MBA Without an Undergraduate Degree? Yes, it's Possible!

M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration) is a tough and expensive graduate degree that usually requires an undergraduate diploma as a prerequisite.

But, believe it or not, there are still a few M.B.A. programs around the country which accept business experience as a substitute for college degree.

1) Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas. Marci Armstrong, the associate dean for graduate programs, has described the graduate students without undergraduate diplomas as follows: ?I find that these students become very loyal and active alumni. Their executive M.B.A. credential may mean more to them than it does to other students because they don't have an undergraduate degree.? (Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2007)

2) University of North Carolina and Georgia State University are among the other big universities that do accept highly-motivated M.B.A. students with business experience who do not have a formal college education. David Forquer, the head of Georgia State's executive M.B.A. program had nothing but high praise for such students: ?They almost always turn out to be wonderfully engaged students.? In 1998, the top M.B.A. graduate at Georgia State was a non-degree student.

There are also those executive education classes and management certificate programs available for non-degree students that provide quality executive training without, however, awarding an M.B.A. degree. Indiana University's Kelley School of Business is one such school.

CalTech's Industrial Relations Center also do have a good ?Executive Education Program? that you might want to check out.