Sabby Ann

In a little over four months, I’ll be sitting down to take the Principles & Practice of Engineering (PE) exam. It’s an eight-hour exam, two-part exam, and it’s one of the final steps necessary in becoming a licensed professional engineer. 

Although I was eligible to take the exam this past October, I was advised to hold off until spring… it’s much easier to motivate yourself to study on a cold snowy night than when it’s sunny & warm outside! So I’ve started gathering reference books and practice tests, and I’m planning to sign up for a review course. 

The only thing that I haven’t yet figured out is what to do after taking the exam! I’d like to take a few days off and go on a relaxing vacation. It’d be a bit too cold in April for an Alaskan cruise, and Europe doesn’t quite fit in the budget… but there are still plenty of potential destinations!

After over a year of going back and forth on grad school, debating whether or not to pursue an advanced degree, and deciding between three separate programs (Civil Engineering, Business Administration, Public Administration), I’ve finally decided! 

A Masters in Civil Engineering would give me expertise in my current field, but wouldn’t really create any new opportunities for career advancement. Michigan State, University of Toledo, and Wayne State are the three local universities that offer it (with a focus on Transportation/Traffic Engineering), but Wayne State is the only one that has primarily evening courses…. and they only have one faculty member with that specialty, and he’s very close to retiring, from what I’m told. It’s also the most expensive option. 

A Masters in Business Administration (MBA) is what most of my coworkers & peers are pursuing (or have already!), and would help put me on a management track. I could still get there without it, but it would enable me to remain in a competitive position. Unfortunately, when I spoke to the MBA Advisor, I wasn’t particularly happy with what he had to say. He indicated that I would be required to take a few pre-requisite courses prior to enrolling, for a total of 48 required credits (16 courses). He also stressed how superior the MBA degree is in comparison to the MPA, citing a significantly higher earning potential and a wider variety of career opportunities.

He was completely oblivious to the fact that some people choose a career for reasons other than money. Conversing in the office with him reminded me of just how boring the business-types are, and how I don’t really want to be stuck in boring classes with stuffy boring people for the next four years. 

But the Masters in Public Administration offers the best overall combination: the local government concentration is highly applicable to what I do, and will offer future advancement opportunities while allowing me to stand out from MBA graduates. The department is much smaller in size, and everyone I’ve spoken with appears to be very friendly and helpful. I’ve satisfied all their pre-req requirements, so I’d only need 40 credits (10 classes, including the capstone project). And most importantly, the course descriptions seem interesting. 

The application requires two short essays and a couple letters of recommendation, in addition to the usual form+transcripts. The transcripts and recommendation letters will be sent next week… hopefully I can motivate myself to draft the essays this weekend!

After going back & forth on the subject quite a few times, I finally decided to pursue a Masters. I contemplated several degree programs, including Business Administration (MBA), Public Administration (MPA), Urban Planning & Development (MUP), and Civil Engineering (MS-CE). 

I’m most interested in going for an advanced technical degree, focused on the engineering or planning side of things… but there aren’t any universities in the area that offer a comprehensive program in the evenings and on weekends. Plus, those programs would be substantially more in cost. 

After talking with a few friends from high school & college who have gone on to pursue a Masters in Public Administration, I decided to shy away from it. It sounds far more interesting than an MBA, but it also requires FAR more analytical writing. So that left the business degree. Oakland University’s MBA program indicates that students admitted must “demonstrate proficiency or complete coursework in the following areas…”

1. A college course in the principles of microeconomics.
2. A college course in the principles of macroeconomics.
3. A college course in financial accounting. 
4. A recent college algebra course or mathematics at a higher level. 
5. A college course in calculus, … or course in quantitative methods which includes basic calculus. 
6. A college course, workshop, … in computer applications. 

The only courses that weren’t included in my undergrad were microeconomics and financial accounting. I guess I didn’t technically take a course in computer applications in college, but I strongly suspect that I’d be able to satisfy their proficiency requirement. 

So in advance of applying for the masters program, I enrolled in an accounting course at Oakland Community College. I skipped the introductory-level course, selecting one that matched the Financial Accounting course description in OU’s Course Catalogue. I had planned to continue on to Managerial Accounting this summer. 

Well it turns out that the Accounting department at OU is essentially refusing to accept this course as an acceptable prerequisite. I can either take another 4-credit course at community college, or I can take an undergrad course directly from OU (that covers 75% of what I’ve already learned). Only then would I be able to continue on with the required grad-level Accounting courses. I would also have to take a microeconomics class. They will need to evaluate my transcript before deciding if I also need to retake macroeconomics. I’m also unlikely to be waived out of their international economics course, despite having taken a global economics course at Michigan Tech. So in all, I’d have to take at LEAST 2 additional courses, plus there would be 2-3 “core” courses that I had expected I’d be able to waive out of that I will likely need to retake… adding a full year (or more) on to the program, and a significant cost. 

So I’m irritated at the MBA program. And if I’m going to have to take 48+ grad-level credits (I had estimated only 36 grad-level credits), I might as well switch to another degree. With the MPA, I would be required to take exactly 48 credits (including 3 pre-req’s), and I wouldn’t have to take the GMAT. 

