is a degree from an online college just as good as a degree from a traditional college?

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

is a degree from an online college just as good as a degree from a traditional college?

If i take classes from an accredited college that has no physical buildings/classrooms (all online) will the degree i get still hold the same weight as a degree from a regular college?

I am a graduate student at an online university and I will tell you most people do not know what they are talking about in regards to online universities. An online university is the same as a traditional university, as long as they are Regionally Accredited. Regional Accreditation is the same guideline that physical univerisities fall under. Any online university that has Regional Accreditation is the same as a traditional university. If you go to a Nationally Accredited university, then any future graduate schools will not accept your degree. Good Regionally Accredited universities are American Military University and Holy Apostles College and Seminary. There are others, but just make sure they have Regional Accreditation or your degree could be worthless.

Are there any books or websites that can help me decide whether an "online" college degree is right for me?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 3:48 am and is filed under Online College Degree. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “is a degree from an online college just as good as a degree from a traditional college?”

Julian20o8 Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 9:27 am

Why would someone want to do that? The experience is what college is all about, anyone can study.. why would you want to study at home?
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ownpool Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 9:52 am

Unfortunately, no. The best online degree is from the University of Maryland. I don’t think any of the others will count much for anything.
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myportraitdrawing Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 10:17 am

Get the degree as fast as possible. It doesn’t really matter where the degree comes from. What counts in the job market is your work experience. So, the sooner you can get into your field and start getting experience, the better your resume will look. The advantage of a good "real life" school is more opportunities for internships. If you have an opportunity to get into a prestigious school, then it could help you get a higher paying entry-level job.
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Buddy Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 10:43 am

Technically you still have to do practical placements and sit exams like you would at a physical college so it shouldn’t really matter. It’s the ability of the colleges to arrange this crucial aspect of the course that sets them a part as good or bad. It’d be best to try and find out the reputation each college has before enrolling. I speak from experience - I never had an issue finding a practical placement when I went to a physical college. For some c*ck & bull reason the online college I’m at now can’t get enough practical placements organized for students and the best they’re willing to for me is to give me a letter of introduction to give to prospective supervisors. Seems a bit unhelpful given I’ve paid thousands of dollars just for a certificate course! Nonetheless the course is nationally accredited so when I’m done any prospective employer will know passed exactly the same course work someone passed at a physical college.

Make sure the course you enroll in IS nationally accredited… don’t find out too late that you’re not really qualified.

I focus only on the negative here. There are many positives - as long as the course is nationally accredited it should be fine.
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experience

corvus37 Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am

I am a graduate student at an online university and I will tell you most people do not know what they are talking about in regards to online universities. An online university is the same as a traditional university, as long as they are Regionally Accredited. Regional Accreditation is the same guideline that physical univerisities fall under. Any online university that has Regional Accreditation is the same as a traditional university. If you go to a Nationally Accredited university, then any future graduate schools will not accept your degree. Good Regionally Accredited universities are American Military University and Holy Apostles College and Seminary. There are others, but just make sure they have Regional Accreditation or your degree could be worthless.
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Graduate student

???///":{ Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 11:32 am

Dear ,

May be this site can help you
http://www.sgpak.com

Best of luck.
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CoachT Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 11:55 am

OwnPool thinks University of Maryland is the best online degree. That alone shows you how much most people know about where you can get a degree from online. UMUC is not a very highly ranked school and it’s not UM-CP.

How about one of the 23 online master’s degrees from Stanford University? I hear they’re pretty good. How about the Teacher’s College of Columbia University (Ivy League), the best teacher’s college in the country? How about the wholly online Master’s in International Humanitarian Law that you can get from Oxford - among the very best colleges in the whole world. I could list plenty more.

Places like UMass, Duke, UC-Berkeley, Berklee Music, Boston, U Florida, UTexas, and 1000s of other are teaching online these days. It’s not new - it’s not unique - it’s just normal.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/31/CMLM18L4MG.DTL is an interesting article you can read that came out this past week. In it we learn that "Recently, the Department of Education released a study suggesting that a mix of online and face-to-face education produces the best learning outcomes. Exclusively online education proved slightly more effective than only face-to-face learning." Read that last sentence one more time - it says that the US Dept of Education has found that online is BETTER than classroom in terms of material learned and that a combination is better than either alone.

HR people have noticed it too. Sure, "the college experience" is cool and a lot of people enjoy that 4-5 year break from real-life. But HR people don’t care how expert you are at beer pong and the fact that you were stone-faced drunk in the pool last Friday doesn’t impress them much. They want to see results. They want to see someone that can stay focused on the task, meet the deadlines, produce quality work, work without direct supervision, communicate well, embrace technology….. all things that online grads excel at. [read the last couple paragraphs though - HR doesn't have much respect for bottom feeder schools]

Now, a lot of people are going to tell you that all of the experts in higher education are wrong and that they, based on their own limited experience at East Podunk State College, know better than the administrators of the finest colleges in the world or the US Dept. of Education; we call that ‘the height of ignorance and closed mindedness’ — they will be left behind as the rest of us progress. Some won’t even read the article but will tell me I’m wrong. ☺

People that can "read the handwriting on the wall" and hope to have a job in the future will read these reports and say "I better take some online courses to be competitive" - most won’t. They’re too busy enjoying "the college experience" to worry about their future.

Understand though - just as all traditional colleges aren’t equal, all online programs aren’t equal either. A master’s degree from U Phoenix is NOT the same as one from Oxford. It’s not at all about online vs classroom; it’s all about the reputation of the particular college.

A degree you get from an online program will hold the same weight as one from their classrooms (if they have any). It may or may not be equal to any other college’s degree (online or classroom) because colleges and universities are different from each other. That’s why we have rankings.

So first drop the "online" part of your question and ask, "Is my college respected in the world?" That’s what it’s all about - not whether you have classrooms.

BTW; chances are that if your college has no physical presence then it’s not among the most respected colleges in the world.

Add Note: While it seems that nationally accredited would be better than regionally accredited - that’s not the case. Regional accreditation is what you need for your college to have - your high school had it. If your HS can get it then any college worth attending should be able to also - right?

Program accreditation is important in many professional areas. Teachers need NCATE for example - in addition to regional accreditation.

Credit from a school that is only nationally accredited will not transfer to many other schools and will limit your ability to be admitted to grad school programs.

The exception is vocational/career certificate programs. Those credits aren’t likely to transfer anyway and nationally accredited is as good as anything else for those.
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Rising S Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 12:06 pm

Yes, degree from an online college just as good as a degree from a traditional college.

But we cannot say that all online universities are good, only few universities like caluniversity.edu which offers you distance learning programs in Masters and Doctorate. Choose the program which you want to pursue and get that desirable degree of your choice. It offers you personalized service and a quality education that focuses on your individual needs as a student.
References :
http://www.caluniversity.edu/masters/

Divya Says:
September 9th, 2009 at 12:12 pm

To be very honest, online degrees cannot compete with the degrees earned by learning in a traditional setting (for students). Online degrees are meant for those who cannot leave their jobs to further their education. Yes, they add weightage to qualification, but only to theirs. I would highly recommend to go for traditional degrees, if you can.

If you cannot, then online degrees are not that bad as a option. They are gaining importance day-by-day. Read the information given here on how good online degrees are and what benefits do they offer over traditional degrees.
References :
http://www.getdegreetoday.com/online-degrees.html