Online Masters in IT

Hi guys,

I finished up my bachelors in IT from WGU last month. I've been eyeballing some masters programs in IT/IS and I've been looking at the one from Umass Lowell. I've worked in IT for about 6 years now, 4 years were part-time. I'd eventually like to get into a management position down the road. I also know that a good business foundation would be good as well and I've already taken a few courses at the community college such Accounting, Economics, and Finance. It's 10 classes, $1635 per class so about $16k total. What do you guys think about it? Any suggestions would be helpful. I live in Texas in case anyone's wondering. Thanks.

Umass Lowell MSIT

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Comments

jdancer

Since you want to get into management, I suggest you look at AACSB MBA with a concentration in IT. Goto geteducated.com for a list of accredited AACSB schools.

stryder144

Though you haven't probably heard of it, Open University's MBA program is triple accredited by AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS. The price is a bit more than UMASS Lowell but about half of Harvard. No US schools have triple accreditation. They also have regional US accreditation. Might be worth a look. The staff there are very helpful.

Danielm7

stryder144 wrote: »

Though you haven't probably heard of it, Open University's MBA program is triple accredited by AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS. The price is a bit more than UMASS Lowell but about half of Harvard. No US schools have triple accreditation. They also have regional US accreditation. Might be worth a look. The staff there are very helpful.

Isn't the last one a European accreditation? If so I don't see why any US schools would have it.

stryder144

The first is US, the second is UK, the third is EU. Only three US universities have the EQUIS accreditation. Since our economy is global, having an education from a university that has three important business school accreditations might prove useful. Naturally, a lack of name recognition in the US might be a problem for some. Of course, WGU doesn't have much recognition, either, so YMMV.

Khaos1911

This site is the only place I ever hear about going to "super" accredited schools. No disrespect to anyone, but unless you are trying to be CIO, CEO, etc at one of the big 4...No one gives a crap, lol. As long as you went to a regionally accredited school, you will be fine. So don't go broke trying to appeal to the 1% of hiring personnel that many of us will never meet. Plenty of reputable and respectable programs out there, that are regionally-accredited. The feds will only care if it's a Master's from a regionally accredited university, same for most corporate America jobs (always a plus if it's a brick mortar with an online program). So study something you are interested in, something that has a job market, and something that won't leave you wallowing in debt.

UMASS Lowell Master of Security studies (Cyber security) program sounds fun, but doubt I could sell my employer on reimbursement for it, lol.

philz1982

Khaos1911 wrote: »

This site is the only place I ever hear about going to "super" accredited schools. No disrespect to anyone, but unless you are trying to be CIO, CEO, etc at one of the big 4...No one gives a crap, lol. As long as you went to a regionally accredited school, you will be fine. So don't go broke trying to appeal to the 1% of hiring personnel that many of us will never meet. Plenty of reputable and respectable programs out there, that are regionally-accredited. The feds will only care if it's a Master's from a regionally accredited university, same for most corporate America jobs (always a plus if it's a brick mortar with an online program). So study something you are interested in, something that has a job market, and something that won't leave you wallowing in debt.

UMASS Lowell Master of Security studies (Cyber security) program sounds fun, but doubt I could sell my employer on reimbursement for it, lol.

That's why I am finishing up my dual master's at DSU 10k per masters FTW!

anoeljr

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll take a look at some MBA programs also. Do you think it would be worth getting a masters in IS (reasonably priced like DSU or UI Springfield) and then later an MBA from a more well known school? I'd like to have a company help pay for the MBA if possible lol.

jdancer

anoeljr wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll take a look at some MBA programs also. Do you think it would be worth getting a masters in IS (reasonably priced like DSU or UI Springfield) and then later an MBA from a more well known school? I'd like to have a company help pay for the MBA if possible lol.

I wouldn't bother since you eventually want to get into management. What's wrong with a MBA in IT? Seems like a win-win there.

anoeljr

jdancer wrote: »

I wouldn't bother since you eventually want to get into management. What's wrong with a MBA in IT? Seems like a win-win there.

