Best Online College Degrees? Be Careful!
In these challenging economic times, many people are thinking about going back to college. Many former service members recently became eligible for extra economic incentives for doing so.
This is a good thing – a sane thing, even – and as someone once told me, “They can take everything away from me, but they cannot take my education away.” There’s certainly no denying that.
Because of the pressures so many of us are under, with family, children, work, (and some of us working two or three jobs and/or trying to run our own businesses just to stay afloat….) the idea of completing a degree online can hold enormous appeal because of the flexibility involved. One can study at their own pace, so on and so forth, and do so from home.
Again, this is a good thing. However, I must sound some cautionary notes. Before plunking down thousands of dollars to embark on an online degree, it’s very smart to do quite a bit of research first.
The fact of the matter is that some online degrees, and some online schools, are simply not given much credibility by employers. If you think that you can just breeze through a bachelor’s degree and be guaranteed a job on the other end; better think again. Having said that, I have seen and heard from employers that people who have a traditional bachelor’s degree, and then go on to get an online MASTER’S degree, do tend to have an edge over applicants without the online degree.
Your friendly Ms. Sanity has assembled some links to help you do some research before you buy into one of these schools. Be sane and look before you leap. See what other students are saying about a prospective school, see what their reputation is, or if you’re really brave, you might contact the Human Resources department at a big company and point blank ask them what they think of a certain school.
Obviously, the first thing you will want to look at is whether or not a particular school you are considering is accredited. Don’t even consider a non-accredited school or one where “accreditation is pending.” This could be an extreme waste of your time, money, and energy.
One of the largest sites is “Online degree reviews written by students” located here. This site has first-hand experience summaries written by people who have actually attended particular schools.
A forum where students discuss their online learning programs and schools is located here.
This blog post includes a link to a white paper that looks like a proprietary study (which means take with a grain of salt the results) about the attitudes of hiring managers to online degree recipients. Still, the attitudes seem to be mostly positive. See: http://onlinestudentsurvival.com/2009/01/online-degrees-now-widely-accepted-by-consumers-and-employers/
All in all your best option if it is even remotely possible may be to attend online classes through a traditional brick-and-mortar school in your area. But just like everything else, your needs may vary, and the economic value of your degree may vary as well.
My entire point is very simple: do your homework, before, well, doing your homework. To fall for a glowing sales brochure about an online school is insane. Education is certainly a value in its’ own right, but if you’re going back to school to increase your marketability for jobs, then you had best look before you leap. Do that, and you can no doubt find an online option that will fit your needs, for most professions.
August 20, 2009
Tags: business, capacity building, College, critical thinking, Education, The Web, Tips Posted in: Resources, Tips
2 Responses
well, i was enrolled at an online school and the curriculum is quite great “
although online schools are good, i think we also need human interaction which we can only get from offline schools “.;
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