept both an online-only and for-profit stigma, go with Patten -- but you need to finish in either 4 or 8 months to be cheaper than WGU. Steer clear of Capella, if possible, because they are the same cost as WGU and have the for-profit stigma.