Graduated from UIUC MSM, moving on to MBA

[MichaelDoesMarketing]

I haven't been on this board in a while, thought I would give a quick update in case it's helpful for someone else considering their educational journey. tldr I graduated from the UIUC MSM a few days ago.

Background: Completed 120 credit hours as a traditional college-age student, but didn't graduate (some credits were electives that didn't fulfill requirements, then I took a job in another state, intending to return to finish, then never returned to finish for decades)

Went to UMPI last summer, completing a BBA in one session, with a 4.0 GPA.

Applied to UIUC MSM, Georgia Tech Master of Cybersecurity-Policy Track, Boston University Master of Data Science, and UMPI MAOL. Accepted to all. Decided to do MSM.

The UIUC MSM is about $13K and about one year, though you can go a little faster or a lot slower if you choose. I completed it in 10 months by taking a heavier than normal courseload in one 8-week session. I graduated on Aug. 11 with a 4.0 GPA and am now moving into the UIUC MBA, which stacks.

The MSM is 9 classes/36 hours. The MBA is 18 classes/72 hours, and is about $26K. (One class at UIUC is 4 credit hours, vs the more typical 3 hours, so the numbers are a bit inflated. The prices are actually billed per credit hour, with two classes costing around $2800.) A full course load is two classes/8 hours per 8-week session. It is not CBE. The work is divided by week, with due dates each week. You can't do a future week's work early. Most classes have required teamwork assignments that you do with fellow students, which often involve Zoom meetings, but not every week, only around the time of the assignments. Most student groups use a Teams channel for routine planning and communication.

The MSM coursework "transfer in" as 9 classes toward the MBA's required 18 classes. The only caveat I will mention is that the MBA has 7 required quantitative classes, and the MSM has only two. So, I now need 5 quant classes out of my remaining 9 classes, ouch. I hope I can maintain the 4.0 but we'll see.

In case anyone is wondering, this is "the" University of Illinois, the Fighting Illini, currently in US News & World Report's top 35 national universities in the U.S., not an alternate online-only campus or anything like that. Graduates can walk in the ceremony in Urbana-Champaign.

I am describing it in some detail to help people judge if this is the program for them. I recommend it, but there are many options and it's best to consider multiple options before deciding. If anybody has questions about the UIUC programs, please don't hesitate to ask.

I'm currently in the iMSM program as well, although I won't finish until next year because I've just been taking one class at a time. Awesome to hear your experience. I still have 5 more classes left, although I'm not in too much of a rush because I received the Coursera Scholarship so it pays for most of it. I'm still debating on whether or not to continue on the the iMBA but I love the stackable path so much!