I am pursuing an MBA from an online school, Excelsior College in Albany, NY. (formerly Regrncy College) i'm a little more than half-way done with their two and a half year program. Excelsior is accredited in the Altantic Schools (forget the official accredidation name). i got my undergrad years ago from Messiah College in PA, a small conventional 'brick and mortar' Christian Liberal arts college. My company is sponsoring this program and is paying for most of my tuition - up to the max allowed by the govt. ($8k a year)

My thoughts on online education:
1. As with anything, you get out of it what you put into it. I've given this MBA program my all, and have reaped the benefits of giving my education my all. (4.0 so far) (I've sacrificed a lot as well - no track days, no autocross, don't even drive my Porsche much anymore since I'm too busy with school). School continues through the summer - I get 3 weeks off in August and that's it...I spend my nights hitting the books and writing papers. I have no life outside of school...

2. You still need discipline I order to do well. Possibly even more discipline than a traditional brick and mortar class. The online classes i take are 7 to 8 week long classses instead of the normal 14 to 15 weeks it takes to complete a course. So that means the work is doubled up each week - twice the reading, twice the papers & assignments... But in 7 to 8 weeks, I receive 3 credits towards my degree.

3. Online schools eliminate a lot of the excuses for getting a degree. Excuses such as 'it is too far for me to travel to school' and 'I can't get to class on time.' Online classes are more flexible.

4. Your choice of school depends on what you want to get out of it. Do you want to move up in your current company? Do you want to move onto another opportunity outside your company? Are you in school for personal growth?

5. How important is a name for you? If you want to get a degree from a brand name school, like Columbia or Penn State, then online school is likely not for you. and granted, the level of learning will be higher in Princeton and Harvard, but talk about discipline and dedication...

I don't regret taking the online path for my MBA. I have gotten out of it so far more than what I thought I would when I first began. I have six classes to go and will be graduatiing in July, 2013, if I stay on track. For those of you still pondering whether or not to go back to school, what will you be doing next July?

Joe, send me some $$ and I'll assign you some stuff to do on you're computer box, ( surf Pelican ). That will be worth 30-40 credits.

Steve

73 911 T MFI Coupe, Aubergine

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1341418864.jpg



While you don't have to get in the car an go anywhere, the workload is much more significant.

Any time this happens, the entire thing becomes suspect and can only hasten the education bubble collapse. While I don't question all students who seek legitimate online degrees, I hope the collapse comes before my kids' time.

The Brandman University is the adult portion of Chapman.

Get in touch. Accelerated degree completion courses are a specialty. I don't think anyone is laughing at these courses. You do have to make weekly physical appearances, but all the work is posted online on a secure website.

Look for a school that offers both. I doubt your diploma will say "On-Line". Oh, and I've never had a prospective employer ask to see my actual diploma. I think my first employer out of college asked to see transcripts, but never after that. I just stated my school, major and year of graduation.

The Brandman thing is a kind of new - when I did it - it was still just Chapman.

Yes, the University of Phoenix is accredited, the degrees are accepted for job applicants of Government Service.

As a hiring manager in a technical field, I look with a very high degree of skepticism at a degree from an on-line university. On-line courses from a "real" schools are a different story, and I'm starting to see more of those, especially at the community college level.

An on-line university degree would not completely rule out a candidate, but we would certainly check into it more to insure its legitimacy and accreditation, and all other things being equal it may put the candidate lower on the list than a degree from a "brick and mortar" school, especially a "name" one.

But please note that I speak only for technical (Engineering / Science) positions.

IMHO, there is a reason why "name" schools have the reps they do. Who knows, in the future an on-line school may become a "name" school.

Even the Ivys didn't earn their reputation overnight - it took awhile. And lots of US Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, Military officers, heads of foreign governments, etc.

So, all those attending on-line universities - remember that when you win your Nobel and/or Pulitzer, be sure to thank your school in order to help the school's rep.

(Full disclosure: I may be a bit biased, having attended an Ivy, and also a very good brick & mortar Science/Engineering college. )

I'm working on my MBA from Fort Hays State University, one of our fully accredited state universities. While not offering any snob appeal, it has won multiple awards from national publications as being a best buy for quality MBA programs. I'm doing all of my coursework online, in this case they offer identical courses both online and on-campus and there no differentiation on your transcript. Same story with the diploma, you even have the option of walking at graduation with the traditional students. Having received my BS in engineering from a traditional college, I don't feel like I'm giving up anything by taking classes online, and frankly it's the only way I can balance school, work, and family.

Why would you look with a high degree of skepticism? Have you ever taken online classes? Why do you think they are not up to par?

Yes, in the beginning years ago, I would agree, but not today. They are known to be more challenging and higher work loads than traditional schools. It's this mentality of the 70's/80's anti computer generation that keeps this myth going.

But most employers do run a background check, including your degrees. The background check company will be contacting the university and confirm you graduated and attended they years you claimed. You wouldn't believe how common it is for people claiming a degree where they don't have one (often they did go to that school but DNF).

G

I haven't run across any "online degrees" in my field. Is it possible that engineering degrees aren't as common as others? Of course, as mentioned above, many schools are brick and mortar and offer online classes / online work, so the degree won't specify how the classes were taken.

Personally I would only consider a school that has a brick and mortar base. You may find too many of those "anti computer generation" people in the hiring manager's seats and you will not be able to explain yourself if you don't make it past the resume reading phase due to a degree that looks sub par to the hiring manager / HR.

