Baruch College (Taipei) - Yes or No

Discussion Open Forum
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The City University of New York, Baruch College (Taipei). Zicklin School of Business

My girlfriend has (almost) decided to take a place at this college to do a business masters. I some serious reservations though.

First, the cost is around 25,000USD for a 1 year (part time) masters degree, which, in my book, is a lot of money. I have a masters degree which was full time study over one year, so I’m concerned about the quality of such a degree done on a part time basis using visiting professors.
I’ve never heard of the place and my web searches haven’t turned up anything more than I can find in the brochure that I have. Its a very nice looking brochure :wink: but there are far too many professors listed for my liking. Is this for real or just a marketing ploy???

Has anyone out there in forumosa land ever come across this establishment? Or know of anyone who has studied there and whether or not their experience was a good one? Will a masters degree from there be of any use in the real world?

I don’t want to see my girlfriend throw her money at something that may not prove to be beneficial. My initial opinion is that it would be better to spend a little more to study overseas…

Thanks in advance…

Roach

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zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/admissio … ition.html

Check the tuition fees in NY …

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Looks legit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_College

and they do appear to have respectable faculty, as you said.

Here’s who teaches their classes in Taiwan for an MS in Accounting:

Professor John Elliott: Ph.D., Cornell University
● Professor Masako N. Darrough: Ph.D., University of British Columbia
● Professor Donal Byard: Ph.D., University of Maryland
● Professor Marilyn Neimark: Ph.D., New York University
● Professor Steven B. Lilien: Ph.D., New York University
● Professor Mehmet Ozbilgin: Ph.D., Purdue University
● Professor Peter Joos: Ph.D., Stanford University
● Professor Bharat Sarath: Ph.D., Stanford University
● Professor Joseph Kerstein: Ph.D., Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
● Professor Joseph Weintrop: Ph.D., University of Oregon

for an MS in Finance:

Professor Dan Levin: Ph.D., Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
● Professor Avner Wolf: Ph.D., Columbia University
● Professor Roger Mesznik: Ph.D., Columbia University
● Professor Victoria Dalko: Ph.D., Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
● Professor Christopher Hessel: Ph.D., New York University
● Professor Michael Carew: Ph.D., New York University
● Professor Foued Ayari: Ph.D., City University of New York
● Professor Gur Mosheiov: Ph.D., Columbia University
● Professor Golan Benita: Ph.D., Hebrew University
● Professor Kenneth Mischel: Ph.D., Columbia University
● Professor Joseph Yagil: Ph.D., University of Toronto

and for an MS in CIS

Professor Albert Croker: Ph.D., State University of New York Stony Brook
● Professor Pai-Chun Ma: Ph.D., New York University
● Professor Barry Dumas: Ph.D., Columbia University
● Professor Bill Ferns: Ph.D., University of New York
● Professor Karl Lang: Ph.D., University of Austin
● Professor Abdullah Tansel: Ph.D., Middle East Technical University
● Professor Richard Holowczak: Ph.D., Rutgers University
● Professor Kannan Mohan: Ph.D., Georgia State University
● Professor Marios Koufaris: Ph.D., New York University
● Professor Peter McAliney: MBA, Zicklin School of Business

Not bad. I’d be curious to know how their Taiwan programs work.

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Thanks guys.

MT, it was this list of Professors that worried me. I’m a Brit where Professorships are somewhat rare, so I’m assuming this is an American thing. Right?

My understanding is that the course units are 36 hours spread over two weeks with 30 students per class (2 classes per year). So, each visiting professor will only be in Taipei during for 2 weeks. Not sure this is sufficient time for students and teachers to build a good student/teacher relationship.

What I was hoping for is some kind of independent testimonial… Anyone?

Doing the maths, 2 (classes) * 30 (students) * 25kUSD = 1.5MUSD - and thats just for one course… A serious money spinner!!!

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I believe it’s difficult to earn a PhD in the US, even more difficult to land a tenure-track university teaching position (judging from bright PhD friends of mine), and extremely difficult to become a regular Professor in the US. I believe none of those people are FT Professors at Baruch; I would guess they have PhD’s but are adjunct “professors” at Baruch.

True.

Also true, but one isn’t just buying knowledge. One’s also buying additional letters to put behind ones name that will presumably boost ones future earning capacity. With the right degree, I would think it shouldn’t take so long to earn back the $25k.

