Hi All!

First of all, I found very useful information in this forum, so I just would like to express my gratitude to all the user who are participating in this community.

After spending a considerable amount of hours reading this great forum, and specially the post of Sergei and Leon Foo (links below for further information), I would like to know your thoughts before to take my final decision.
https://find-mba.com/board/distance-learning/online-mba-for-russian-energy-professional-59975
https://find-mba.com/board/distance-learning/100-online-mba-61072

My profile:
- B.Eng (Mech) with 6 years on energy sector. Current position: Project Manager.
- Working in Europe for an US based company.
Why Online:
- I cannot afford stop working, so I am considering only distance learning options, 100% or blended with max 6 travels per year.
- Budget 25K EUR. MBA is self-funded.
Main Goals of my MBA:
- To become eligible for oil and gas companies (BP, Shell, Exxon, Enbridge, TAP, etc)
- Increase earnings
- Maybe move to US, depending on personal situation when completing the MBA.

Where am I right now? The list below has been ranked based on my preferences.
1. BU - Application is currently closed. They will re-open in August for spring 2021 intake. The program is notably more flexible than UIUC and 45 credit hour seems to be achievable working full-time (max of 7 years). Being a new program is not an issue for me, as I received very positive feedback from this university.
2. UIUC - Admitted. I have been in touch with the university and It seems to be an excellent program. However, the program seems to be really demanding, 72 credit hours in a max of 3 years working full-time with a family. I would prefer a shorter program, but UIUC is still my option 2 because of the program quality.
My only concern is regarding the program size, this is massive program, with more than 1500 students.
For further information:
https://find-mba.com/board/general-forum/illinois-vs-boston-university-61756
3. Durham - Admitted. They have a good program, however I am still pending to receive the scholarship decision. Seems that you need to accept or refuse the offer before knowing if you will be awarded with any scholarship...

Preferred schools and programs that are out of my budget:
- Warwick.
- Imperial College.
- Manchester.
- Kellog.
- Kelley.
- Amherst - Isenberg School of Management.
- Vlerick.

Program where I am hesitating:
- RGU - I am not sure about the school reputation compared to the above schools.

Just for other users information, with an unlimited budget Kelley-Manchester program would be my default choice.

Let's open the discussion and many thanks in advance to everyone.

Well, can you say a little more about your constraints? Why the 25k limit? Do you anticipate the gain of the MBA to be less than 1k a year? 

Well, can you say a little more about your constraints? Why the 25k limit? Do you anticipate the gain of the MBA to be less than 1k a year? 

Most people would have a huge increase in their value with an MBA: half a million euro or so. On that basis, top schools find it easy to help students arrange loans. Few people can pay cash for a top MBA. If your budget is limited to 25, then you might be not willing to borrow because you do not expect higher income. 

[Edited by Duncan on Jul 24, 2020]

Most people work for 30 or 40 years after their MBA so, if you think an MBA is worth no more than 25k, that might mean you expect the average added value of an MBA to be around €15 a week. 

[Edited by Duncan on Jul 24, 2020]

Many Thanks Duncan, your answers are very helpful. Honestly speaking, I have never figured out this question on this way.

I understand that the return of investment of a top MBA can be better even if you initially pay a higher price for the program.
As I am not fully aware if there is a linear correlation between the MBA price and the final added value that the program can offer, I decided to investigate deeper. 
QS Top MBA issued a report on 2018 concerning the 10 years ROI of several the full-time MBAs.  Report was divided in the following matters of discussion:

Payback Period:
It is surprising to see Durham or UIUC in the top of the ranking for the shortest payback period, I suppose this is because they just have a good ratio MBAprice/ Salary increase.

Absolute Salary levels:
When you check the top salaries, obviously, the top US and European universities beat strongly. 

Salary Uplift (comparison between the average salary of the incoming cohort compared to the average reported MBA salary):
I was really surprised to see UIUC in the top 2 of the ranking... 
This ranking really depends of the school I guess, there is also the imperial college, Kelley, Leeds....but also schools like UIUC and IESEG.

10-Year ROI (For me this is the most relevant information):
We see top schools on the top of the ranking (Stanford, Imperial, Vlerick, MIT, INSEAD). That said, as the devil is in the details, I realize that according to this report the ROI of Durham or UIUC is very close to Kelley or NYU. I have no idea if this is true and how it is possible...

I hope it can help to the discussion, 

[Edited by Hopkins on Jul 24, 2020]

RoI should not be the most important factor. NPV is most important. You can get a 1000 percent RoI on a library card, but much more money from a Harvard MBA. That's partly why the Harvard MBA costs more. 

Hi Duncan, you are absolutely right! Thanks a lot. Do you know where could I find the NPV for the different programs/schools?

I have found a report from QS Top MBA with NPV rates, unfortunately this is only including 2015 European schools data.

Thank you again,

You can calculate it yourself with average salaries and your own salary. 

Hi Duncan,
Hi Hopkins, 

Apologies for posting on your thread, but I'm new here and am in quite the same boat with respect to choosing a correct online / blended program.

