Hi everyone, I've been seeing some advertisements for the Smartly MBA / EMBA. Does anyone have any experience with this program? The MBA is free and the exec MBA has a fee associated with it. Seems like a good opportunity to do distance study.

That is not an MBA in any meaningful way.

It would honestly be better to do the Coursera / Illinois iMBA. Or, if money is an issue, do the free Coursera courses for the iMBA while saving up for the certificates and then enroll in the MBA. Even just doing the free courses on Coursera would be a better use of your time.

This is unaccredited, so it's a diploma mill. At least as far as diploma mills go, this one is free.
But still, cannot recommend this at all

They say they are in the process of becoming accredited, which will take many years.
If that happens, you can consider it then

The content and assessment are very light. This cannot get any of the triple crown accreditations. I am sure it can be accredited by a US state as an online school, but that cannot be taken seriously by many MBA employers.

If you are in doubt or in two minds on whether to take the admission in a coveted B-School offering Executive MBA programmes, here we list to you 10 reasons why you should go for it. After going through the list, you would have reasons enough to stick by your decision to go for Executive MBA.

Enhance your leadership potential – If you are already working in a managerial role, it is time to set foot in the sphere of leadership. In order to improve your knowledge on various areas which you come across during all in a day’s work such as Finance, Marketing, Business Policy, Accounting to name a few.

2. Move up the corporate ladder – It often happens that after certain years of work experience, there is hardly any growth prospect in the company or in the function. In such a situation, going for an Executive MBA can give you the much required lift in career which will help you move up the corporate ladder. With new skill set and knowledge, you will be able to claim bigger responsibilities and roles that will be beyond your existing profile.



3. Gateway to change career path – Professionals from non-managerial or leadership role often realize their leadership potential after a couple of years of working in a particular field. Sometimes they also feel that their current profile does not suit their career goal. Pursuing Executive MBA is the gateway to shift the career path. Executive MBA is also a good idea for Entrepreneurial enthusiasts who wish to begin their venture with management skills.

Shreya, I see that you have cut and paste some text from an Indian online MBA's web page. It seems to be a random selection, and not at all related to the discussion at hand. I understand that it's some SEO activity. Please, stop doing that. It obstructs this thread's ability to answer the other person's questions.

But if this one is free admission and distant learning too, why is then the Coursera course better?

Anyone can access course materials for the Illinois iMBA, the way that anyone can read Harvard case studies. However, it does not have open admissions. Unlike the Smartly MBA, it leads to a real, Internationally-accredited iMBA from one of the world's top business schools. While Smartly is registered in the District of Columbia, it lack national, regional or international accrediation.