OT: Degrees earned at UM-Flint or UM-Dearborn

Submitted by Har-Boner on

Since crootin' news seems to be pretty silent for the better half of today, I figured I'd throw a question out there.

 

I'm considering going back to school for a 2nd master's degree since my employer will pay for it. I already have an MBA from the University of West Georgia, but am considering getting the online MA in Applied Communications from UM-Flint as a resume kicker. My question is - will this degree be the same one that is printed for graduates of the main campus? Will it carry the same value on a resume, etc.? As always, appreciate the feedback!

NYC Fan

January 31st, 2017 at 10:55 AM ^

Despite popular belief for Ann Arbor grads and students, you can still achieve success without going to Ann Arbor. It all depends on what you want to do and also what type of person you are.

The degree can help you get in the door, but I would argue who you know is more important. Once you are in the door, your work ethic is what will carry you, not some degree.

Not everyone wants to be an Investment Banker or Consultant where top schools are coveted for job placement.




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shep4569

January 31st, 2017 at 10:48 AM ^

Majored in chemistry at UMF and went to grad school for the same at NC State. Now employed by ExxonMobil as a research chemist, so I can't really say going to UMF has really "held me back" as some would like to believe.

 

The business school is growing rapidly on campus. I don't personally know anyone that went through it, but the MBA program has exploded in the past several years.

Brodie

January 31st, 2017 at 11:03 AM ^

In terms of the question that the OP asked, yes they are all the same. 

 

UC Santa Cruz:

http://www.jungleib.com/wp-content/gallery/1971%20COLLEGE/19750319%20BA…

 

UCLA:

https://diplomaclassics.com/images/Entities/document/v2/UclaHVDiploma_H…

 

As you can see, they say more or less the same thing and the only difference is in the "given at" line. 

Brodie

February 1st, 2017 at 12:48 AM ^

Actually, pretty sure the second one is a fake from a website selling false diplomas... probably a good racket if you're a real estate agent or something, but you're not going to pass a background check ever.

The point stands, though... here's a real UCLA diploma:

http://www.shp.hu/hpc/elemkepek/tanorama/tanorama11613300091161332315.j…

And, for shits and giggles, here is a UM Dearborn diploma:

https://s3media.247sports.com/Uploads/Boards/796/19796/147891.jpg

And Ann Arbor for comparison:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nirand/storage/panchi/diploma/panchika_d…

umichshea

January 31st, 2017 at 4:17 PM ^

The California school system is not the same as one school (U of M) having two sat campuses. California has discrete schools under a state umbrella. You may have noticed the Cal Bears playing UCLA in football.

The UM sat campuses don't carry the same prestige or admissions standards (the latter has some influence on the former) but they are most certainly part of the university family and provide a quality education. Dearborn was more selective this year than State.

Sat campuses have a Chancellor but all fall under the Prez and Regents. The branding is the same, the student tickets are the same etc. A2 handles some of the administration duties for all campuses (such as instate tuition determination). Rackham handles all three campuses for admissions applications.

In short, not quite the same as the State of California educational system.




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UM Fan from Sydney

January 31st, 2017 at 10:49 AM ^

I do not understand why some people put down others who went to UM campuses outside of Ann Arbor. They have regional campuses for a reason. They're all part of the same university system.

UMGoRoss

January 31st, 2017 at 10:54 AM ^

No one should be put down for advancing their education, no matter where you go. That said, there's certainly a widely held perception that the quality of education is higher on the Ann Arbor campus vs. Flint / Dearborn. Whether that's true or not is a different story, but if I'm not mistaken the admissions criteria for most programs is also more stringent in Ann Arbor. 

I can speak more to the business school, but the quality, breadth, and diveristy of recruiters in Ann Arbor is far greater compared to the other campuses.

ijohnb

January 31st, 2017 at 10:55 AM ^

are two types of people in this regards.  There are:

1) The people who state that having a degree from UM-Flint or Dearborn is not the same as having a degree from UM Ann Arbor, these people are largely rational and correct.

2) The people who graduated from Ann Arbor that go out of their way to "make fun of" UM Flint and Dearborn and the graduates of those schools.  Those people are as level headed and have the emotional IQ of a 7 year old and are simply trying to make themselves feel better about something by trying to make other people feel bad.

 

jmblue

January 31st, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^

Have you really met anyone in the second category?  

I could maybe see someone being mocked if he/she claimed to be a "U-M grad" without ever specifying that it was Dearborn or Flint.   Beyond that I don't think most Ann Arbor graduates have strong feelings about the satellite campuses one way or the other.  

 

 

Brodie

January 31st, 2017 at 12:15 PM ^

These threads bring out the worst in people usually, but this is true in my experience. 

Sidenote: UM Dearborn's bookstore only sells items with "Michigan" on it for the most part. You can't buy a "Michigan-Dearborn Alumni" t-shirt because they don't exist and the school actively promotes their students calling themselves Michigan students or Michigan grads. I know that people who have never attended classes at Dearborn or Flint have no way of knowing that, but it's still shitty to mock people for saying it when it is what their professors (most of whom went to UMAA, in my experience) told them.  

You Only Live Twice

January 31st, 2017 at 1:14 PM ^

I would not "make fun" of anyone who went to Dearborn or Flint campus.  I respect them.

