Does anyone have opinions on this or have done the UofU Online MBA program? I always take classes in my spare time because I am a sadist and I figured why not look at an MBA. Just seeing if anyone has done the program online as obviously I can’t do it in person. I am also considering UICU Gies’ program or just doing the weekend in person at Vanderbilt.
I don’t know anyone who got their MBA online at the U, but know several who have gotten MBAs recently.
Taylor Randall was the Deal of the School of Business before he became president of the U. Really high tier leader.
Example: My son took a class co-taught by Randall when he had first become the Dean. Randall described the situation - the financial folks at the U approached him. Costs too high, needed to find a way to lower costs in the College of Business.
Randall said he could accomplish the financial goals, but needed time. He then started hiring higher tier faculty and making connections in the business community… basically he built COB up, was able to avoid trimming any jobs.
I don’t look at the rankings, but I know COB and other areas of the U have elevated impressively. It’s a much stronger school than when I went.
I’d be surprised if the online MBA wasn’t really good.
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Good stuff. I was a garbage student in undergrad since I worked fulltime. So getting an MBA back in the day wasn’t really on my mind. Now I have the time and extra cash, why not?
Honestly, I’m finding most top tier MBA schools, which Utah is, tend to be close to as good if not as good as in person due to advance in tech. The reason I like Illinois is Gies has a great business school and from what I have seen from a few courses I’ve done it’s pretty manageable. I like the price on Utah’s and probably need to check out how the execute the classes in the program.
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Princeton Review rates it as top-10 worldwide and top 20 online MBA in other rankings/ratings. So, pretty good. My BIL did the in-person, but that was 20 years ago and as mentioned above, Taylor really elevated the program and helped advance teaching and tech and innovation, all good things for online programs.
USNews (which can be garbage) ranks the U’s online MBA at 12 (2023), part-time MBA at 23, and Executive MBA at 40, so there is a data point. Didn’t have rankings for online.
Being sadist to continue taking classes is a good reason enough, but do you really need an MBA? Are there skills or knowledge you need? It seems like you have some good business ventures going. I’m all for continued education and learning and it’s something to stay busy, just wondering about value.
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Oh, I’m sure there’s plenty I could learn. I know I come off like a know-it-all sometimes, but honestly, I love jumping into classes at places local to me (i.e. Vanderbilt and WKU) just for fun. I always walk out with some weird nugget of knowledge that ends up sticking with me longer than it should.
The way I see it, the MBA isn’t just about stacking degrees—it’s about future-proofing what I’ve built. We all know the business world’s shifting faster than a Nissan Altima on I-65, and I’d rather be ready than nostalgic. Plus, there’s some personal weight here: I come from folks whose highest degree was a GED. People who, a few generations back (before the Civil War), were the ones starting colleges. Somewhere along the way, that trajectory got lost. Feels good thinking I could help swing the pendulum back toward the right side of history.
So yeah, part survival instinct, part stubborn pride, and part love of sitting in a classroom (or on zoom) asking too many questions. It’s not just masochism…but it’s a little bit masochism, too.
EDIT: Weirdly my buddy and I were talking this morning. A former defense contractor job of his he got an MS in Security Engineering. After our chat he started looking at the online PhD. As someone who went to college in the 1990s while AOL was handing out free floppy discs this is an amazing advancement. We can literally be anywhere and get a top tier education post grad.
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I hear you. Kudos. My grandad was the first to get a college degree on my mom’s side and my dad and his siblings were the first on their side. I went into engineering and knew I wanted at least a masters so I wasn’t stuck at some ceiling. After an internship at a national lab, I decided a PhD was a good goal, seeing the work they were doing.
BS = bull-$hite. MS = more $hite. PhD = piled hire and deeper 
. In reality, a bachelors gives a broad based learning with some skills. An MS usually narrows the focus and specializes in something. A PhD usually pushes the boundary of what is known, pushing out a little pimple on the boundary. I think more than that, it just helps create a more independent thinker and helps develop the ability to learn more deeply and research into new topics. But there are also plenty of PhDs with some really strange takes outside their expertise (Dunning-Kruger effect I guess).
It is amazing what is available for continued learning. I relied on ~30 MOOCs 10-12 years ago to shift from engineering to data science/analytics. At the time they were free (now they found ways to monetize them or put them into programs/certificates - I wasn’t after a credential per se, just the knowledge and skill).
I think you or someone else said it earlier, but some of the brightest people are not necessarily the ones with the deepest education, but ‘street smarts’ and the ability to solve problems (and love it), especially in blue collar roles (or owning a business of such) and just figuring out how to get stuff done in the situation and have good instincts when the game changes.
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Yeah, you have the skills I admire. Data Science and Analytics is something my kid is looking at along with some of the other engineering programs. I honestly like taking some of these MOOCs just to be able to have a convo with her on a topic.
Echoing what @Ma-ake said, the U’s b-school used to be bad and plummeting - Taylor Randall turned that whole thing around. I got the predecessor to the Masters of Information Systems after a few years off from college, got my undergrad in b-school.
Short story is, I think you’ll get an exceptional value for your dollar at the U doing online courses - and now Taylor Randall is doing what he did for the business school for the entire school. Exceptional leader.
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Nice. I appreciate the input, guys. Probably will decide this summer.
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