Heck, it’s tempting to go for something completely unrelated to my current profession (perhaps pottery, or cooking?)…

As I’d mentioned in a previous post, I enrolled in an accounting course at the local community college. It’s a 1000-level course that’s required pre-requisite for admission to the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) program. I was able to get waived out of the introductory accounting class, which means I may need to study up on some of the basic concepts on my own, but if I can pass Calculus 2 & 3, this class should be no problem! ;) 

Anyways, I submitted my application online on December 11th, and immediately received a poorly worded confirmation email. Here’s an excerpt:  ”After processing is complete within two business days, OCC will send you an admissions letter.  This letter includes your student number, which will allow you to use Online Services to register for classes.”

I gave them a little over a week, then I started pestering the admissions department. I wanted to enroll in my class and pay my bill in 2008 (so that I could claim the tuition deduction on my ‘08 income taxes), and they were being too slow. I chose not to enter my social security number on my application (it was optional), so they had some difficulty locating me in their system (is it really that hard to do a search by name?). I eventually got someone who told me I had been admitted (was there any doubt?), and who was able to give me my username & default password so I could login and register. I did that (after a few more calls, to get them to waive the intro class), and then paid the bill. 

After that, I attempted to look up the textbook information online. Unfortunately, their online bookstore wasn’t working properly (I could select the winter term from a drop-down list, but it wouldn’t populate any courses or textbooks), and the physical bookstore was closed for two weeks for winter break. I emailed the instructor to find out what books were required (I couldn’t find any online syllabus or course webpage), but didn’t get a response until Monday, January 5th. By that point, the online bookstore had been fixed, so I already knew what books were required. 

There is one required textbook, and it costs $194 new or $145 used. There is also an optional workbook, and that is $69 new (not available used). By comparison, tuition for the course was only $275!  College textbooks are an absolute rip-off! 

Fortunately, I’ve become an expert at finding cheap used textbooks. I hit up my usual websites - namely Amazon and Half.com - and was able to find the required book for $29 and the workbook for $25. With shipping it was just over $60 for both, which seemed pretty reasonable…  And I expect that I’ll be able to re-sell them afterwards, and recoup at least half of that back (heck, I might be able to get all of it back if I don’t write in the workbook!). 

Anyways, it wasn’t until this Thursday (January 8th) that OCC sent me a letter indicating I had been admitted. It didn’t contain my username, student ID #, information about how to access email or register, anything! It didn’t even indicate that I’d receive that information in a separate mailing. 

I’m not sure if this is representative of most community colleges, or if it’s just OCC, but I’m quite disappointed in their lack of communication so far! While I’m quite comfortable contacting the school to get what I need, and can figure out where to go for what, I imagine that a first-time student would be absolutely clueless.

I’m going back to school, to pursue a Masters in Business Administration. A few of my coworkers are currently working towards their business degrees, and I feel like I need to earn mine in order to remain competitive and to receive equal consideration for future advancement opportunities. 

Since I’m eligible for a significant tuition reduction at Oakland University, it doesn’t make sense for me to apply to any of the other MBA programs in the area (Michigan State, UMich, Univ. of Toledo, or Wayne State). Oakland is primarily a commuter campus, and they offer most classes in the evenings - so I’d be able to continue working full-time.

In order to be admitted, I need to complete some of the prerequisite courses, take the GMAT, & submit the application. I’ll be taking a basic accounting course from a nearby community college, starting in January, which will hopefully fulfill the prereq’s. It’s possible that they’ll make me take an economics course as well, but I’m hoping that they will accept the ones I took as an undergrad. 

The program itself is 48 credits, which includes several “core” classes. The website indicates that they will waive some of those if the student has sucessfully completed comparable undergrad classes, so it is possible to graduate with only 36 grad-level credits. I really need to talk to a faculty advisor in the School of Business, to find out if they will exempt me from any of the cores; I’m hoping that I can pare down the program to the 36 credit minimum!

As far as the financials, here is the situation: 

• Graduate tuition is currently $496 per credit hour. 
• The tuition reduction is 50%, up to 32 credits per year - so I’ll only be billed $248 per hour.  
• My work offers a tuition reimbursement program, of 50% up to $3000 per year.
• The effective tuition rate will be $124 per credit hour, based on the ‘08-’09 rates (assuming that I receive both the reduction & reimbursement for any given course).

However, I have to earn a 3.0 (B) or higher in each class in order to receive both the tuition reduction and the tuition reimbursement - so it could potentially be very expensive if I don’t do well. The tuition reimbursement program at work is on a class-by-class basis, so I will likely only get reimbursed for some of the classes. I will still have to pay my tuition up front, and will have to wait 4-6 months (after successful completion and approval of the course) before I would be reimbursed. And my company may very well decide to follow suit of several other local employers, and discontinue the tuition reimbursement program altogether.  

There are some potential tax implications as well. The tuition reduction and the tuition reimbursement are partially taxable (to the extent they exceed $5250/year), because they are considered fringe benefits. We are unclear on what this will actually mean come tax time, depending on how it is reported. It’s possible we will have a very *substantial* increase in tax liability, but it’s equally possible that I could claim a tuition & fees deduction on anything that would be considered taxable income, which could make it close to a wash. 

When all is said & done, the MBA will cost somewhere between $3,500 and $25,000 - plus books & travel expenses (and any tuition increases), and will take me 2-6 years to complete. That doesn’t include the time or money for prerequisite courses or the GMAT exam/study materials.  There are just so many unknowns right now!