re: LSUS Online MBA Reviews

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I was referring to a couple of pages back where a potential employer during an interview seemed to imply a 30 credit MBA was valued less.

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I remember being really surprised about that as well. I've been involved in hiring for my various organizations for over 15 years and I have never asked that question. No one I know asks that question. Perhaps it's a regional thing, or perhaps HR has always asked it, maybe it's industry specific. It personally wouldn't factor into my decision though.

Anyone take the final test in FIN 710 yet?

Can anyone answer a question about gpa requirements for the graduate program? I've maintained a 3.0 throughout the program but will end up with a 79 in my current course (FIN 710). Is this going to be an issue since it will lower my gpa below a 3.0? Seems like I read this someplace. I'll be devastated if I had to retake this course.

Another session in the books. Congrats to all finishing with courses and program. Good luck to all starting and in process of completing the program. Stick with it and it'll be well worth the reward. Finished the program with goal of 4.0. Took 12 months (3 full time sessions and 3 part time sessions). More importantly, weekends will be free again

Amazing how quickly this journey went by. Feels like just yesterday was applying to the program. Certainly was a little rough with the transition to 'no textbook format' in the spring but it's quickly improved IMO. Thanks to all that helped (and tolerated complaints) along the way. He's probably no longer here but brentb was a huge help early on. I'm planning as of now to attend the graduation ceremony in December and hope to see classmates there.
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PROGRAM/COURSE REVIEWS:
Proud to say I'm a graduate of this program. Were some bumps along the way but overall was great experience and well worth the investment. My hope with this program is it takes advantage of technology to continue to make it an interactive program. Foundation is already in place to continue to build upon. Have mixed feelings on the 'no textbook format' as far as future quality of courses but hopefully that will continue to be assessed. Things in the business world change too quickly to use dated material for too long.

Hopefully these will be helpful to someone, I posted my course reviews below. I wrote some of these a few months ago so some comments may not still be applicable with current offerings of the course.

ECON705 -- Dr. Shaughnessy. Very good professor that does several recorded Zoom sessions/week. Weekly Quiz/Self-Assessment/Assessment. He does everything to help but give you the answers. Personally didn't find course to be huge time commitment and doesn't have any busy work. Can be doubled. Highly recommend professor.

ACCT701 -- Dr. Ambrosio. Another interactive professor that'll do video reviews of quizzes and quickly responds to any questions. He'll explain everything in detail if you need it. Was my first course in the program Fall 2017. We used PDF textbook then. I can't find my prior notes but I believe we had a weekly quiz and assessment plus a midterm and final. Not sure if that's changed since. Can be doubled. Again, highly recommend.

FIN701 -- Dr Vines. I think Dr. Vines is the only option (at the time) but he's who I'd recommend. Does 4-5 Zoom sessions most weeks for exam prep. This course IMO definitely needed a textbook. He'll provide you with a 10-15 pages document written by himself to prepare for exams. If you don't have finance experience, I'd recommend finding a prep book and make your life easier.

One of the more time consuming courses in the program for me. Given lack of guidance in his 10-15 page document he provides, I had to use Youtube/outside sources to understand quite a bit of the stuff. To do well on his exams, rewrite his 10-15 document in your own words. If you don't already use regularly, get accustomed to Excel and/or Financial Calculator.

I don't think there's a professor that goes out of his way more to help than Dr. Vines. JMO The quality of the course w/o a text was lacking. I (luckily) didn't double this course. Not to say you can't, but I was spending 25-40+ hrs/week on this course. Really will depend on your background. Would recommend him. The course structure? No so much. The no text format wasn't his decision so not going to hold that against him. He's a great guy that cares about his students.

MADM715 (Employment Law) -- Wren. My only negative experience in the program. The professor 100% didn't get a sh!t this session. Nothing was reviewed by her from the reading material to the exams. The exam questions were incomplete and she never was willing to review them for errors. Her material was nothing more than repeated material after repeated material from internet sources. You would read the same exact thing 5-10x through various internet articles. There are many reviews out there from this session. Haven't read one that was really off base from the experience of this session. It was just horribly put together and unprofessional communication IMO.

I think she just REALLY had difficulty going from using a standard textbook to her having to provide material on her own. Knowing the time needed to put together the course, I probably wouldn't even have given a negative review if her communication with the whole class wasn't so off-putting. The content is fine but was just a jumbled, unreviewed mess. Hopefully it'll improve in future offerings. Certainly don't think it could be worse. I would not recommend on the basis of the Spring 2018 offering of the course. Her reviews pre-Spring 2018 were fine so hopefully this session was an anomaly.