About me:
- Maritime sailing professional 44 yo with 22 years overall and 15 years senior management experience on board energy vessels (ships).
- Also an entrepreneur who has co-founded and is directing his own Travel Solutions business.
- Desire to step ashore into senior management (currently European employer). Alos the expand my own business ,  and to gain the necessary structured knowledge and skills that an MBA would impart.

Shortlisted Cass, Warwick, and Imperial for their global online MBA programs.
- unconditional offer recived by Cass for their online Global MBA, sweetened by a scholarship offer.
- Submitted virtual interview for the Warwick program. Awaiting thier decision.
- Submitted application to Imperial. Awaiting their decision.

My questions:
-  how is the feedback on the Cass Global online MBA program? It's virtually a brand new program with the first cohort only in Feb2020, and thus very little to go on by way of stats.
- Any inputs on which program would edge the others out in terms of selecting between the colleges?
- Assuming that I take a sabbatical for a year (can't sail and do an EMBA attending classes every second week or even monthly) , and am willing to pay the higher price, does an EMBA make better sense?

Regards.

Senior management is a very wide term. I think this depends on whether the organisations you are targeting hire MBAs systematically, from which programmes. As a rule of thumb an EMBA or full-time one year MBA might be a better way into traditional MBA recruiters. 

Hi Dunkan,

Thank you for the reply.
I am looking to shift to a Directorship or Vice Presidency role within my industry, which is one of Ship Management. 

Although they draw heavily from within their Captains out at sea, the correct MBA will add immensely to my ability to contribute in a better way in a leadership role.

Also , a fair amount of networking is required to develope business for a Ship Manager or Ship Owner.

Regards.

Try this approach: How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571

Hi all,

As recommended by Duncan I have calculated the NPV the year 3, 5 and 10 for some of the top online MBAs. The ranking result below. 

Assumptions:

-Estimated salaries can vary widely depending on the data source. To avoid this issue, I have considered the salaries from the FT (link below). For those school not included in this link, data comes from the official website.

http://rankings.ft.com/exportranking/global-mba-ranking-2020/pdf

-Salaries are those of the full-time MBAs. It was impossible to get the online information. However, we are just comparing between them, so for a  rough estimation it should work.

-As we are talking of Online programs only, we suppose that you are still working so opportunity cost (your salary during the MBA duration) has not been included on the total cost.

-8% per year of salary increase for all the schools.

-UK scholarships are not included on the analysis.

-Max of NPV for 10 years’ time frame works for me. We see that after 5 years the ranking will remain almost unchanged.

NPV 3 Years

1 Isenberg School of Management University of Massachusetts, Amherst

2 Boston University - Questrom School of Business

3 Manchester University

4 Rice University- Jones Graduate School of Business

5 University of Nebraska–Lincoln

6 Indiana University - Kelley School of Business

7 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler

8 Imperial College

9 Warwick Business School

10 Durham University Business School

11 Gies College of Business | University of Illinois

NPV 5 Years

1 Rice University- Jones Graduate School of Business

2 Isenberg School of Management University of Massachusetts, Amherst

3 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler

4 Boston University - Questrom School of Business

5 Manchester University

6 Indiana University - Kelley School of Business

7 University of Nebraska–Lincoln

8 Imperial College

9 Warwick Business School

10 Durham University Business School

11 Gies College of Business | University of Illinois

NPV 10 Years

1 Rice University- Jones Graduate School of Business

2 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler

3 Isenberg School of Management University of Massachusetts, Amherst

4 Indiana University - Kelley School of Business

5 Manchester University

6 Boston University - Questrom School of Business

7 University of Nebraska–Lincoln

8 Imperial College

9 Warwick Business School

10 Durham University Business School

11 Gies College of Business | University of Illinois

Conclusions:

-As suggested by Duncan, initial higher investment will give us a higher return in the long-term.

-Isenberg and NLU have an outstanding return.

Therefore, Duncan, I would be really grateful if you can give your advice about the school of options 1 and 2.

Option 1:

Isenberg School of Management University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Manchester University

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Warwick Business School

Option 2:

Gies College of Business | University of Illinois 

(I love the program, but as mentioned before 72 credit ours can be really demanding with a family and working full-time. Massive program with 1500 students per year)

Boston University - Questrom School of Business: I would o hear some feedback from the enrolled students.

Durham University Business School

Off topic (Can someone let me know how many ECTS usually have UK MBA programs of two years duration)

I think you have to start from specific goals: which of these degrees has the right network for you.

I can't think of many Uk MBAs that take two years on campus. The UK MBA is normally 30 ECTS of core courses; 30 of electives and 30 of a project or dissertation. 

Hello Hopkins!

I would agree to Duncan's advice.

First you should define your aims in terms of sector, country. 

First of all I chose that I want a UK degree because they have much more international cohorts while US schools are much more centered on US market and mostly have US students/alumni. 

So US schools were not option or me regardless how good they were.

In UK I just applied to two  best ranked schools (per FT on-line ranking) and was admitted to both: WBS and Durham.

I chose WBS because:
- it is higher ranked
- it has more relevant alumni profile in LI
- they started earlier
- they were much more responsive, answered to all my queries very well
- they took scholarship decision faster than Durham 

Hope it helps!
S.