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Education Question
Jun. 8th, 2015 01:49 amThis is probably a long shot, but I've got a question for you guys.
Does anyone have any personal experience with online education? I've been considering going back to school online for a while, but it's just a really daunting prospect, y'know? There are so many schools, and I've heard so many bad things about 'online' universities...Just, ugh.
I mean, how do you know which ones are trustworthy? Are any of them? I know that a lot of the ones you see advertised are for-profit schools, which just sounds like a bad idea. (Like with so many things, if they're primarily concerned about their bottom line, I really don't trust them to give a damn about the students.) On the one hand, I keep seeing stories about these types of schools fucking their students over with debt and such. Obviously that's scary, and I want to avoid it! But even beyond that, the question of if the diploma I get from them will be worth anything...like, if I apply for a job and submit my resume, will the employers just take one look at that degree and say 'no way'? If I'm going to go to the trouble and expense of doing this, I want to actually have something worthwhile when I'm done.
The main online school I'm considering is ITT Tech. They've been around for a while, and they offer a good selection of online programs; ones that I'd be interested in. Plus, I think that a 'technical' college would probably teach in a manner that would suit me best. (Less vague theory, more 'here are the steps to do this'.)
It's just...argh. On the one hand, my dad says he knows a guy who got a degree there, and he says they're reputable. But I keep finding all these nasty posts online about them (and most of the others, it seems). The thing is, I know that when you go looking for reviews of anything online, you'll often find more bad than good, because it's the pissed off people who'll go to the trouble of ranting about it on the internet. The ones who are content, not so much. So, I wonder. Plus, a common complaint is about transferring the credits...which I have no intention of doing. I plan to get my BA/BS from one place, and then that's it. I really can't see myself trying for a masters. In a perfect world, maybe. But this ain't it. So...that complaint isn't terribly relevant to me.
I figure that the 'regular' schools (like U of I) that also offer online courses would probably be safe, but the options seem way more limited. And it's kind of frustrating, because if you search for 'online degree programs' and such, it just pulls up page after page of these stupid for-profit schools. Am I going to have to think of every 'real' university I can, and go to their sites to see if they even offer online programs? And even then, you have to weed out the ones who only offer some classes online. I need a place that I can get an entire degree online. I've got some credits from before that might transfer, but still. It'd be the biggest part of the coursework that I'd have to take online. (And OMG, is it like a rule that every university has to have the shittiest websites EVER? Ugh! Impossible to find information, seriously!)
I feel like this is jumbled, so I'll just ask this. Has anyone gotten a degree online? If so, where from? Any experience with online programs, and I'd love to hear about it. Any place that's terrible and I should avoid like the plague? Any place that's good? Any info at all?
Does anyone have any personal experience with online education? I've been considering going back to school online for a while, but it's just a really daunting prospect, y'know? There are so many schools, and I've heard so many bad things about 'online' universities...Just, ugh.
I mean, how do you know which ones are trustworthy? Are any of them? I know that a lot of the ones you see advertised are for-profit schools, which just sounds like a bad idea. (Like with so many things, if they're primarily concerned about their bottom line, I really don't trust them to give a damn about the students.) On the one hand, I keep seeing stories about these types of schools fucking their students over with debt and such. Obviously that's scary, and I want to avoid it! But even beyond that, the question of if the diploma I get from them will be worth anything...like, if I apply for a job and submit my resume, will the employers just take one look at that degree and say 'no way'? If I'm going to go to the trouble and expense of doing this, I want to actually have something worthwhile when I'm done.
The main online school I'm considering is ITT Tech. They've been around for a while, and they offer a good selection of online programs; ones that I'd be interested in. Plus, I think that a 'technical' college would probably teach in a manner that would suit me best. (Less vague theory, more 'here are the steps to do this'.)
It's just...argh. On the one hand, my dad says he knows a guy who got a degree there, and he says they're reputable. But I keep finding all these nasty posts online about them (and most of the others, it seems). The thing is, I know that when you go looking for reviews of anything online, you'll often find more bad than good, because it's the pissed off people who'll go to the trouble of ranting about it on the internet. The ones who are content, not so much. So, I wonder. Plus, a common complaint is about transferring the credits...which I have no intention of doing. I plan to get my BA/BS from one place, and then that's it. I really can't see myself trying for a masters. In a perfect world, maybe. But this ain't it. So...that complaint isn't terribly relevant to me.
I figure that the 'regular' schools (like U of I) that also offer online courses would probably be safe, but the options seem way more limited. And it's kind of frustrating, because if you search for 'online degree programs' and such, it just pulls up page after page of these stupid for-profit schools. Am I going to have to think of every 'real' university I can, and go to their sites to see if they even offer online programs? And even then, you have to weed out the ones who only offer some classes online. I need a place that I can get an entire degree online. I've got some credits from before that might transfer, but still. It'd be the biggest part of the coursework that I'd have to take online. (And OMG, is it like a rule that every university has to have the shittiest websites EVER? Ugh! Impossible to find information, seriously!)
I feel like this is jumbled, so I'll just ask this. Has anyone gotten a degree online? If so, where from? Any experience with online programs, and I'd love to hear about it. Any place that's terrible and I should avoid like the plague? Any place that's good? Any info at all?
