What are your thoughts on Grad Certificates?

[sommelier]

How valuable are Graduate/Post-bachelors certificates?

Obviously they are not a substitute for a MA or MS degree, but are they a good way to build your resume and knowledge base?

What if they are acquired through distance/online learning?

(Cornell, Penn State, U Mass, GW ..... not U of Phoenix or Kaplan!)

I am considering one in addition to my MBA due to the fact that I want to do government/business relations in DC eventually, and I am thinking a grad certificate in Legislative affairs or Political management might be a nice way to accentuate a business degree.... especially if I do not go for a PhD.

[teaganc]

For academia, I think they range from "mostly pointless but maybe cool" to "completely and utterly pointless," but for business, I think they make more sense. A grad certificate in the area you want to work really helps a MBA stand out, in my opinion, though probably work experience means more still. As far as distance learning, as long as your certificate is from a brick-and-mortar school, I don't see why you would ever need to tell anyone/put on your resume that your certificate was from the online part of the school.

[Soon2BPHD]

How valuable are Graduate/Post-bachelors certificates?

Obviously they are not a substitute for a MA or MS degree, but are they a good way to build your resume and knowledge base?

What if they are acquired through distance/online learning?

(Cornell, Penn State, U Mass, GW ..... not U of Phoenix or Kaplan!)

I am considering one in addition to my MBA due to the fact that I want to do government/business relations in DC eventually, and I am thinking a grad certificate in Legislative affairs or Political management might be a nice way to accentuate a business degree.... especially if I do not go for a PhD.

I have no data to back this up, but I think a grad certificate is a fine way to improve a resume if you aren't going to stay in academia. Even if you are on an academic path, it certainly can't hurt--unless obtaining the certificate requires taking lots of extra classes, which could take valuable time away from your research and other activities. I imagine a good rule of thumb would be to get a certificate IF 1.) you are interested in the material you'll be learning in the required classes and 2.) at least some of the classes also count toward the completion of coursework for your PhD or MS program. When I did a masters (in applied econ), I went through a course sequence to obtain a graduate certificate in survey research. It was maybe a 5-course sequence, but I think I only had to take two more courses than my main course of study required because of overlap between the two areas. AND I learned an awful lot of extremely valuable information along the way. It was definitely worth doing.

[sommelier]

Like I have said... I really want to take my MBA into the field of business/government relations. My concentration is in venture marketing and management (with my undergrad in Poli Sci). I am feeling out grad certificate programs in a number of disciplines.... (legislative affairs, political management, public law, public policy, etc...)

Everyone in DC is educated, and many at top institutions... I just want to be as competitive as possible for good jobs.

If anyone knows any good distance learning grad programs, please post a link!

Thanks!