Online Colleges

[DnetMHZ]

I'm looking for some first hand experiences and suggestions with regard to completing a degree program online.

Anyone who has or is currently attending an online school, please give me your thoughts.

Preferably IT related majors, but I'll take any advice you've got.

Thanks

 

[Gothgar]

they are expensive as fuck, load of people never finish because of the price, I heard something like 6%

If you stay determined and can do your studies with all the distractions at home, you can do well though.

 

[xSauronx]

find a community college or university nearby and take their online classes.

 

[Sasiki]

My wife is doing a BS in Psychology through Troy Online. It is $220 per credit hour and each class is about 9 weeks. It's actually cheaper to do the Troy eCampus than go to the local University of South Alabama because you don't have to pay all of the standard fees.. health fee, parking, technology, health, library, student activity fees, administration fees. We are in state though so I don't know how much out of state tuition would be. She enjoys the online degree program. Each assignment is due by Wednesday at midnight and tests are due by Sunday at midnight. http://www.troy.edu/ecampus/

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Gothgar
they are expensive as fuck, load of people never finish because of the price, I heard something like 6%

Not all of them are super expensive, just Apollo Group schools.

 

[necine]

I go to park university online. Online is harder then in class though.

 

[Insomniator]

Check out Thomas Edison State College

Located in Jersey, reputable from what I've heard.

Its for adults though... average student age is like 30?

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: Insomniator
Check out Thomas Edison State College

Located in Jersey, reputable from what I've heard.

Its for adults though... average student age is like 30?

I'm 33

 

[Kaido]

1. Ridiculously expensive
2. Awesome if you're disciplined

The discipline part is EXTREMELY hard. Don't fool yourself. Online class is easier, for the most part, than an in-person class, but it's also much harder because you have to enforce the discipline. That's what makes it hard: you think it will be cake & great flexible hours, but it's a lie. It's also harder because you have to be your own teacher. I'm fine at self-learning, but I struggled with self-discipline. I'm back on campus again. I'd consider online again in the future, but only once I've proved to myself that I can handle self-discipline on other projects (ones that don't cost so much). I thought it would be no sweat, but boy was I wrong!

The key is simply treating it like an appointment. The best time is in the morning, especially if you can wake up early before anyone else does and get it done. You spend an hour or two in the morning, you're set for the day. You put it off, it never gets done. Make it an appointment, and do it early in the morning. That's what worked for me.

 

[Q]

Originally posted by: xSauronx
find a community college or university nearby and take their online classes.

 

[dbk]

i know a colleague that went through one of those accelerated online mba programs and got his mba in a year and a half while working
now he can rock... john doe, MBA

kinda pathetic

 

[Insomniator]

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: Insomniator
Check out Thomas Edison State College

Located in Jersey, reputable from what I've heard.

Its for adults though... average student age is like 30?

I'm 33

ah perfect

http://tesc.edu/5726.php

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: Insomniator

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: Insomniator
Check out Thomas Edison State College

Located in Jersey, reputable from what I've heard.

Its for adults though... average student age is like 30?

I'm 33

ah perfect

http://tesc.edu/5726.php

Thanks, I was just looking at that actually. One of my wife's friends got her BS from TESC.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Online class is easier, for the most part, than an in-person class, but it's also much harder because you have to enforce the discipline.

I'd have to disagree, at least in my experience (which obviously differs from yours). I have degrees from both an on-campus program and an online program. The on-campus program was far easier, not just because of the discipline factor, but the exams for the online program were extreme: they were proctored (I had to have them sent to my local community college's testing center, where my every movement was watched), they were long, and they were far more challenging in every conceivable manner than those I had taken on campus.

Again, my evidence is anecdotal, but given the choice I'd go through an on-campus program any day of the week and twice on Sunday before going through an online program again. I really have to hold myself back whenever someone implies that online degrees are easy. Yeah, there are some basket-weaving programs out there where you don't even have exams, let alone proctored ones, but the online programs through major universities can be intensely difficult.

For a point of reference, each of my degrees are from Big Ten schools.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: xSauronx
find a community college or university nearby and take their online classes.

This. If you've never heard of the school, then don't even bother. Employers haven't heard of it either and won't give you credit for it. You have an engineering degree from blowjobs.com? I don't recognize that as being a real university so I probably won't hire you for anything other than giving blowj.....

Or for fake degrees you can always check out Collins College.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
This. If you've never heard of the school, then don't even bother. Employers haven't heard of it either and won't give you credit for it.

Sorry, that's nonsense. An employer's barometer of your institution's credibility is hardly tied to whether or not they themselves have "heard of it". There are hundreds of small campuses all around the country that are fine, established universities. If you attended a very small school (< 3000 students) on the East coast and then head West, chances are, very few employers will have heard of your school.

An interviewer worth his salt will know what questions to ask to probe about your school, if it's something he or she is abundantly concerned with. For most jobs, simply establishing that the school is accredited by the appropriate national and regional organizations will suffice. For those jobs where that is not sufficient, then it won't matter if you attended Muskingum or Florida State... they're probably looking for a top echelon school in your field.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
This. If you've never heard of the school, then don't even bother. Employers haven't heard of it either and won't give you credit for it.

Sorry, that's nonsense. An employer's barometer of your institution's credibility is hardly tied to whether or not they themselves have "heard of it". There are hundreds of small campuses all around the country that are fine, established universities. If you attended a very small school (< 3000 students) on the East coast and then head West, chances are, very few employers will have heard of your school.

An interviewer worth his salt will know what questions to ask to probe about your school, if it's something he or she is abundantly concerned with. For most jobs, simply establishing that the school is accredited by the appropriate national and regional organizations will suffice. For those jobs where that is not sufficient, then it won't matter if you attended Muskingum or Florida State... they're probably looking for a top echelon school in your field.

It is when it comes to online schools. I've been thinking about doing an online graduate degree for a while (I start with Purdue's online mechanical engineering masters in the Spring) and spoke with a few people that work in HR. They said that with online degrees if the degree is from an unknown or unaccredited program it can actually look worse than if you didn't have the degree. There's plenty of degree mills that will give you a degrees that aren't worth much.

Your best bet is to go with an accredited program with a school that is respected in the program that you're interested in.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
This. If you've never heard of the school, then don't even bother. Employers haven't heard of it either and won't give you credit for it.

Sorry, that's nonsense. An employer's barometer of your institution's credibility is hardly tied to whether or not they themselves have "heard of it". There are hundreds of small campuses all around the country that are fine, established universities. If you attended a very small school (< 3000 students) on the East coast and then head West, chances are, very few employers will have heard of your school.

An interviewer worth his salt will know what questions to ask to probe about your school, if it's something he or she is abundantly concerned with. For most jobs, simply establishing that the school is accredited by the appropriate national and regional organizations will suffice. For those jobs where that is not sufficient, then it won't matter if you attended Muskingum or Florida State... they're probably looking for a top echelon school in your field.

It is when it comes to online schools. I've been thinking about doing an online graduate degree for a while (I start with Purdue's online mechanical engineering masters in the Spring) and spoke with a few people that work in HR. They said that with online degrees if the degree is from an unknown or unaccredited program it can actually look worse than if you didn't have the degree. There's plenty of degree mills that will give you a degrees that aren't worth much.

Your best bet is to go with an accredited program with a school that is respected in the program that you're interested in.

I've bolded something for you.