Comprehensive Review of the Quantic MBA

When I first heard of Smartly Institute (now Quantic) on a Facebook entrepreneurial community group, my learning antenna piqued. You see, it was touted as free first, and then mobile-based. The former meant there were no financial commitments involved, and the latter meant there were no video lectures.

This was fresh. For someone who has taken multiple MOOCs on Coursera, Alison, edX and LinkedIn learning, I wondered how this would work and was curious enough to give it a shot. So, I did the next natural thing - Google Smartly MBA and multiple reviews came up on Quora and Reddit. Current students and Alum of the program said it was all right. Many other bystanders said it was a sorry replacement for an MBA and wasn't even accredited to begin with.

Note: In 2020 Smartly changed its name to Quantic School of Business and Technology. Quantic is now accredited by DEAC which is listed by the US Department of Education as a recognized accrediting agency and is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). And while the program is no longer free, it is still far more affordable than other programs. Quantic now also offers some executive education programs, too.

The Application Phase - Getting in isn't exactly easy.

On to the Smartly website I went. Application was easy, straightforward and posed standard questions asked by other on-campus programs. However, since there are no application essay requests, Quantic makes do by asking short-form questions related to your interests, skills, and future goals. I found these less cumbersome than crafting 500 words essays while still passing on the information the admissions team needed to make a decision. This was in 2018. I didn't get into the program. But I did in the next year and joined the March 2019 cohort.

Immediately after application, access is granted to the foundation business courses - Accounting, Economics, Finance, Marketing. With this you get a feel of how the program is delivered and you can decide if its sufficient for your learning style (we cant deny that some learners are visual and some auditory).

My access courses were nothing short of mind-blowing. This was education like I had never seen before - offered in bite-sized case study that gradually eases you into various business concepts. Its also delivered with some humour so you are never bored, and interactive fill-in-the-answer way so you are constantly engaging with the content.

The effect? Learning that sticks. As you take the courses, you immediately see how it can be applied to real problems and know how to apply it.

The Learning Phase - Course delivery

Quantic boasts a 7% admission rate and broad learning community. Students from my cohort were from Ivy leagues and some of the best schools in the world. They also work for some of the best companies too. I'm adding this portion here so you see how group projects are impacted by the people you learn with.

There are 9 modules in the program - Accounting, Markets and Economies, Data and Decision, Supply Chain amp; Operations, Strategy and Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Leading Organizations; Finance; and Marketing and Pricing. Each course comes with an exam delivered in two sets - Midterm and Final. You need a Pass grade to graduate.

Also note that for now Quantic does not use the grade point system - you either Pass or Fail, but academic transcripts are provided on request. The program is delivered in 12 months and at the end of each chapter in a module, you answer a smartcase (80% needed to move forward) and a summary PDF.

While I studied, there were 4 case study projects in total - Accounting (group of 5 and delivered as a report); Markets and Economies (delivered as an individual recorded presentation); Marketing (group of 5, delivered as both a comprehensive marketing plan and presentation with all team members contributing - slide deck and all involved); and a Strategy project which was ungraded but nonetheless enlightening. All these work together to ensure you actively engage with other learners and make the best of your study time with them. I should add that some of this may be different for other cohorts.

Every week you get exercises on Slack relating to the weeks course, requiring short answers that helps you put the learning material in perspective. Personally, I found these sufficient since I am an independent learner. However, the absence of access to tutors and text books often posed a problem if there were areas of the materials that were unclear. Regardless, I found the other students were truly helpful in clarifying when issues were raised on Slack.

Also a lot of the materials link to articles on the web relating to real companies that tie into whatever is being learned at the moment. This really helped in crystallizing most of the contents. While there is a lot of flexibility in this program, like most online studies, it's best to stay within the allotted, recommended study time. I found myself constantly slipping and struggling to catch up afterwards, lost nights of needed sleep for that, and almost missed my graduation date for this reason. However, if this does happen to you, feel free to contact the team and let them know you are having challenges keeping up.

A comprehensive learning calendar is provided at the start of study so its easy to plan and courses can be accessed on your laptop or via the Quantic mobile app. Talk about mobile learning. I found it really helpful that I could take my courses in-transit and not worry about the noise that interrupts vodcasts.

Worthy mention: You get access to the platform, all courses and resources after graduation, forever.

Social Interaction - Pros, Cons and Middle Grounds

When many speak about the drawback of distance learning, the major culprit is the networking capacity of the program. How do you form bonds with people you cant see or meet in real-life? Learners come from all around the world and it feels good to experience that cultural difference as you relate with them.

Well, I am yet to see a distance program that has managed to break this barrier yet. For some, the program includes compulsory/voluntary on-site components. For others they encourage students to interact on the forums and group projects. Quantic adopted the latter approach for its MBA and its medium of choice is Slack. There's this thing called the Donut and its job is to randomly pair learners so you can get to know each other.

While I can't say it was effective in achieving its goal, I did meet some interesting people the few times I answered its call. The Donut's less than perfect rating was more due to individuals than the programs adequacy. A lot of learners just don't come on Slack often enough. In Nigeria we have a budding community on WhatsApp and we meet periodically in-person. I assume the same goes for other countries too judging by the photos I see. This takes care of the networking arm of things within a locality.

For the most part, you'll get more access to network within your country by meeting with them, and outside by pairing up during projects. What's important is to put effort into reaching out to others within the program. Within the Quantic web page is a tab called Network. There you can see all students and alums by region and are able to contact them if you need to.

Before I move on, let's not forget the Quantic Book-club. Meetings are held monthly on Zoom, where whatever assigned book for the month is reviewed and discussed in-depth. This was by far one of the most exciting thing I was a part of. The book choices were enlightening and participants really knew what they were talking about. And because they come from different backgrounds, you get to see how individual cultures inform our perception and prejudices.

Career Services and Other Resources

The library has other courses not included in the compulsory learning modules but can be taken at will. There are also research tools - and they're great, or you could book a session with the library staff for help. Since Quantic positions itself as a link between companies and staff, its career page lists current openings which can be applied for. I haven't seen or know of anyone who has been paired with a company before, but then, I haven't been looking either. CV and Cover letter review can also be scheduled in a 30 mins session with the library staff.

So, Is This For you?

I'm hoping that this review will help you make an informed decision for yourself. While the things written in this article do not provide an exhaustive coverage of the program, I like to believe you'll find information on some pressing areas of interest to you.

Quantic is constantly innovating so I won't be surprised to see new additions to what I have experienced - some earlier cohort already attest to this. A lot of the case study projects are standard materials used by Wharton, MIT and other B schools in the United States, and since they have taken a more collaborative, rather than competitive approach, to delivering the MBA and EMBA, I am convinced there are better things to come.

Overall, I had an exciting time learning at the Quantic School of Business and Technology, totally recommend the program, and look forward to putting everything I learned in practice.

To apply or learn more use this link . Questions or contributions? Please use the comments.