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[quote=“Mother Theresa”][quote]
Doing the maths, 2 (classes) * 30 (students) * 25kUSD = 1.5MUSD - and thats just for one course… A serious money spinner!!!
[/quote]

Also true, but one isn’t just buying knowledge. One’s also buying additional letters to put behind ones name that will presumably boost ones future earning capacity. With the right degree, I would think it shouldn’t take so long to earn back the $25k.[/quote]

I agree but methinks the right degree from a good seat of learning would lead to a smoother track…

All I’m trying to ascertain is whether or not this school is as good as it claims to be :wink:

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Baruch College is a reputable institute for higher learning in NYC but is strictly local/regional, not national and certainly not international. Reputation is very solid but lost amongst the giants in the NYC metro area. USD 25,000 seems pricey though and not sure how that stacks up against the rest of the schools offering post-grad degrees.

Question is why this over another one? I don’t see it at the moment if I had a choice. If international and a jumping point out of Taiwan is what I really want, I’d take a bigger name than Baruch. If it’s something like, anything but a local Taiwan program, then I suppose it’s no worse than what is out there…

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In the US, “professor” is a courtesy title often extended towards what we’d call lecturers, tutors or researchers as well as professors in the UK sense of the word. So the US term is a lot broader.

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Earning a Ph.D. is difficult (or ought to be). Landing a tenure-track position is usually difficult (lots of instructors stringing along on one- or two-year contracts, or part-time work) and is probably harder than getting the doctorate itself (at least, it tends to be a later hurdle, and weeds more people out), but I’m thinking of the humanities. I’m not sure what the situation is like in business. Maybe it’s easier to get tenure-track university jobs if you and all your competitors have the private sector to tempt you away. (Unlike say, Latin specialists.)

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[quote=“Roach”]Thanks guys.

MT, it was this list of Professors that worried me. I’m a Brit where Professorships are somewhat rare, so I’m assuming this is an American thing. Right?[/quote]

In the US, teachers at a college or university are (generally) professors if they have a PhD. They start their careers as assistant professors, then are promoted to associate professors, and then are promoted to “full” professors. All of them are generically called professors in everyday parlance. And being a full professor is a rather common thing.

The system in Taiwan is very similar to the US system (jiao4shou4 is professor).

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She is Taiwanese so I don’t think that this should be a problem but I do agree that she should look around a lot more before making a decision…

Thanks for the link, I shall pass on the info :slight_smile:

MT, Chris, Taffy and SJ, thanks for clarification on the professor issue.

13

Has your girlfriend had a chance to meet any Baruch alumni in Taipei? The strength of the alumni network is a good reason to consider an MBA school because of the coaching and networking opportunities you could have afterwards. It’s not a guarantee of the brass ring, but it is something to weigh in a decision. The school and their website should direct her to alumni willing to chat

My old boss in New York is Taiwanese and did his MBA at Baruch. I was surprised because I wasn’t aware of CUNY’s b-school options. Then again, I wasn’t aware of a lot of things just out of college. It made me wonder, “this guy came all the way out here (NYC) with his wife to go to a program where a resident like me hasn’t heard of - why?”

There are lots of reasons why - and I would suspect that “New York City” itself is one of them. After doing my own research of b-school programs years later, I discovered that Baruch has a very strong reputation for Accounting and a solid reputation in Finance.

When I studied at my university for undergraduate school, I was something of a pioneer from my high school (I went to HS in Manila). It was a very regional university - a “commuter school” - and only much later on embarked on a campaign to become a “nationally recognized” undergrad school. Imagine my surprise when I landed in Taipei a couple of years after college and discovered how strong the NYU ties are here.

So, I figured my boss chose to go to Baruch because (1) it was the best program his standardised test (GMAT, TOEFL) scores allowed him and either because (2) it was a chance to study in the (then) financial capital of the world, or (3) fall back into a domestic network of MBA and PhDs here at home - or both 2 and 3. All are good reasons, but your girlfriend should do the ground work to justify to herself whether this is the case and if they apply to her situation (career plans - ie. do a gap analysis before going off to b-school)

PS My old manager who did his MBA at Baruch returned to Taipei, sure enough, in 1997. He’s been running investment funds (and now hedge funds) since. We did not keep in touch when I lived in Taipei, altho I bumped into his wonderful wife a year ago. We exchanged phone numbers then, and promised to have a reunion. I lost their phone number early last year and then got busy with my relocation to Shanghai. I’ll drop a line to ex-colleagues and try to get his contact info again for your girlfriend