Hello all,
First off, I have a good job already and have prior military service but I am looking to change careers and want the degree to back up my work/military experience. Plus its a matter of pride/bucket list stuff.
I’m completing my final semester at Seminole State and have been accepted into UF’s online Bachelor of Science in Business Administration program. I live in Orlando and can also attend UCF. I’m trying to figure out if the name/prestige and quality of education would merit the more general degree from UF or if I should go to UCF for a specific degree in Finance or another one of the business degrees. I cant leave the Orlando area so these are my 2 choices. I’d love any opinions, feedback, etc I can get.
For other consideration, I can stay at UF and earn my MBA in half the time as long as I have my ba in ba from UF. This is useful to me because I intend to pursue grad school.
Last I checked, UF is #5 for online bachelor’s programs and #47 overall whereas UCF is #177 overall according to US NEWS rankings. UF’s business school is also ranked highly.
I know there’s a lot of pride for the different Florida schools so I hope my post didn’t offend anyone 
Do you plan on switching careers after you earn your BA/BS? If not, go with the higher prestige degree (UF). If you want to switch to Finance, for example, then go for the specific degree at UCF. Switching careers requires that you show demonstrated skills (like the right degree), while 10 to 20 years from now, that UF degree will still have much more “prestige” value on your resume.
Hi Gator,
Thanks for your response. I was thinking the same. I have management/sales/leadership experience. A lot of it. I do plan to leave my current position due to the industry its in and plan to pursue other management ventures and felt the UF degree would be best. I opted towards the finance degree because I thought it could help land the same jobs and the degree itself would be stronger/more valuable… finance vs baba.
I wouldn’t worry about the “online degree” rankings. Though, the overall USNews rankings do carry some weight, and UF has more recognition than UCF, especially once you get outside of the Orlando metro area.
Personally, I’d go with the more general BSBA from UF. You may one day find that having a more “generalist” degree is an asset. You can always specialize in grad school. UF’s online MBA program is supposed to be one of the best programs around. Unfortunately, it’s not cheap.
I can’t think of any reason to prefer UCF in this case, unless they are offering you money, or you have a preference for brick & mortar courses. Keep in mind that many students end up taking online courses, even when they are local.