Choosing an Online college; Avoid a Big Mistake
After you have made the decision to earn an online college degree, your first step is to find the “right” college or university. To do so requires some simple yet important research.
Degrees from unaccredited institutions are worth nothing in the world of work. In fact, simply listing a degree from an unaccredited institution on a resume or on an employment application will often result in the resume or application being discarded immediately by a prospective employer. Rule #1 is, never enroll in a degree program that is not fully accredited. Rule #2 is that you should never break rule #1.
Coursework designed for the traditional classroom may not adapt well to online education. Be certain the program you choose has been designed to accommodate the needs of online learners.
Most online colleges, but not all, offer pretty good flexibility in terms of when you can work on your assignments and how quickly or slowly you can earn a degree. If you are interested in earning an online degree quickly, or if you need to move forward slowly because of the other demands of your life, find out how long each college will let you take to complete your degree requirements. Be sure to find a university where you are comfortable with your workload and the time to degree. And, you should find a university in which instant messaging, emailing, telephoning, and/or forums give you quick and easy access to faculty members and your fellow students.
Although, if you are not independently wealth, cost may influence your choice, it should not be weighed too heavily.
Remember, however, that the “sticker price” of a college may not be your actual cost. Most online colleges and universities offer financial aid, and some offer scholarships. And, if you do a search in Google or Yahoo for “online college scholarships” (without the quotation marks), you’ll find some good, free scholarship search sites.
Generally, you should apply for scholarships and financial aid as soon as possible. Most colleges offering online education employ financial aid counselors who can help guide you through this process. Take advantage of the expertise they can offer you.
The bottom line is that the more questions you ask and the more answers you find, the better your chances of selecting the online college, the degree program, and the educational financing options best for you. Do not be intimidated; be a thoughtful consumer and select a college or university as carefully as you would any other important, high priced product or service.
Selecting a College; A Few Simple Steps
College admission is, in its simplest form, a numbers game. In fact, while some would call it a kind of lottery, lotteries offer almost no chance of success to those who participate in them, while quite the opposite is true of college admission. There are nearly 3,500 colleges and universities in the United States (counting two and four year institutions) so students have no shortage of options. So, students who do a little research and a bit of thinking about what kind of educational environment best suits them should not have a problem landing at a college or university in which he or she is likely to be happy and academically successful. Believe it or not, students who start their college search early, make good use of the college and financial aid information available in college guides and websites, and ultimately apply to at least four or five carefully chosen colleges can sail through the process with little or no anxiety or hassle. Despite the media’s preoccupation with how tough it is to get admitted to the Harvard’s, Yale’s, and Princeton’s of the world, a very small number of colleges deny admission to nearly as many students as they admit. Thus, if you do not have the grades, SAT scores and desire to attend a very highly selective college and you have applied to a realistic set of colleges your chances at each are high. On the other hand, if your grades and test scores put you in the top five percent and you are applying to the highly selective few, just be sure to also apply to a few of the hundreds of great schools that are not quite as selective.
A few colleges and universities, places like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT, receive so many applications from top students that they can be incredibly selective, admitting just fifteen percent of their applicants (sometimes fewer). But, many good colleges, some with pretty high profiles, admit forty to sixty percents. And, nationally, the acceptance rate is close to seventy-five percent (75%).
Remembering these statistics, you are ready to begin the process of selecting and gaining admission to a college. Look for and find six to eight colleges which offer the major(s) of greatest interest to you, are likely to admit students with your grades and scores, and provide the campus lifestyle and environment you seek. Start by meeting with your college counselor to:
1. ask for his/her college recommendations.
2. be sure you are scheduled to take the right high school courses.
3. sign up for the SAT and ACT.
4. find out which colleges will be visiting your school, and when.
5. sign up for the college fairs being held in your area.
Remember, the internet is a great source of information. Select keywords like “colleges”, “universities”, “scholarships”, etc.
Once you’ve completed the above steps, you are well on your way. It doesn’t have to difficult.
Considering an Online Degree Program? Start Here
It pays to do your research before you sign up for an online college degree program. The first thing you need to find out is whether or not the online college or university in question is accredited.
Accreditation indicates that the programs offered by the online university have undergone rigorous reviews by a legitimate organization. But, just because an institution says that it has been accredited does not necessarily mean that is true.
