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You have to consider your academic career as a whole. Is the Masters in Business Analytics an MA or MS degree? Is it really an MA or MS in Business Analytics? Or is the school making a new degree type called Masters in Business Analytics? Does the Business Analytics degree has AACSB accreditation?
If you're going to lie about you education, why bother getting any degree? Why not lie straight out?
So I recently started working on my MBA and am 6 credits in (out of 57). My university has just announced a new program begining in the Fall called a masters in business analytics and project management. The entire program is only 33 credits and my 6 credits would count torward the "electives" protion of the degree.
My question is, if I switch over and save approximately 2 years worth of school time (I currently go part time since my company pays for it), would not having a TRUE MBA hurt me later on in my career. At my current company I know it would not have any impact in my progression, but I'm afraid taking the easy way out now could come back and bite me later in my career.
Just some background, I currently work in FP&A, so I think this program would actually benefit me more than a MBA in my current role, but I'm trying to look for the future.
Thanks!
Business analytics is pretty huge in private industry right now, but I would look into the actual classes included in the program.
I know people with MBAs that work in business analytics roles and people with statistics MS's as well. If you really want that type of role an MS in applied statistics would be a much better degree.
But I would really look into the actual class differences.
To be Honest, I've been contemplating this MBA vs Masters in Business Analytics (or Management Analytics offered at Queen's University). After reading scores of Strategic Management and Planning Books and speaking with a whole lot of recent MBAs, the boiling point is what you want to learn at the end of the day. I work in an IT Department as a Planning Manager and I secured this position after working as a Planning Analyst for two years and then working towards my Project Management Professional (PMP) designation.
As a Planning Manager, we liaise with executives to help with Strategic initiatives (be it Budgeting or ensuring we had good Business relationships or just helping out with proper execution of projects / programs). In addition, I was handed an $5 MM program that spans the whole industry (which really means it has many stakeholders and hence more complex) along with other smaller development projects. In this role, I've hired many people and I'll be the first to tell you, I don't care where and what you studied. I do however care to know how you'd manage yourself in a tricky position, the ability to solve any problems thrown your way and good communications skills.
MBA, in my opinion, will not teach you the information above. Those are soft skills you learn when put into that situation. However, Masters in Business Analytics, in my opinion has greater scope if you understand how Strategy works.
In order for an executive to come up with a Strategy, it needs to understand the current state of the company (sales for instance) vs what they expect to get. Then, through data analysis from different sources (Credit Card companies, customer information and other similar factors) you can come up with a detail investigation as to what areas needs to be boosted or eliminated. Once executives key in on this decision, you have to come up with ways of controlling this. Again through various control mechanisms and goals, you help and educate the Banking side to boost sales.
If you realize from the above example, in order to facilitate a change or implement a new strategy, there's a lot of data analysis or data mining going in the back ground. THIS is precisely what MBA DOESN'T teach you. As surprise as it is, MBA doesn't teaches you the tools to help out with Data Analysis, and if they do, they teach you the basics (excel to begin with. BTW, the most redundant use of Excel are the v lookups, pivot tables and "if and then" statements. Once you've mastered this, you don't need much.. in a bank at least).
However, I hope with Masters of Management Analytics, I would hope one learns to see the bigger picture to help Executives to a point when you become an executive.
Don't get me Wrong .. ! MBA is worth it for folks with Finance Background to even attain Manager's level but it's not worth the investment if that's all you are looking in an MBA (i.e. to be a manager and stay there). If anything, I feel an executive MBA has more value because of the classmates you'll meet in these groups (Senior Directors and or SVPs).
To be an effective manager or leader, you need to recognize the patterns and make use of the positives in people that help you achieve your goals. I'll also add that you'll be in a better shape, if you don't carry that unnecessary EGO that one does after achieving. Be humble and honest to your work (doesn't mean be an idiot and oversee or blindly trust people) and success will be yours.
These specialized business degrees are basically marketing gimmicks and flavors of the month. Most don't get much traction and are thought of as MBA-lites. If these programs are not supported by large employers and students don't get a lot of interest in on-campus recruiting, there isn't a point to having these degrees.
Like a PP said, experience matters more and targeted seminars by professional associations or organizations may provide similar instructions and networking opportunities.
These specialized business degrees are basically marketing gimmicks and flavors of the month. Most don't get much traction and are thought of as MBA-lites. If these programs are not supported by large employers and students don't get a lot of interest in on-campus recruiting, there isn't a point to having these degrees.
Like a PP said, experience matters more and targeted seminars by professional associations or organizations may provide similar instructions and networking opportunities.
I don't know anything about the business analytics masters, but if it omits all of the quantitative classes you would take in an MBA program(stats, finance, accounting) that would be a huge red flag. Right now the Masters of Management is the easy out for people who want an MBA without have to do all of the math.
I look at my daughter's MBA program in finance at a regional University. I'm an economist; her courses in econometrics look pretty impressive, both from a theoretical and applied point of view.
1. I have Master of Engineering which represents 1 traditional school year education.
2. I have a MBA which represents 2 years.
I really do not see the MS Engineering as worth less.
This "masters in business analytics and project management" from UConn seems like a good deal to me.
You get it in a lot less time.
The school is reputable.
You can always get the MBA later.
Depending on the program, I would argue that the MS in business analytics can be stronger, at least from the quantitative side. I know the University of Cincinnati offers an MS program and UT-Knoxville offers an MBA/MS combination that looks to be a bit more rigorous than the standard MBA courseload (i.e., managerial accounting, economics for managers, etc) so if you feel like that your time would be better spent in quant-heavy coursework, with opportunities to learn soft skills available outside of class, then the MS might be the better bet.
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