MBA in IT management vs MS in it management

brfitzp

So I'm pretty set on going to graduate school at wgu for one of those programs. The MS degree seems like it would be more interesting. Is there any reason to go for the MBA vs the MS?

scaredoftests

Isn't that up to you? It is your career.

CIO

Do you have the links to these programs?

Are they both being offered at the same school?

What are your long term goal relating to IT?

GSXR750K2

I started the MS because after looking at both programs and talking to people from both colleges I decided it was better for me. I viewed the MBA as focusing on what all MBAs do, the business of business with some IT sprinkled in, but the MS focuses more on the business of IT itself, which is better for my goals.

The MBA has a group capstone if I recall, whereas the MS is you doing the capstone solo, so if you don't like relying on people in an academic setting, keep that in mind.

One major difference is the MBA has some exams ("Objective Assessments" as WGU calls them) but the MS has only Performance Assessments, which are work turned in to satisfy a series of tasks (research papers, proposals, PowerPoint presentations, etc.). To date, I have roughly 275 pages written and I'm coming up on being half way through the program, so consider the type of workload that better suits you before going in.

Both have similarities and both would offer a wide variety of opportunities, but as scaredoftests said, it comes down to what you want to do.

OctalDump

I've been looking into similar things. Roughly, management masters are aimed towards people with less management experience (even no management experience) who are likely to be in low to middle management, MBAs are aimed towards people with management experience in middle to senior roles (or with aspirations to senior roles). So management masters are more operationally focussed, and MBAs more governance and strategy focussed.

Don't ask me which is better for you, because I'm still not sure which is better for me