You have to watch out for diploma mills. There are many of them. If an online college says that you can earn a degree strictly based on your life experience, it is a diploma mill. Accredited universities sometimes offer credits for work experience, but they do not offer degree without requiring you to take some courses. Be aware that diploma mills may say that they are accredited. They may have an official-sounding name and claim to be accredited by an official-sounding organization. Don’t take their word for it. You can check with the US Department of Education to see if the institution you are considering is actually accredited. The website that publishes the accreditation database is www.ope.ed.gov.
You can also check out the credentials of an online university by calling a local college and asking it they accept transfer credits from the institution you are considering. If they say, “no”, then it would be a waste of your time and money to complete the program.
Earning an online college degree can be expensive. It’s a good idea to compare fees and ask about financial aid. Legitimate universities charge by the credit, rather than charging a flat fee for a complete program. That’s another way to spot a diploma mill. If they say that you can earn a specific online degree and pay a flat fee, the degree probably will not be worth the paper it is printed on.
Once accreditation has been verified and you are comfortable with the costs, be sure that you choose an academic program to help you achieve your professional goals. Be sure that the entire program is available on-line or that the credits you earn on line are transferable should you wish to continue your studies elsewhere.
Your final step is to consider your suitability for online education. Some students thrive in the distance learning environment, while others don’t do so well. You might want to coplete a single three credit class or a certificate program online to see if distance education is for you.
A College Degree; Why It’s Important
A lot of people think that the most important reason to go to college is so that they can earn more money. This is certainly a good reason. If you get your college degree you will probably do better than someone who quits after high school. This is the common argument for higher education, but there are other things to consider when making your decision about continuing your education and getting a college degree.
No one can deny the power that a degree has in allowing you to take advantage of opportunities and in applying for high paying jobs. However getting a good job is not enough because your employers will also want high performance from you. Whether you can meet those expectations depends on your capacity to think and to solve problems.
Memorization of facts is not what education is all about. If you are in college you will have to memorize much and to write meaningful answers but the particular facts and answers that you provide will one day become out dated, and you will also not be able to remember them even a few weeks after the exam.
Most likely, whoever is going to employ you will probably not be looking for someone who can merely recite memorized information, but will want someone with a “good head on his or her shoulders.” Should you continue your education and get a college degree, you will develop your thinking capacity and your creative capacity. This is the true value of higher education and is what would-be employers are really looking for.
It is not enough to know how to use your head and come up with great solutions. You also have to learn how to communicate and express your ideas. This is another great outcome of the process of higher education. As you work on your college degree, either on campus or through an online course, you will in the process of doing the exercises, improve your writing style and your capacity to explain and to convince others.
Last but not least, if you continue onward and attain a college degree you will acquire one more important skill. You will learn how to “learn.” Education doesn’t stop when you get your degree, it should continue through your entire life. If you plunge into a college-level course of study you will develop a love of learning and the ability to keep learning by taking advantage of books, the Internet, mass media and the as yet to be discovered means of communication that awaits you in the years to come.
So, by all means, go ahead, get your college degree. You can enroll in a traditional college or sign up for an online degree course. Either way you will be well rewarded.
Online College Degrees Popularity Increasing
Online accredited degrees are gaining popularity with anyone who wants to continue their education and maintain a job and family obligations. Online degree programs are also great for individuals who have limited time or can’t attend a traditional college classroom setting due to geographic considerations. They have quickly become the preferred method of gaining higher education among many people all over the world due to the convenience and cost savings they offer.
E-learning has come of age, almost overnight. Some of the advantages of online accredited degree programs include:
1. Tend to be less costly than traditional on campus programs.
2. Are offered in nearly every subject imaginable, including sports management, nursing, business, psychology, healthcare, and law.
3. Available to anyone who has access to a computer with an Internet connection.
4. May be finished quicker than traditional on campus degrees because most programs are self-paced, offer accelerated programs, or offer credit for life and work experience.
5. Offered by top accredited universities and colleges. In most cases, these schools utilize the same curricula for online courses as they do for the on-campus courses, and many of the online courses are taught by full professors rather than instructors. So the quality of education is the same, if not better.
The advantages of online learning have increased exponentially. Getting an online degree is the most convenient way for students who cannot attend formal classes for a variety of reasons including work, family, travel or ill health. And, earning a degree online is equally as good as getting one in person, but only if it comes from an accredited university.
Online degrees are wonderful for anyone who wants to either jump-start or change their careers, and that’s no surprise.