So Ashford is regionally accredited which is great, however there MBA program is not.  What I mean is the program is not accredited by the Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).  While I am not planning on going to corprate america with my MBA I wish that Ashford would look into this.  I am still going to pursue the MBA regardless but I think it would benefit Ashford to go through the process to make there program better and maybe even bring in more students.  After all they are for profit and most for profits taylor to the needs of the profit providing students.

 Question 1:  Do you think Ashford would be interested?

 Question 2:  Would I talk with the Dean of the Business school to possibly recomend the accreditation?

Question 3:  If I wanted to go to corporate america, what impact of not having an MBA accredited through the AACSB have on me landing a job? 

I live in a small that is growing and which has a state university 45 minutes away.  Ashford best fits my needs right now so the State U is out.  But my current goals are to land a job in Management at one of the many new industries that are comming to town.  I am also going to entertian the idea of maybe being a manager in a bank with the option to move to VP or President, but a branch manager would be fine too!   One place that is being built now has a leadership program that I am interested in.  They require an MBA, and I asked them about the accreditation being a factor but they just responded with a generic e-mail saying they are having an influx in Resumes and they dont have time for individual attention.  joy!!  We will see in 18 months when I graduate!!

Only Ashford would know whether they'd be interested in accreditation for their Business school by AACSB or ACBSP.  It's non-trivial to get it, though, and they may feel that the effort required isn't worth it.

I think if you're a student or prospective student that you have every prerogative to contact the Dean of the Business school (or whoever else you wish) to express your opinion.  You pay the bills; if they don't want to hear from you that's a red flag (not that I think Ashford wouldn't listen to you, most schools value that sort of input).

I think you'll find that AACSB accreditation is more important in academia than in the business world.  I think the pecking order or preference you'll find is likely to be this:

1. The Business school of whatever university the interviewer attended.  (This is why it's actually sort of unfortunate that the closest state university wasn't practical, as people tend to prefer those with whom they have something in common.)

2. A Business school that most people have heard of, i.e., one of the truly prestigious ones like Harvard, Duke, etc.

3. Any other MBA.

That said, I think it's easy to overthink this.  Your work experience, references, and interview are probably going to be a lot more important than this when it comes time to try to land one of those jobs you want.  That you have an MBA at all should be enough if the others factors are reasonably strong.

Good luck,

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

Exactly as Steve said.  I don't foresee any problem with an Ashford MBA, but I think I'll write the various admin people of Ashford and try to find out if they have considered AACSB before and if not, then why?  Personally I see just a marginal benefit for a potentially huge investment, but then that's me.  AACSB may cause tuition to go way up as well and given the trade off, I'd rather have it less expensive as I don't see Ashford competing with the top 50 "B" schools in national rankings anyways. 

Cajun:

I don't foresee any problem with an Ashford MBA, but I think I'll write the various admin people of Ashford and try to find out if they have considered AACSB before and if not, then why? 

 

Great, let me know your findings and I'll call to and see where we end up.

Aside from the increased tuition, you will also see other changes in the MBA program if Ashford were to acquire AACSB accreditation.  Currently, I believe Ashford is an "open enrollment" type of school.  You sign up, you pay your money, you meet their entry requirements, you're in.  If the business program were to go AACSB, you would see entry requirements become more stringent, and this would include GMAT scores. 

 I'm sure AACSB accredited MBAs have their place, but I feel they are a bit overrated.  First of all, when I see an advertisement for a job in which an MBA is preferred, it doesn't say anything about "from an AACSB accredited school".  Second, there are many great MBA programs out there which are not AACSB accredited at all.  Does that make them inferior?  No, it just means they chose not to go through the extra step of getting the business accreditation.  Also, there are many, many corporate CEOs who do not have an MBA degree, but merely a bachelor's degree.  Some of them have no degree at all. 

Enter a degree program for the knowledge you will acquire, not just the benefit of having three extra letters on your resume.  

 

 

I've personally always felt that an AACSB accreditation was redundant.  My brother actually began his MBA at an AACSB school and had an awful experience, so AACSB does not necassarily equal quality.

Cajun:

I've personally always felt that an AACSB accreditation was redundant.  My brother actually began his MBA at an AACSB school and had an awful experience, so AACSB does not necassarily equal quality.

I'd say that no accreditation does, nor does being unaccredited guarantee a lack of quality.  It's especially interesting that AACSB is so well regarded, since that's the accreditation specifically for research in business.  It's ACBSP that's the accreditation for teaching business, you'd think that one would make more of a difference to students.  But evidently it doesn't mean that much either.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

Steve, I think it's due to AACSB being the first on the block and therefore the origional.  ACBSP is a "johnny come lately".  I also think a lot of it has to do with the U.S. News and their ranking systems being so closely tied to the AACSB.  Now if they would change their methodology of ranking we may see the AACSB lock on B school rankings begin to slide.

For example, I cannot for a second imagine that Heriot-Watt is a 2nd rate "B" school compared to schools like Prarie View A&M or The University of Texas at Arlington simply because they lack the AACSB accreditation.  I'm sorry I just can't swallow that.