There is a buzzword in Wallstreet now-a-days, talking about MOOC (massive open online courses). Top 10 B-Schools like Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, Yale are offering introductory courses online.
Any thought of how industry perceives these courses? While it's understood that classroom courses does not match to them, how top firms look at them? I am aware that MOOC has gained a lot of traction
Wharton offers free online courses: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-13/wharton-offers-free-online-cou…
MOOC is not a buzzword I've heard in NY at all.
Typically, zero credit is giving to someone applying for an entry level role (eg SA, intern, out of MBA school) for these because there is no way to certify that the person actually did it or understood the content.
If you're looking to backfill your academic record to get into a top quality masters program in the US, the admission boards typically give low to zero credit for doing this via uncertified online courses.
And I say this as someone who has used the MIT OCW "MOOC" courses for my own learning, along with Khan Academy and Code Academy.
Just for my clarification. Don't the B-Schools offering these MOOC have online assignments and exams before offering certificates to the virtual students? I heard few of the MOOC players offer verified certificates and have something called "Statement of Accomplishment WITH DISTINCTION". To achieve a distinction, one needs to attain more than 90%.
Some offer certification. For example, you can do the Baruch pre-MFE C++ course online with assessments and get certification.
Even with that, my experience with post-grad admissions (as wannabe MFE student) is that admission advisers tell you to get in-class certification for key pre-req subjects, not online courses.
As an interviewer, I don't give much credit to someone who has done an online course even if they did get certification. I be base my assessment on what in-class undergrad or grad coursework the candidate had done.
That said, none of the candidates I've interviewed has ever listed online courses.
If someone tried to show how keen they were by doing additional stuff online, I'd think they were trying far too hard. It would be like someone who lists "Reading financial books" in the interests section of their resume.
On top of that, I don't have any benchmark for what a distinction means for an online course that anyone can enrol in.
And I'm a geek who does free online courses in my spare time. I suspect many others would be less sympathetic.
Things may change in few years time as online courses become more mainstream. For now, I suspect the only online courses that will be valued by potential employers will be those distance education courses offered through internet lectures and asssment by universities like Columbia CVN and Carnegie Mellon.
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Thanks SSits!
I don't mean to come off as a jerk but I've read a number of your posts and they all seem to have the same underlying theme. It appears that you want to be viable for the top of industry without going to a top MBA and you've come here to brainstorm ways to achieve that. That's an okay goal but I feel as though you're deliberately ignoring many of the value drivers that top MBA programs offer.
A large reason that top firms in finance/consulting/business recruit from top MBA programs is NOT the academic education that is provided in those two years. If you get a good education from one, great but honestly plenty of the "pure business academic theory" could be learned from spending a couple hundred on Amazon books. What they do offer is the time and environment to interact with people that have seen and done shit. Big shit.
The difficulty of admission is also a huge benefit for the companies that recruit from these schools. If a kid gets into GSB or Booth they know that kid stood out enough to gain that admission and so they don't need to do as much research on that applicant. Research=time=$$$. I also believe that a lot of these top schools have networking events where you can meet people at the companies you're trying to work at. I'm not currently enrolled but maybe @"mbavsmfin" would like to weigh in.
In any case the question you seem to be asking is "Can I learn enough at a non-target to be qualified to get into a top industry position". The problem is that you've restricted the scope of what industries look for to purely academic and you've assumed that they'll seriously consider your application. You need to acknowledge those assumptions and provide strategies for dealing with them as otherwise they'll be gigantic stumbling blocks. I hope this doesn't come off as an attack, I just know from personal experience that it's possible to be qualified but if you're approach is off there's a good chance no one will give you a second look.
EDIT: I also took the time to write this in the hopes of educating not only you but I also don't want newbies coming in thinking that signing up for some online classes will open the doors to GS.
I don't have too much to add here since you very well articulated the advantages of going to a top target school.
MOOCs are fine if you just want to learn the material at the comfort of your home, at your own pace. But if the goal is to leverage the education to getting a good job or getting into a top grad school, its value is practically worthless. The primary benefit of target schools is its signaling effect to society, in particular employers. Companies are inherently lazy in terms of recruiting; they have neither the time nor the manpower to look through thousands of applicants from a wide variety of schools. Hence, they focus on the known quantities, the ones who made it past the grueling admission process. The more selective the program, the more powerful this signaling effect is.
Case in point. I was recently at an info session for a major oil&gas company. I was actually one of the few MBAs who showed up; the rest were from the university's public policy school. In terms of pure knowledge, these guys know more about the energy industry than a lot of the MBAs. But they're not going to get a job at this firm since they pretty much only hire MBAs. The reason being, as the company reps said, is that they know when they come to my school, they are guaranteed to get amazing talent. They don't have to wonder whether this person is smart or competent enough to do the job.
On a broader note, I believe that pedigree is going to continue to increase in importance, even moreso than "people skills" and "networking."
This is actually my prediction as well. The invention of the internet combined with population growth means that companies will continue to receive more and more applications. The elite companies grow but not at the same rate. It makes sense for a company to pay for another qualified party (top schools) to pre-screen the candidates. The company can then afford to pay its employees more because it's current employees are spending less of their time and resources finding new employees and spending more doing revenue/value generating activities. The schools can then justify the tuition premium because they're providing a valuable service to both the students and the companies.
In a sense schools' admission committees are functioning as bulge bracket investment banks. They connect the supply of capitol (talent) to the demand for capitol (jobs) and take a fee (tuition). This is obviously not their only purpose but it is one you (and others) should be aware of.
A valuable message! Thank you very much for your time and effort! I read your suggestion in the other thread as well. Point very well taken
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