MBA from Thunderbird vs Master's in Management from Harvard Extension School?

Hi there,

Basically I have the choice of doing either of these distance-learning programmes either an MBA from Thunderbird School of Management or the Master's in Management from Harvard Extension School. Which would carry the higher standing/prestige?

I basically want to combine management studies with my medical training and start up my own medical related business of sorts and also help in the management sort of things with family-owned businesses.

I was under the impression an MBA was some sort of gold-standard. I know the MBA programme at Thunderbird has accreditation but it seems to drop in and out of the global mba rankings and I had never heard of them until googled them.

Obviously the Harvard name carries a lot of prestige. Even though it's the extension scchool you still need to gain high marks in the pre-requisite courses to gain entry and the workload is rigorous. However I don't think the management programme has accreditation and it isn't under the Harvard Business School brand so lacks the networking opportunities etc.

Anyways what do you think would be the better option? I'm veerinng towards HES because it's cheaper and the Harvard name. But I'm not sure about either.

Advice and input much appreciated. Thanks

Reply 1

sj27

14

I thought HES only offered the ALM as a graduate degree - I wasn't aware they offered a MiM.

Where are you planning to work afterwards in terms of UK or US? Thunderbird has name recognition in the US but I'm not sure about elsewhere. Conversely, HES degrees, while being full Harvard degrees etc, often seem to be looked down on as not quite the real thing, as you'll see if you do some google searching on it. (I'd considered doing a HES ALM a while ago, but decided the effort vs lukewarm recognition was not worth it.)

I'd be more inclined to go for a degree that you can do distance but is not differentiated from the fulltime one in terms of degree certificate etc. one that springs to mind is Imperial, although apparently they don't have great support for distance learning students. There are also other programs which combine distance with some residential sessions, both in the UK and US. I know Cornell and Durham do ones like this for example.

Also MBA is not quite the gold standard it was. A recent news article said that only 77% of the latest HBS MBA class had jobs on graduating, which is low for this flagship program - historically it's more like 90%. So I'd think carefully about your motivations, as MBA programs are not cheap and the ROI seems to be steadily eroding over time.

Reply 2

Soft Cat

OP

Original post by sj27

I thought HES only offered the ALM as a graduate degree - I wasn't aware they offered a MiM.

Where are you planning to work afterwards in terms of UK or US? Thunderbird has name recognition in the US but I'm not sure about elsewhere. Conversely, HES degrees, while being full Harvard degrees etc, often seem to be looked down on as not quite the real thing, as you'll see if you do some google searching on it. (I'd considered doing a HES ALM a while ago, but decided the effort vs lukewarm recognition was not worth it.)

I'd be more inclined to go for a degree that you can do distance but is not differentiated from the fulltime one in terms of degree certificate etc. one that springs to mind is Imperial, although apparently they don't have great support for distance learning students. There are also other programs which combine distance with some residential sessions, both in the UK and US. I know Cornell and Durham do ones like this for example.

Also MBA is not quite the gold standard it was. A recent news article said that only 77% of the latest HBS MBA class had jobs on graduating, which is low for this flagship program - historically it's more like 90%. So I'd think carefully about your motivations, as MBA programs are not cheap and the ROI seems to be steadily eroding over time.

You're right it's an ALM, is that a good or bad thing

Cornell's programme is the Executive MBA for which I don't have adequate experience......I'll check again to see what they offer.

Harvard's ALM is much cheaper than the Thunderbird MBA so that's a plus although Thunderbird can offer a 30% scholarship but I believe HES can offer funding too so either way Harvard ES would be cheaper.

I'd be planning on setting up my own medical related business or something here in the UK. Yeah I'm aware some circles don't view HES on the same level as an on-campus programme but that's pretty obvious though.

Durham's MBA has a 4 year work experiene requirement and they won't let me take the programme whilst being enrolled elsewhere whereas HES have no such restriction. I'm looking at doing full-time master's this year, the HES master's I'd spread out over time so as not to interfere too much with my ongoing work.

I'm drawn to HES because of the fact it's Harvard, you get the benefits of being a Harvard student/alumni etc even if it is a distance-degree, you're still taught by Harvard academics and you do attend in-person sessions. It just seems that even with the ALM, Harvard will carry more weight in the UK and beyond (Europe, Asia) rather than Thunderbird.

Reply 3

sj27

14

I'm not sure, to be honest, why you're in such a rush, especially if you're already doing a full time masters. There's a good reason that most MBAs want people with work experience - so they can all contribute practically to the class, and because it improves the networking. Don't you think it would benefit you more in the long run to get the work experience first and then get a proper MBA experience out of it?

By the way, you say HES don't mind if you're enrolled elsewhere, but what do your current uni regulations say? Many don't allow you to be enrolled elsewhere if you are studying fulltime, though I know some do. If you haven't started yet, I'd also say hold back on a second enrollment with HES, presuming you are allowed to, until you have an idea what the workload is like.

Reply 4

Soft Cat

OP

Original post by sj27

I'm not sure, to be honest, why you're in such a rush, especially if you're already doing a full time masters. There's a good reason that most MBAs want people with work experience - so they can all contribute practically to the class, and because it improves the networking. Don't you think it would benefit you more in the long run to get the work experience first and then get a proper MBA experience out of it?

By the way, you say HES don't mind if you're enrolled elsewhere, but what do your current uni regulations say? Many don't allow you to be enrolled elsewhere if you are studying fulltime, though I know some do. If you haven't started yet, I'd also say hold back on a second enrollment with HES, presuming you are allowed to, until you have an idea what the workload is like.

True but what the other uni doesn't know won't hurt them?

As for the rush long-story but I am in a rather hurry. Would it matter too much having an ALM Management over an MBA if it was for the purposes of setting up my own business?

Reply 5

sj27

14

Original post by Soft Cat

True but what the other uni doesn't know won't hurt them?

As for the rush long-story but I am in a rather hurry. Would it matter too much having an ALM Management over an MBA if it was for the purposes of setting up my own business?

I still don't see the hurry. What are you planning to do your masters in this year? Why not just do a fulltime degree in management now if that's what you're after? You're unlikely to learn much, if anything,more in a pre-experience MBA, after all .... And if it's just for your own business, then why do you even care about the Harvard name to begin with? Surely you should be more interested in finding the best course for starting your own business than worrying about relative prestige? Although - You're clearly bent on doing this, so I'm not sure why you're asking anyone's advice here to be honest.

Reply 6

Soft Cat

OP

Original post by sj27

I still don't see the hurry. What are you planning to do your masters in this year? Why not just do a fulltime degree in management now if that's what you're after? You're unlikely to learn much, if anything,more in a pre-experience MBA, after all .... And if it's just for your own business, then why do you even care about the Harvard name to begin with? Surely you should be more interested in finding the best course for starting your own business than worrying about relative prestige? Although - You're clearly bent on doing this, so I'm not sure why you're asking anyone's advice here to be honest.