In this article I will cover a very important concern that has been raised by those who are doing or interested in doing an online degree.
The question I have always heard asked is-
"Will one be at a disadvantage when the time comes for applying for a graduate program or job... after one has he completed his or her online degree program?"
It will not be enough to just say YES or NO. In this article I will go deeper and tell you what you need to know regarding whether or not your online degree will be accepted. To give more credence to my answer, I will use real-life statistics to support it.
In a recent article I read that:
John Bear, co-author of "The Bear's Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning," surveyed 1,200 randomly selected registrars across the country to help answer part of this question. (He picked them all from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers member list.) Of the 330 useful replies, 92% accepted online-only degrees (compared with 100% acceptance for traditional 4-year offline degrees).
Of the 8% who indicated they may not accept online degrees, most said they'd review the online program on a case-by-case basis. "Almost no one said they absolutely wouldn't accept them," Bear says.
Most importantly, many of the online colleges or universities offering online degrees do not state on the degrees or transcripts whether it is an online degree or offline degree. In other words, they do not 'distinguish' between the degrees earned online and those earned offline. To them, all the degrees are the same!
To authenticate this, listen to what a spokesman for the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business said- "Someone with an undergraduate degree from an online program would be treated the same as other applicants... Online degrees are not seen as a 'flag' on someone's application.
This goes to show you that you should have no fear about the acceptance of your online degree... if you got it from an accredited online university or college.
In short, no one will know whether you got the online degree from an online university or from an offline university.
Even employers have no problem with online degrees, so far as they are gotten from accredited online colleges and universities. In a recent article, I discovered that Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart Stores and Intel Corp. all indicated that they would accept online degrees... so long as they were from accredited institutions!
Going further the article said, "Wal-Mart also indicated that it uses online learning for in-house training. Intel, in fact, has partnered with Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., to offer an online MBA program tailored just to Intel employees".
So, you should have absolutely no fear about whether your online degree will be accepted by employers or by other educational institutions.
It will be accepted so long as you got it from accredited online universities and colleges.
But note that it is not enough for the university or college to be accredited. You also need to carefully check and verify that the accrediting agency is recognized by either the U.S. Dept of Education or Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
The question I have always heard asked is-
"Will one be at a disadvantage when the time comes for applying for a graduate program or job... after one has he completed his or her online degree program?"
It will not be enough to just say YES or NO. In this article I will go deeper and tell you what you need to know regarding whether or not your online degree will be accepted. To give more credence to my answer, I will use real-life statistics to support it.
In a recent article I read that:
John Bear, co-author of "The Bear's Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning," surveyed 1,200 randomly selected registrars across the country to help answer part of this question. (He picked them all from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers member list.) Of the 330 useful replies, 92% accepted online-only degrees (compared with 100% acceptance for traditional 4-year offline degrees).
Of the 8% who indicated they may not accept online degrees, most said they'd review the online program on a case-by-case basis. "Almost no one said they absolutely wouldn't accept them," Bear says.
Most importantly, many of the online colleges or universities offering online degrees do not state on the degrees or transcripts whether it is an online degree or offline degree. In other words, they do not 'distinguish' between the degrees earned online and those earned offline. To them, all the degrees are the same!
To authenticate this, listen to what a spokesman for the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business said- "Someone with an undergraduate degree from an online program would be treated the same as other applicants... Online degrees are not seen as a 'flag' on someone's application.
This goes to show you that you should have no fear about the acceptance of your online degree... if you got it from an accredited online university or college.
In short, no one will know whether you got the online degree from an online university or from an offline university.
Even employers have no problem with online degrees, so far as they are gotten from accredited online colleges and universities. In a recent article, I discovered that Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart Stores and Intel Corp. all indicated that they would accept online degrees... so long as they were from accredited institutions!
Going further the article said, "Wal-Mart also indicated that it uses online learning for in-house training. Intel, in fact, has partnered with Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., to offer an online MBA program tailored just to Intel employees".
So, you should have absolutely no fear about whether your online degree will be accepted by employers or by other educational institutions.
It will be accepted so long as you got it from accredited online universities and colleges.
But note that it is not enough for the university or college to be accredited. You also need to carefully check and verify that the accrediting agency is recognized by either the U.S. Dept of Education or Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
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