As a recent grad of this program, I have a few words of caution:
I will say, the curriculum itself is pretty good. It’s challenging and you learn a lot. However, there are a couple major downfalls of the program.
First, the faculty. It’s not that they are not good teachers but they are overextended. Dr. Grisaffe is a good teacher but he goes incredibly fast and if you don’t already have a working knowledge of SPSS and other stats programs; you’re going to be behind. His voice is also kinda monotone so it’s kinda easy to zone out sometimes. On tests he will sometimes pick out random things from the book that weren’t really gone over in class and will also put things on tests that weren’t on the review and vice versa.
While a few other professors teach a class in the program, the other professor that teaches most of the other classes is Dr. Hanson; who is also the program director. He took over a couple years ago and I think he’s doing the best he can, but it’s pretty obvious he has never taught before. His classes are really disorganized and he spends a lot of time rambling about projects he did in the past which have no relevance to the class. His assignments are not that hard and as long as you put in the effort you should be fine, though his grades seem somewhat arbitrary. The biggest thing (and this has happened to multiple people) is that he will tell you not to do something on your next assignment and then when you don’t do it he’ll take points off for you for not doing it. Still, I don’t think he’s the biggest problem. That would be…
…the alumni network and board. When Dr. Hanson came in and Dr. Rogers left, a lot of companies that were recruiting out of the program went away. On the few occasions Dr. Hanson sends out job postings, they’re the same postings that have been put on Indeed and everywhere else. Many of these postings aren’t even market research related, they’re just some random job an alum has at their company. Therefore, this degree really doesn’t have much meaning anymore. A lot of people were lured in because they said they placed all of their graduates in jobs, which is definitely not true anymore (and of course no longer on their website). I’m not saying you can’t get a job, but this degree isn’t going to help you get one all that much. Many new graduates are stuck doing internships after they graduate (which you have to do two internships just to get the degree). Even at the MSMR conference you will meet a lot of people in the industry but pretty much none of them have job openings. Your best hope is that one of the internships you get has a follow on job, but most of them don’t.
If you’re thinking of signing up for this program to get ahead or start a career, I wouldn’t recommend it. If you have been in the MR industry for a little while and are looking to move up or gain more knowledge, then this might be for you.
Wish you all the best.