Tuesday, April 1, 2008

MBA from a popular online university


Get ready to face this question, at any career interview boards, if you are all set to pursue an online MBA degree. If you thought, dear learner, that popularity and prestige are something to do with traditional brick and mortar colleges alone, you are terribly wrong. There are online universities too that hold quite a years’ reputation and are reckoned by good many global employers. So, which online university have you pinged for that great MBA degree?

Online education, very evidently, has a come a long way off. It is more like a norm nowadays, to pursue a degree from an online university. Employees on a global level are eager to brush up their knowledge and earn new skills, conscious enough not to loose any significant opportunity for career advancements. The attitude is of course paying them off, with an upward shift in the career graph or a pay packet that is bulkier than before.

Thanks to the new media, online universities do even make college drop-outs think about continuing their education. The concept of education being a time-consuming, schedule-bound and expensive affair is gradually changing to that of an easily-accomplished, highly flexible and relatively less-expensive endeavor. So far, so good. But how in the world will you know the online MBA degree you have earned spending the time eked out from demanding family affairs and work related pressures holds value for industry recruiters?

Not all degrees are created equal, and so are the online universities. Some of the online universities do take a direct lineage from an already established brick and mortar college while some of them have only a few years of online experience to boast of in education. There is still a third category who is relatively new but run by industry experienced hands (forget the fourth category who churns out fake diplomas). Err...but which one is popular enough to get you the winning edge at interview boards?

The so called high-ranked online universities are mostly those who enjoy a relationship with successful traditional colleges. Such online universities charge more and sometimes enroll only recommended students. Besides, these online universities may require you to complete a campus-based program as part of the study which you may find difficult, owing to different factors. Whereas the new generation colleges or colleges run by people with an industry background, will give the learner more freedom in terms of finance and modes of study. Also they can instill in the learners information that is more relevant for at-work experience.

Here are a few points recommended for you, if you have in fact spotted the online university which offers an online MBA degree you were looking for: 1) Is the online university accredited? Because only an accredited online university is popular and give a valid certificate. 2) Does it offer scholarships/finances? Only a financially strong online university can offer scholarships/finances for you and for that they need to be quite popular in the field. 3) Does it promise career assistance? An online university that can guide you to get a fair enough job is genuine and will no doubt be popular.

Now that you have your degree from a popular university, it is easy to convince the shrewd interviewers. After all, what matters is how able you are!