Gies iMBA anyone?

Add Gies iMBA to your Profile

Gies iMBA App Tracker

Has anyone considered the Gies iMBA? This is a fully accredited MBA degree from the University of Illinois. It is totally delivered on-line with no campus requirement. Also, there is no GMAT nor GRE requirement! The best part is the low cost: only $22,000! Students can begin taking credit classes before admission. These credits are transferable to the iMBA or any other university. MOOC classes and distance learning have received favorable reviews from Harvard Business Review and CNNMoney.

"We're catering to people who typically wouldn't be able to come into an MBA program at this stage in their life, but still need it to advance their careers," said Nikhil Sinha, the Chief Business Officer at Coursera. During a panel discussion, Dean Raj Echambadi stated that the mission of the Gies iMBA is to deliver high quality education at an affordable price. This is an effort to broaden the definition of an MBA degree, and to deliver a more meaningful business learning experience.

The website claims that there is no difference between the iMBA and the on-campus MBA. All transcripts and diplomas will state you studied at Urbana-Champaign. My transcript from The University of Maryland reflects a similar experience. While stationed with the USAF in Germany, I took several classes at the UM Frankfurt campus. My first transcript reflected this fact. Two years later, I received a letter and an updated transcript. The letter stated that some military students had encountered problems while transferring credits, especially to graduate programs. The problem was the location. My updated transcript now reads College Park, MD. No problems since, all transfer credits have been accepted w/o questions.

In a time of increasing e-commerce, world-wide acceptance of MOOC, leveraging information and knowledge in an increasingly flat world, the Gies iMBA makes a lot of sense and represents a tremendous return-on-investment.