MSc

[Liability]

Utter rubbish.

LOL - Yawn! Of course it is.

[Liability]

Hmm, because I don’t know how their MBAs rate, but the Planetary and Space Sciences department is recognized as one of the finest in the world and made a major contribution to the Cassini-Huygens mission. The department, or institute as it is properly known, employs, and has employed some of the finest planetary scientists of our time, including Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Colin Pillinger; without wishing to appear as though I’m making an appeal to authority, I’d suggest that those people don’t do ‘crap’. Maybe I’m biased though as they’re the ones who’ll be awarding my MSc.

Of course, the original question was about an MSc, and not an MBA.

I am not disagreeing with you - but put a CV in front of any hiring manager and if one is from say Oxford and another is from OU - you can pretty much bank that in 9.9 times out of 10 it will be the Oxford that gets it.

Similar - put an OU versus say LSE or even Kingston and more than likely the latter will get the role.

Obviously it also boils down to what else you have done - but if it was solely on where they attained their MSc - majority would go for the latter.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves and thinks they know more than they really do in the real world.

[Liability]

By the way, the original questioner was considering getting an education, not an MBA.

Lol - good point! You mean to tell me MBA's arent worthy [shock horror!]? And MSc are? Come on! Both are as bad as each other.

[SallyAnne]

In real world value it sadly is. To use it to get to a decent role it will always be inferior to say a top 5 school. Its like comparing a MBA online to one from LBS.

When MSC and MBA's are concerned in majority of cases the school you have done it from is what holds the weight, not the actual subject.

Sorry Liability - but you are spouting such a crock of wank here it's unbelievable.

Yes qualifications from the top 5 schools (erm, who are they by the way? Oxbridges, Durham....then I'm stuck. Edinburgh? Who's the 5th?) look better than from anywhere else - but an MSc from any other university doesn't look any different to OU. Which is what you were implying.

I cannot think of one single situation where a company would care where you got your Masters from, apart from possibly the consultancies, but noone with any experience in the real world (which MSc/MBA hoolders tend to have) would want to work for them anyway.

[Mich the Tester]

Lol - good point! You mean to tell me MBA's arent worthy [shock horror!]? And MSc are? Come on! Both are as bad as each other.

It was a bit nasty of me to put it that way, but I just don’t care about getting any more business qualifications; it bores me silly and having done a PGDip with a few MBA courses I remember being bored out of my brain by the MBA stuff; it doesn’t challenge my brain enough to keep me awake.

[Liability]

Sorry Liability - but you are spouting such a crock of wink here it's unbelievable.

Yes qualifications from the top 5 schools (erm, who are they by the way? Oxbridges, Durham....then I'm stuck. Edinburgh? Who's the 5th?) look better than from anywhere else - but an MSc from any other university doesn't look any different to OU. Which is what you were implying.

I cannot think of one single situation where a company would care where you got your Masters from, apart from possibly the consultancies, but noone with any experience in the real world (which MSc/MBA hoolders tend to have) would want to work for them anyway.

that is why I said decent roles and to progress. If you are looking to work for a Charity and that kind of ilk and move slower - of course what you say is right - but if you wanted to go the corporate route - what I say still stands even today.

[ratewhore]

What do you mean?

I mean have you had any career experience in the security space? If not, where's the value in doing a Masters tailored to IT Security?

Consider what a potential client would think when faced with a CV showing experience in dev or Oracle but then has decided to get an MSc in ITSec.

Just a thought...

[Liability]

It was a bit nasty of me to put it that way, but I just don’t care about getting any more business qualifications; it bores me silly and having done a PGDip with a few MBA courses I remember being bored out of my brain by the MBA stuff; it doesn’t challenge my brain enough to keep me awake.

Agree with you - did my GMAT got an offer from LBS and binned it and took a 18 month role and saved myself 40k and just earned another 180k. Unless you are wanting to get fast tracked into the corporate upper worlds sooner - it really is a waste of time - in fact it's a waste of time anyway - it's merely a tick on the CV for the old boys network.

But some people still get hung up on it and want to do them.

But I digress - it was an MSc this was about.

[Mich the Tester]

that is why I said decent roles and to progress. If you are looking to work for a Charity and that kind of ilk and move slower - of course what you say is right - but if you wanted to go the corporate route - what I say still stands even today.

OK, but the OU’s reputation in academia is now very, very good. It takes a while for businesses to cotton on to this kind of thing, but they will cotton on to it, and within a few years OU MBAs will get you a long way in corporates too.

[expat]

In real world value it sadly is. To use it to get to a decent role it will always be inferior to say a top 5 school. Its like comparing a MBA online to one from LBS.

When MSC and MBA's are concerned in majority of cases the school you have done it from is what holds the weight, not the actual subject.

MBAs maybe. MSc is assessed by quality, not name

OU is rightly highly regarded and is not like "a MBA online".