Boston U's MS.MBA Program

Coolidge,

I'm not currently enrolled, but I've done a lot of research on the program, talked with professors, students, and lots of alums.

The students tell me that the additional coursework required for the MIS is not too bad. Apparently the first three weeks of the summer in between years is very difficult, because there are classes called intensives that require lots of work, most students characterized these three weeks thusly: It's a nightmare, you basically live at school for those three weeks.

I think aside from that it is a manageable amount of additional work.

The admissions office says that on average, those with MS-MBAs start out with salaries that are 10K higher. I'm not convinced that this is a direct result of the degree. I assume part of it can be attributed to the selection bias, in other words people who sign up for the dual degree are likely more motivated or possibly people who are interested in the MIS are interested in more lucrative jobs.

The students and alums I spoke with also said that it doesn't matter how little you know about information systems going into the program, it's designed to bring everyone up to speed.

Overall I think the BU program is decent, but not great. I do think however, that an individual can get a lot out of it, whereas other similarly ranked or regarded schools dont' have the potential. I say this, because BU has amazing resources, they have some of the best professors in the world (many of them work at MIT and Harvard), and the school has great connections with many businesses. So in this sense, there is a great overall network to tap into.

While there are many alums and other great network options, I think the great weakness is going to be the "peer" network. From what I understand, BU (at the undergrad and graduate level) brings in lots of rich knuckle-heads that they charge a lot of money, and then they give huge scholarships to bring in smarter people. So you end up with a class that is like 50% not-so-smart, not-so-driven people, then maybe 40% average students, and then the top 10% are on par with the types of people you would find at M7 programs. This is what I have heard from several alums.

BU has a great reputation outside of the US, the school spends tons of money recruiting overseas and they further their reputation with all the research that comes out of the school. In the Boston area, BU is considered a pretty good school, although not a great school. Outside of Boston it sounds like it doesn't have a great reputation. Just from discussing with many people on this forum, it sounds like most people around the country don't know much about it. So if you're going to stick around New England BU will probably serve you well, outside of New England it may not be as helpful on your resume.