G

FWIW: Several years ago we would automatically disregard resume's from Phoenix. The graduates were that well thought of. I do not remember doing this with any other on-line programme.

I completed all my undergraduate work at military installations not once setting foot in a university classroom. I believe this cost me several posts. I felt my education was superior to that of the campus. For example, my degree from SIU. My instructors were mainly in the field actually performing what they were teaching. They had real world experience and could relate what was going on in industry while it was happening. Instructors at SIU were, for the most part, instructors who had not been in the field. My grades ranged from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. On the curve on the installation that spells out C to an A. Students at SIU were struggling to make 20's and the ones who could pull out 30's or, gasp, 40's were making straight A's. This is according to visiting professors who also had contact with the Engineering School.

If your goal is to learn I would suggest looking into a bricks and mortar school who also does an on-line programme. University of Texas is one such school as is Penn State and several others listed here. I am going through Webster right now. Good stuff and some very good professors. On-line programme is same as classroom and the university is set up to provide distance learning for military personnel.

Do some research into what you wish to end up with. Wife wants a Master's in Statistics. Not too many places one can go to for that degree!

Oh, and one more thing I hear about Phoenix, unless it has changed, is they provide tonnes of busy work. They also do the sales and marketing technique of getting you to learn and interact with your fellow students so that you can form a network to obtain employment. This is a way to get companies hiring their graduates. Well thought out plan, if you are good at networking.

Find a system you are confortable with. There are many out there. Can you really put in the time for studying with your instruction being given in the form of recorded lectures, slideshows, computer generated examples? It takes alot of work to stay up when there is nothing pushing you from a classroom. Do you have a place in the home where you can set yourself aside and spend your classroom time without interruption? Can you take the time away from your family, friends, work?

My Wife is a gem! She actually finds ways to leave the house and take the dog to provide me time. It takes a bit of commitment, more than the people in my group who are going to school on company time.

I've enjoyed Webster as has one of my co-workers. He finishes this semester and has gone to the classrooms and on-line. He thought on-line was harder. I've gone 100% on-line and will finish at the end of the year (I took a two semester break due to work commitments).

Actually, this happens already by university or location of the university. Some managers only want to hire people from University XXXXX which happens to be where they went to school. Or, they will not hire people who went to school in specific regions of the country.

I had a round about conversation with a person because of one of the universities from where I earned a degree. The conversation rotated around whether I could/should work in Texas as I might not understand the intricacies of the society. They kept stating "you are from Illinois, how could you possibly understand Texans?" I kept reminding them I grew up in Texas, had NEVER lived in Illinois, and this should not be an issue in hiring me as a manager. Yep, I did not get beyond this person because they were stuck that I was from Illinois and they were going to hire a Texan. Did not matter that I am from Texas and earned my degrees while on active duty.


If you are going to work in a specific part of the country then a degree from that part of the country seems to help your employment opportunities. My experience, for what it is worth.

As a hiring manager, I'm often more impressed by someone that has gone to a Phoenix or similar institution mid-career. It often means they are motivated and can balance a heavy workload. Not everyone figures out what they want to do or has the means/motivation to go to traditional schools.

Degrees from great schools serve as a screening tool: This person was at least superficially smart enough to pass the qualifications and put in the work to graduate. On the other hand, degrees from online or career colleges are a bit easier to get in and get through, so you have to do some of that diligence yourself.

As others have said, few schools say, "online"; But accreditation is everything.

A couple of other thoughts. My son went to an online high school. Long story short, he simply needed to graduate. Since then he's picked up two degrees in network admin and network security through a career college and is gainfully employed and doing well in life.

The future of great education is online. Check out Kahn Academy or Udacity. CNN writes about Udacity. Yes, school is also about social networks, social skills, blowing off steam, etc. But the fundamental purpose of school is to learn something. While not everyone has the discipline to sit down and go through an online curriculum, those that do will soon have access to the very best lectures and information available to them, wherever they have internet access.

One of my neighbors, who was in his mid 50's, was doing an mix of online and meatspace courses at one of the for-private outfits for some sort of computer/network cert. He knew I was in the field, and he'd hit me up with questions every now and then. From what I saw of his course materials, the class was a joke. Of course he'd taken out student loans against it.

In my opinion, for-profit colleges are simply a way to turn federal school loan dollars into yachts for college CEO's.

I started with an MBA program at a Cal State U but the commute was killing me as I was going to school after work. I then transferred to a private school but eventually had to abandon that as well as the courses I needed were in the middle of the week, Wed and Thur, exactly on the days I had to be on the road for work as a traveling sales rep. So now I'm finishing the MBA at Capella University. Truthfully, it's a lot of work as most of the material is self-taught and involves a TON of writing at a graduate level. However, I am retaining a lot more of information because of it.

For-profit schools are what you make of it. First things first though; do your due diligence in selecting the school and program. Their rep as diploma mills are not undeserved.

I recently discovered Khan Academy through the iPad app. Very useful website and I agree with Don Plumley about the future of education is on-line due to sites like KA.

from one point of view....they're accredited...by their own accreditation committee.

on the other hand....brick and mortar universities are accredited by their own accreditation committee, albeit the committee is a bigger one.

university accreditation is a frat club. yer not in unless someone in the club introduces you.

it's all a scam. nothing you learn in college is worth much other than the paper you get when you graduate and you try to apply for your first job.