Online MBA Forum

I started to look when MBA programs began their academic year last week, during the conference on graduate professional programs. Many institutions run their MBA programs from September or October, the traditional time that the academic year begins. However, online MBAs seem mostly to have two starting points, September and January.

This has been taken up by some graduate schools, and many of the Executive MBAs start in January, finishing in December. Some graduate schools have taken on this timetable across the whole of their MBA programs. Some online MBAs will allow you to start in April as well, making sure that the introductory courses are studied and then you can choose the order of many of the courses that make up your online MBA program.

I'm interested in what Failing Economist has to say about the power of peer group pressure to help you to carry on with your MBA. I do agree that this can be a major influence in the decision to carry on with a degree. Of course, this can work two ways; if the group that you are studying with is not supportive, or if you do not fit into the norms of the group, this also can be a contributing factor to your decision to quit.

In fact your "fit" into the student body for an MBA is a factor in your level of success. Most MBA schools work hard to select students that they think will fit together, giving a group where there is sufficient diversity to make discussion and group work interesting, but also that there is some glue to hold the group together, thus making sure that students feel the group motivation. Usually this works, especially if the program committee is experienced, but there are some people who slip through the mesh.

I'm just starting the last day of my conference on professional graduate programs, and the major item for discussion today is the role of online learning on these courses. My workshop is to be about online MBA programs, so I'm looking forward to seeing what will be the conclusions reached in the conference.

So far we are seriously trying to find good solutions to the problem of students who start online programs but do not successfully complete them. The proportion is considerably higher for online programs than for traditional delivery. Not surprising really, as major factors in success are the support of fellow students and staff, things that are very difficult to deliver online.