Construction Project Management degree (cost, MBA, school, best)

[MountainBiking]

Has anyone here on C-D taken/completed Construction Project Management in college and earned a degree? Does the course include estimating? How is the course like? I'm thinking of going back to school to pursue this career.

-Cheers.

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by MountainBiking

Has anyone here on C-D taken/completed Construction Project Management in college and earned a degree?

I started towards a Master's in Construction Management, but hated the structure of the courses and the new program head that started a semester in. I ended up going for an MBA instead.

Does the course include estimating? How is the course like?

Yes. Depending on the school, it might be only one though. In my class, a group of two estimated off a set of plans for a $15 million art museum expansion that was under construction at the time.

[StealthRabbit]

Yes, estimating is a significant portion of this program (and career).

I have friends that have graduated from these programs and been quite successful. Many have gone into LEED certification.

The labor market is quite saturated for the near term. One friend has needed to migrate to managing Defense Dept projects (iffy at best for career longevity). It is an ongoing process of certifications throughout career.

[M3 Mitch]

I'll just add, that this seems like a very specialized degree. When you take a specialist degree like this, you are more or less declaring that this is the industry you want to work in by preference. This can be limiting in terms of career choices.

On the other hand something like Accounting and Finance, or an MBA degree, is I think similar content, but more versatile. These are the people who ask "what will it cost"

For review -

Science majors ask "why will it work?"

Engineering majors ask "how will it work"

Business and Finance majors ask "how much will it cost"

"Soft" majors, people who don't do the hard quantitative work - you know who these people are -

they will mostly ask "you want fries with that?"