BSBA/BBA first, or straight to an MBA?

[Thorne]

From what I can foresee, the zenith of my formal education will likely end with an MBA, perhaps with the hobbyist pursuit of other (very optional) degrees later.

I plan to spend my time in the next year studying to prepare for business with a plan that I've put together over the past two months, but I'm not certain if it would be best to pursue a Bachelor's degree in business, via one of the Big 3, prior to enrolling in an MBA program.

So, what would you wonderful people do in this situation?

[videogamesrock]

It certainly would help to become familiar with the concepts but then again many have pursued an MBA with Liberal Arts degrees. Some MBA programs have prerequisites so make sure you pay attention to that as you plan your degree.

[dfrecore]

I wouldn't spend the money and time getting the BSBA, I would take the prereqs and then go for it. Many schools will have prereqs like Microeconomics, Managerial Accounting, Management, Marketing, etc. But many won't, so I would check first. Most MBA programs won't require that you have a BSBA first.

When I looked into the MBA at ENMU, they had prereqs, but had free exams you could take through them to bypass the requirements. You could probably take most of the courses through Modern States for free, and then pass the exams.

Other schools will let you in w/o anything - like WGU's MBA program, which has no prereqs at all (although I imagine you're going to have a bit of a harder time if you haven't taken ANY business courses.

[bjcheung77]

How young are you Thorne? There are a few people here that have done the BALS and worked on the BSBA (one example is Sanantone, Flying Ace is working on the BSBA after his BALS, then there's ttower, ideas, silly_me, lewis.yim who are still working towards them). It boils down to what you're really looking for... If I was your age or even a few years younger than 30, I would recommend going for the BSBA before the MBA.

However, because I am over 40 now, I would recommend more "mature" individuals to skip the BSBA and go for the MBA. If you really wanted, since you're familiar with IT, get yourself a Hodges MIS or WGU MSCIA then work on the final MBA of your choice (I recommend WGU after they attain ACBSP since they're in candidate status right now)... advice and opinions may be biased, it's what you truly want and need... go for what you think would better your future position/educational goal.

[Ideas]

Go for an MBA

[posabsolute]

You know, the MBA is often considered a supplement to your specialization, a CS bachelor will get an MBA down the road to access executive positions. So I would not lose the time and money on a BSBA.

It's even truer if you go competency-based like WGU. You won't get behind the classes...

[bjcheung77]

Thorne, don't let prerequisites scare you. Most MBA programs require X courses for business preparation, there are many that don't require any prerequisites and if there are, a couple up to 3 or 4 courses are required. My suggestion is to "find the Masters" degree program of choice, and see what prerequisites there are, while you're taking the BSBA, take those required courses.

The TESU BSBA is so flexible, take the AOS credits of your choice (or a double AOS) to prepare you for the MBA. You don't have to have a BSBA to get into an MBA, but you still need to have X courses to full their requirements, each school is different. Below are the easiest (there are much more local/in state universities or out of state universities that require the GRE/GMAT, also a 3.0 GPA, and last but not least 3 years Business experience with references)

Excelsior: None, no GRE/GMAT required (but expensive)
Hodges: None, no GRE/GMAT required
Patten: No GRE/GMAT, requires Microeconomics, College Algebra
TESU: No GRE/GMAT, (but expensive), requires Financial Accounting, Statistics, and Microeconomics
WGU: No GRE/GMAT, Bachelors + 3 years experience

Heriot-Watt (UK) - None (no bachelors required, 10 exams, roughly $10,000 total)
New Charter (Nationally Accredited) - Same as Patten (Microeconomics, College Algebra)
Taft (Nationally Accredited) - None, pretty inexpensive
UofPeople (Nationally Accredited) - None, pretty inexpensive
TLDR - Find whatever school you're looking for and their requirements, complete them en route to BSBA.

Lastly, I recall you telling me this when I asked you on one of your threads which Masters you're going for and why not an MBA at WGU - they require you to have 3 years experience in Business. If you're "still young" and want to get into say WGU, I would recommend that BSBA first, you can finish it off with just 24 credits at TESU - 21 transferred in and do the capstone - all in 4 months time.

[davewill]

When my son applied for an MBA at the local state school, being a recent BSBA got him excused from a couple of the MBA courses. However, even at TESU prices, I don't see it being worthwhile to skip 1 or 2 courses.

[RANSOMSOUL]

Lastly, I recall you telling me this when I asked you on one of your threads which Masters you're going for and why not an MBA at WGU - they require you to have 3 years experience in Business.  If you're "still young" and want to get into say WGU, I would recommend that BSBA first, you can finish it off with just 24 credits at TESU - 21 transferred in and do the capstone - all in 4 months time.

Excellent information shared in your complete post! I just wanted to add that with regard to the MBA 3 year business requirement, there are several students who have been admitted with no business background and just 3+ years of being in the workforce. There is an easy way to describe your work history (in a written format) on how you are bringing in enough of a business acumen to handle the program.

Good luck!

[Thorne]

@dfrecore
Oh, yeah. I've not found any schools that would refuse to accept me for not possessing a BSBA, it was more about the most practical and efficient path to the end. 

@bjcheung77
Just turned 22. The pre-reqs don't actually bug me too much. For most of the schools I've looked at, I could wrap up most of them via my local CC at $150/course.
Thanks, by the way, for the information. I'll have to dig into it this week.

@posabsolute
That's a perspective I've not heard before. Thanks for the insight!


@RANSOMSOUL
That...actually changes things. I've had a number of gaps in my work history, but still have three years (I've been the de facto caretaker for my grandmother with frontotemporal dementia for...quite a while along with my family, so work has been nearly impossible with the 4 hours a week I actually have without something scheduled. Thought about putting it on my resume, but that doesn't seem prudent).