Thanks jdancer,

There's nothing wrong with an MBA in IT at all. It just seems that since MBA's are so common now it seems like I need to make sure it's from a pretty good school. I can't really afford one now but maybe I could in 5 years.

Cisco Inferno

I have some recommendations to make for this thread.
I have a shortlist of schools I would like to do my Masters degree with. All online too. No GRE requirements.
Instead of IT, I chose more along the lines of Telecommunications/Networking. I want to do high level infrastructure management one day.

University of Maryland - College Park : M.S. Telecommunications

Syracuse University : M.S. Telecommunications and Network Management

DePaul University : M.S. Network Engineering and Management

University of Denver : M.S. Telecommunications Technology

Southern Methodist University : M.S. Telecommunications and Network Engineering

If anyone knows of more schools along Network Engineering, please let me know. These choices any good?

Khaos1911

Good stuff, Cisco. Personally, I'm more interested in Cyber Security and Information Assurance Master degrees, but you listed some awesome programs. I particularly like SMU's Master of Security Engineering degree, but that cost and all those pre-reqs keep it off my list. oh how I wish I had majored in in some sort of computer or network engineering program back in my undergrad days...Dah well.

shodown

I think I'll throw my hat into this fire.

A very good friend of mine has a MBA from a TOP 10 school, we have another friend who went to a MBA program that wasn't even ranked. They both covered the same material and they both knew it pretty well. So now whats the difference you may ask?

They both went to the same state school, had around the same grades and major(EE major if you care).

The guy at the TOP 10 MBA program said that they are tested to get in so you are getting the creme of the crop of people who are so stubborn they won't fail at anything they want achieve, which means they are willing to push themselvs further than the average person will do. If they have to do do heavy statistical analysis and they never took a stats class, they will find a way to success. that is their pedigree.

His current job only hired candiates from top MBA schools across the country. The funny part about this is that one guy who snuck in was a UoP graduate and he's killing it. So you would think they would change there policy right? No they feel that at least they know what they are getting in a top ranked program which puts the math in their favor vs going to recruit at other schools.

Now one last thing. The guy who graduated from a top program said the majority of companies have no need for their talent as they don't know wha to do with someone who graduated from those schools. So if you don't plan on going to a big tech company, a startup, or wall street you are pretty much wasting your time and money going to a top ranked school. I don't know where this rant fits in on this post, but with all the chatter about it, I feel it was a good idea from me to talk about what i hear from people who attended these schools as I have a lot of business with them.

ArabianKnight

Check out North Central University's MBA in INFOSEC program. You can finish in a year.

aspiringsoul

FYI

Northcentral University is a virtual, private, for-profit university established in 1996. Under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Northcentral is classified as a Doctoral Research University.^[3] The school is based in Prescott Valley, Arizona and is currently owned by Rockbridge Growth Equity, LLC and Falcon Investments, LLC.^[4]

[h=2]Solvency/COLOR][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northcentral_University&action=edit&section=9"]edit[/URL][COLOR=#555555[/h]In 2011 the US Department of Education determined Northcentral was one of 75 US institutions failing its 2009-2010 financial responsibility test (a measure of the institution's financial solvency), and would be required to post a letter of credit in order for students to receive federal financial aid.^[17] Northcentral also failed its 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 financial responsibility tests, scoring zero for 2010-2011 on a scale of -1 to 3, lower than the 0.2 it earned the prior term; 0.2 for 2011-2012; and 0.2 again for 2012-2013.^[18] In 2015 the US Department of Education placed Northcentral on "HCM-Cash Monitoring 1" status because of its financial issues.^{[19]

Northcentral University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia}

anoeljr

Wow, thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I have a lot of thinking and research to do.

@Cisco Inferno, I'll take a look at each of those programs. SMU's pretty big in Dallas, TX so I'll make sure to check them out.

@shodown, thanks for that awesome story. I love hearing those as it gives you a different perspective on things. It makes you think. I do agree that you'd most likely learn the same material in both programs. I guess the only difference is the connections you make.

I'll go over some more programs later on today.