If someone states on their resume they graduated from U-M, it's assumed to be from Ann Arbor campus unless stated otherwise, so that's misleading.  

ijohnb

January 31st, 2017 at 1:27 PM ^

it isn't.  First, a graduate from UM-Flint or Dearborn is not misleading anybody when the say they graduated from the University of Michigan.  They are making a factually accurate statement.  Second, you can't control other people's assumptions.  Nearly 10,000 students graudate each year from UM-Flint and UM-Dearborn combined.  So it is not a particularly good assumption, anyway, and if it matters that much to the person doing the hiring, they should ask.  If they don't it is not misleading in the least bit.

In reply to by ijohnb

You Only Live Twice

January 31st, 2017 at 1:42 PM ^

It's not the same coursework and it isn't the same high school achievements that got the person there.  Would you say that getting a 32 on the ACT is the same as getting a 24?

I am not disagreeing that people can say they graduated from Michigan, and don't have to specify the campus.  Of course they are free to do that.  

My point is, I wouldn't say anything misleading on a resume, and place the burden on the hiring manager or HR to clarify.   

 

ijohnb

January 31st, 2017 at 2:08 PM ^

agree with you if a person is in a position where their education credentials, alone, determine whether they are going to get serious consideration from an employer.  If they are right out of college, and are relying upon their college education (along with any relevant internships, publications, etc.) to be considered for a position, it would be misleading to only put "University of Michigan" on your resume.  However, I don't think that is a particularly common or likely example because by and large, the hypothetical applicant is only getting consideration because of where they went to school, and the specific Michigan campus where they attended would be something that was presumaby clarified already.  However, if you are ten years out and have a graduate degree or two and impressive/relevant work history in the intervening years, "University of Michigan" is safe, IMO

Sam1863

January 31st, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^

I'm one of those people who got a degree from UM-Flint. Do I think I got a good education? Yes. Was it as good as one I would have gotten in Ann Arbor (where I was also accepted)? Maybe not. Was it still good? Yup.

Now the bigger question: Do I spend any time comparing myself to the people who got their degree from Ann Arbor? I do not. I know some people who went to Ann Arbor and they are wonderful, intelligent, thoughtful people. Yet I know some others who give the phrase "arrogant assholes" a bad name, and who don't have the brains God gave a turnip. And as far as the people in paragraph #2 and what they think of me, BFD.

No matter where you went, the degree is a good place to start. But what's more important is what you did with it, and what kind of person you became after you threw your hat in the air.

ijohnb

January 31st, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^

think one thing that shaped me well at UM-Flint was seeing what a college education meant to different kinds of people at different stages or their life.  There was a fair amount of typical, college 18-22 demographic there, but there were also people who rode the bus there after working 12 hours in a factory in order to get 3 more credits toward the degree they had been working on for ten years.  When you live in suburbia and come from the comfortable middle class and you here of people stuggling to make things happen for themselves, it is kind of abstract.  You don't really understand what that means and how much of a struggle it is.  Going to a school like UM-Flint gave me a previously underdeveloped appreciation for how good I had it and how much more difficult it can be for some people to make it.

In reply to by ijohnb

Sam1863

January 31st, 2017 at 6:30 PM ^

Very true. It was the "education outside the classroom," for lack of a better phrase.

I grew up in what I always considered an "ordinary" home: six kids raised on a civil servant income, public schools, all your needs met, luxuries you bought yourself or went without. Safe, but nothing upper class about it.

But I remember one guy I met in freshman year telling me about his life: also six kids (by three different fathers) in one of the city's most dangerous areas. Father in Jackson for drug dealing, brother dead in a drive-by, and he'd done six years for armed robbery. But he'd decided to make something of himself, got his GED, made the grades at community college, transferred to UM-Flint, and was two semesters from a B.S. in Social Work. Plus he was just a hell of a nice guy.

It was a valuable introduction to a different world. I'm not sure I would have gotten that in a standard college setting.

Brodie

January 31st, 2017 at 7:11 PM ^

One of the most successful dudes to ever come out of UM-Flint was Christopher Paul Curtis... a guy who came back to college part time after decades of working in the auto industry, started writing, won a Hopwood Award (UM's student writing prize, open to all three campuses and won by the likes of Arthur Miller and Lawrence Kasden), graduated and won two Newberry Medals for outstanding children's literature. 

DrMantisToboggan

January 31st, 2017 at 10:54 AM ^

So James Madison is just as good as Clemson and Alabama right?

 

People just want to be recognized for the caliber of work and achievements they have completed. I agree that others don't need be insulted, but equating programs that are not equal is also a form of insult to the people who obtained a degree from the more selective and intense institution.

DrMantisToboggan

January 31st, 2017 at 10:50 AM ^

If you are asking whether or not UM Flint or UM Dearborn is as prestigious or well-connected as the University of Michigan, then the answer is obviously no, they are far less so. 

 

If your goal was to get a Michigan alum to prove that we are arrogant and elitist because we put down other campuses of our University system, then congratulations you got me. 

 

No matter the answer to your question, you should always feel good about adding any kind of additional certification/training/education to your resume. No matter the prestige of the program, supplementary certification will not hurt your career. 

evenyoubrutus

January 31st, 2017 at 11:16 AM ^

I don't have a problem with you posting this because it's a reasonable topic to discuss, but did you really expect to get a useful answer out of this thread? As in, would you really have based your decision on how a few dozen anonymous users commented? It seems it would have been a better use of your time to call a guidance counselor or read some respectable journals about the subject.