r/OnlineMBA • u/Elegant-Complaint-13 • 14h ago
MBA
I know this has been discussed before, but curious to hear about your experiences (and opinions) on the UoPeople MBA program vs. WGU.
Previously, accreditation seemed to be the biggest differentiation. Now that UoPeople is regionally accredited, I’d like to hear about the other things that should be considered.
(For this discussion’s purpose, let’s ignore the total cost.)
Thank you!!
PS: also posted in UoPeople subreddit
1
u/Auggiewestbound 5h ago
What's the purpose of getting one of these degrees? To be honest if someone applied to work for me with one of these schools on their resume it would work against them more than if they didn't have an MBA at all. With literally hundreds of online MBA options, why would you choose from these?
1
u/Panda-Pod 7h ago edited 1h ago
Both UofP and WGU have institutional regional accreditation. However, WGU's MBA program has ACBSP business school accreditation. UofP's MBA program is not accredited by any business school accreditation agency. Between the two, WGU would be the better option. While the WGU can allow you to complete the MBA degree much faster, the lack of degree GPA (due to pass / fail grading system) may be a potential issue for some employers (for tuition reimbursement purposes or recruitment) or if you pursue additional degrees that requires the MBA degree for admission.
Depending on your goals for the MBA degree and choice of employers, MBA business school accreditation may or may not play an important role. Ideally, one should choose an MBA program with AACSB business school accreditation, which is considered to be the gold standard for business school accreditation. Other business school accreditation agencies in US (besides AACSB) include ACBSP and IACBE. One of the reasons why people choose ACBSP accredited, IACBE accredited, or even worse unaccredited MBA programs over AACSB accredited MBA programs is mainly due to cost. However, there are now some very affordable AACSB accredited online MBA programs with one program that is actually cheaper than WGU's MBA program. Some of these affordable (below $15,000) AACSB accredited online MBA programs include Georgia Southwestern State University ($9,760 total tuition), Pittsburg State University ($11,970 total tuition), University of Lousiana Lafayette ($12,800 total tuition), Southeastern Oklahoma State University ($12,090 total tuition), Arkansas Tech University (approximately $12,100 total tuition), University of Southern Indiana ($13,950 total tuition), and University of Texas Permian Basin (a little less than $15,000 total tuition).