MADM760 -- Dr. Meeks. Definitely one of the best professors in the program IMO. Very straight forward no BS guy. It is time consuming but wasn't a lot of busy work. Weekly group meetings I thought was one of the best things about the program in getting to know classmates. Weekly Quiz + Weekly Written Assignment + End of Class Individual Project + End of Class Group Project. This class prepared me well for the writing intensive MKT course. Can be doubled. Highly recommend.

MADM701 -- Dr. Knotts. Was a breeze IMO. Very straight forward with readings, weekly written assignment + weekly exam. Really only so much you can say with this course. Read and you'll do fine. Can be doubled. Recommend if an option.

ISDS705 -- Dr. Linn. Really not a whole lot to say here. Read the book and take 3 exams. Could be doubled/tripled.

MKT701 -- Dr James. Much has already been said here. She's outta her mind with the project timelines but the readings and exams were fine. Wish she'd be little more realistic with the project so students could take more from the course. As is, it's just writing a bunch of BS and cramming for exams.

TBH The biggest thing I took from the course was the Grammarly MS Word extension . It is definitely helpful. Survive the 7 weeks with her and you'll do fine. I would recommend taking someone else with course. That's SOLELY based on the unrealistic project timelines. She's more than helpful with any questions. She does many zoom sessions. Unfortunately I didn't find there to be enough hours in the day to attend or watch them. Wouldn't recommend doubling but is possible. Wouldn't plan on having much of a social life whether taking alone or double.

MADM720 -- Dr. K Williams. Very likable professor. She'll go out of her way to help you with whatever. Course could use more interaction for a communications course IMO but I'd probably suggest the same with several courses. Not a large time commitment. I'd say I spent 5 hours a week on it. Took with MKT701 so it's a course you can double with anything. Would definitely recommend her.

MADM710 -- Dr. F Williams. Admittedly I feared taking her based on past reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised here. Really was a walk in the park compared to MKT701 and MADM715. I imagine her MADM701 course is similarly structured. The Wednesday due dates for the discussion questions are the hardest part of the course. You'll have an additional writing assignment due the following Sunday night + a weekly exam. Exams are fairly easy. This course wasn't much different than taking MADM701 with Dr. Knotts. Can be doubled. Would recommend.

All the best again to those completing the program, starting and anything in between. This board has been a tremendous resource. I would encourage anyone new to read the history of this board and use google to search prior reviews of courses from this board (if you don't want to search page-by-page)

Just finished up my first semester. I took ISDS 705 with Gibbs and MADM 760 with Heller. I got A's in both classes. No complaints about either professor though I Heller switched to proctored test after the 3rd one. Both classes had about 100 pages of reading per week. ISDS required 10 review questions, 1 Excel tutorial, two quizzes, and at least 1 project. Those were fairly easy with the video instructions but a bit annoying, IMO. MADM 760 was a lot of writing, so be prepared for that.

The upcoming semester will include MKT 705 with Kim stacked with ACCT 701 with Ambrosio. The second session is ECON 705 with Shaughnessy. While there is still time to do some rearranging, do any of you have any suggestions? I'm trying to get this degree done as quickly as possible without killing myself or dropping below a 3.5.

Would you give up a spot in ACCT with Ambrosio in order to take MKT 701 with Albers instead of James? I only have time to take one class per session so must choose.

I hate to give up ACCT 701 this session -- I'm interested in the course and want to take it with Ambrosio -- but based on the discussions here I'm tempted to change up my intended course rotation, drop ACCT and take MKT 701 instead while there's a non-James option available (sounds like that's not always the case).

The problem is I'm dreading the MKT class and reasoned that I would save it to be my last class, at which time I'll be sufficiently motivated to complete it no matter how crazy the workload.

Would love to hear from anyone with experience in these courses, especially with Albers' course.

Thanks.

Congrats @craig !!! I'm sure you are on cloud nine right now.

I'm 3 courses behind and plan to be walking with you in December. Til then, enjoy your time back *cheers*

Thanks, Socal. I slept on it and think I may just stay the course I already charted, which means MKT in the spring.

ACCT 701 syllabus and text are now posted on Moodle, BTW. Call me old school but I am so grateful there's an actual textbook for this course. When you think about the collaborative effort and thousands of hours of research, writing, peer review, editing and re-writing that go into creating a good text, there's no way an instructor-produced video or Word document can substitute, I don't care how much the instructor knows his stuff. I am 100% pro book!

I can’t tell you which chapters he used. I used the search the document option and searched the title/information from the syllabus and handouts.