This is an ongoing debate. One that requires serious study and more empirical studies. One that is very important given the money and time pour society spends on sports.  As CPA, CFA and MBA tutors our focus is on helping students with finance, accounting, statistics, etc but we also want to help them truly evolve as individuals. So we do encourage sports as we believe it builds various aspects of personality in individuals.

Here is an excellent article on this topic. It does not provide any statistics or facts but is an excellent and entertaining read drawing on the authors own experience and some classic history. Recommended read for all tutors and not just CPA, CFA and MBA tutors.

GraduateTutor’s mission is simply to ‘Make Learning Easier”.  Currently we do this by provide private tutoring which is one one one to students around the country and other parts of the world. As online learning has exploded, there has been a lot of debate about the quality of learning provided by the hundreds of online universities, online learning institutes, services, websites and programs. It currently is far from perfect but it is something that will keep getting better. Robert Connor has written about parts of this debate in a recent article in the Chronicle. We are glad that there is more discussion on this topic and investments being made.

While there is still no clarity or agreement on the best way forward, we are very sure that we tremendously increase the quality of learning online with private tutoring. Its definitely very valuable and effective. It however, is not very scalable  like most things done one-on-one. The question is should something like this be scalable!? Can it exist over the long term without being scalable?

The WSJ has an interesting article on students with disabilities. You can see from the large number of comments that this is a sensitive topic!

GraduateTutor.com has always supported MBA, CPA and CFA students with learning disabilities with tutoring support. We will continue to expand our skills in this area and are actively exploring this subject. Do let us know if we can be of assistance.

Jeffrey R. Young writes about external graders and even computers grading papers and assignment in some universities. The two examples provided are not business schools. Read the full article here. Its very interesting and brings out some great points in support for the practice. I especially agree that it will reduce the grade inflation. See if you spot an issue here.

Do you spot a trend here?

Source: chronicle.com

I wonder if this is something we will see more of in business schools! With more MBA schools opting for non disclosure of grades, this may be less of an issue for students and more of an issue with faculty. What do you think?

As MBA tutors, we are part of the entire education system. Although our current focus is limited to tutoring MBA, CPA, CFA students and other professionals, education overall is close to our hearts and one that we track.  Gordon Brown has been an ambassador of education for all. He spoke recently about an unfulfilled education promise of the developed world.

According to the report “Education for all: Beating poverty, unlocking prosperity,” improved access to schools and increased learning achievement could increase per-capita income growth in the poorest countries by 2%.  The report estimates that every $1 invested in education would generate $10-$15 in returns through higher growth.

We are glad that Gordon Brown is becoming an active advocate for education. We believe that there needs to be a drastic change in one or more spheres of life to be able to fulfill this promise of global education. It may be a technological breakthrough with prices of computers dropping and internet accessibility increasing, or may be a new learning or cultural system.

As MBA tutors who prep students for b schools in statistics and math boot camps we get asked a lot of pre MBA questions. One of those ‘Does where you go to b-school matter?’ is almost an age old question. Questions related to this include: How important is the b-school brand name? Are rankings important? Which ranking should I use? Should I not go to b-school if I dont get the one I want?

There is a great amount of research that has gone into this. In our opinion (as MBA tutors) there is no clear answer (yet). Here is an older article that address this question from the NY Times.

While I haven’t read the original report (which is available here) and dont agree with everything the article states, the author’s conclusion is good in my humble opinion! To quote:

“My advice to students: Don’t believe that the only school worth attending is one that would not admit you. That you go to college is more important than where you go. Find a school whose academic strengths match your interests and which devotes resources to instruction in those fields. Recognize that your own motivation, ambition and talents will determine your success more than the college name on your diploma.”

Note carefully that the author says clearly “Find a school whose academic strengths match your interests and which devotes resources to instruction in those fields.” Its not that the brand name or reputation does not matter at all or is irrelevant. Its not the only thing!  Also often if a school has a specific academic strength and “devotes resources to instruction in those fields” it will build a reputation in that area.

Also, please don’t join any school just for the sake of it. As MBA tutors we have seen students come out of MBA programs no better than when they join it! You must be intentional and join an MBA program with the right attitude to learning and growing as an individual. The people you learn from must be able to impact your way of thinking. That is education and how and where you get it does not really matter.

MBA text books are very expensive. At least most of them! Today Mint.com blog post has an interesting article on the question “Is Renting Textbooks Really Cheaper Than Buying?”

Its a good article with talks about the various options and the pros and cons.  The answer really depends. Read the full article here.

Jeremy Dehn a professor shares his thoughts on the recent hearings on the money making machine the for profit universities have been accused of being. Not that making money is bad per se. But promising to provide education and not doing so or using underhand tactics for profits is something that must be stopped. Will college debt becoming as large as credit card debt, the root causes, be it for profit universities or something else, must be investigated and eliminated urgently.  As MBA tutors, please let us know how we can help!

Read his thought in his NYT piece.

The WSJ EMBA rankings are out! Check out this list for the latest ‘gyan” on the best executive mba (EMBA) programs!?

Are the EMBA rankings really meaning full? Check out the methodology too? What in your opinion should really matter? Is it recruiters opinion? Or peer reviews by EMBA Deans? Or should it be the percentage increase in salaries obtained in 5 years!?

The article also states that the tuition tab is increasingly picked up by students! An EMBA can get you down by $100k to $150k a year. Would you be willing to spend this much on an EMBA when a part time mba or an evening MBA program will cost much less!?

The economist has an interesting article on the cost difference between Executive MBA programs and the Full time MBAs programs titled “A costly lesson“.

The article provides example of the price difference at Boise University. The price difference is huge and possibly reflects other executive MBA programs! The articles indicates that some of this difference can be justified by the higher expectations and demands of the senior executives. We can attest for that. We tutor MBA students both full time students and executive students at www.graduatetutor.com and can tell you that the executive students really expect more. They really want to understand their subject at a deeper level be it accounting or finance or statistics. Their focus is really how it applies to their work environment.

Fortunately, GraduateTutor.com is geared to handle the higher expectations of executive MBAs. Our private tutoring programs are geared towards assisting students learn and master their subjects be it  accounting or finance or statistics or any other courses we offer tutoring in.

Beyond the higher expectations of executive MBAs, in our opinion, the additional price is being paid for the brand value and networking potential ” it’s not what you know but who you know“.