DegreeAdvice.com

New to me: DegreeAdvice.com. The site features a table comparing a variety of something-or-others: Almeda, Belford, Breyer State, Bronte International, Concordia C&U, etc. etc.

There is an "accrediation" row in the table and all the goatbags contained therein receive the coveted "thumbs-up" rating.

There are ratings and analyses of each of the something-or-others linked to icons at the bottom of the table. For example, the conclusion concerning Bronte is "We are confident that Bronte International University is a creditable school..." In fairness, they don't like all the schools in the table, just some of them.

Pretty weird place.

G

 

Hmmm!

Has there, in the history of man, ever been such a wonderful collection of LTW schools?
Man, what a disservice, eh?
Creepy!

 

Check out what he says about John Bear's Book. Even though I do not agree.

http://www.degreeadvice.com/2005/02/john-bear-almeda-university-review.html

 

Did this person just admit to commiting a crime?

 

I love that word, "goatbag". What exactly does it mean? Where is it from?

 

Goatbag

It doesn't mean anything. A friend's three-year-old decided to name her cat "Dog Closet" and I kinda liked the ring of it. Goatbag is the same way: it has a feeling of the grotesque but isn't (as far as I know) a real word. I made it up.

G

 

degreeadvice is run by almeda "university", I'm quite convinced. It's the only "university" rated well in the "degree chart comparison", so anybody "comparing" will end up with Almeda as the best choice. In addition the John-Bear on Almeda "article" draws quite a transparent picture.

It's the first tim I've seen them attack each other directly on a website if I recall correctly, right?

 

In Australia, we are a little more subtle. We call it a 'crock of shit'.

Cheers,

George

 

[/I]Sometimes they quote the self-proclaimed diploma mill expert, John Bear. [/B]


Self-proclaimed, huh?

Well, that's probably true if you don't count the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the hundreds of news outlets who have interviewed him.

I am surprised that Almeda would have a site trashing the other fake schools. No honor among thieves, I guess.



Tom Nixon

 

I really like the up-to-date research quoted:

"A 1978 survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found the top personnel officers at 81 large corporations indicated they felt that a non-traditional degree was just as useful as one from a traditional school with a "strong reputation." As the report said, these findings "run counter to some popular beliefs." Source: Sosdian, Carol P. and Laurie M. Sharp, The External Degree as Credential: Graduate's Experience in Employment and Further Study, Washington D.C., U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1978. "

I guess there is nothing more recent available?

Cheers,
Mark

 

Re: Re: DegreeAdvice.com

No, there isn't. Not really.

During the 1980's, the Sosdian/Sharp survey was widely cited by less-than-wonderful schools as a demonstration of their (the schools') legitimacy because the authors had concluded that nontraditional degrees were a good thing (according to degree holders and their employers). What the less-than-wonderfuls omitted, of course, is that Sosdian/Sharp only looked at accredited schools (and candidates).

There hasn't been too much since then. Vault.com did a survey of HR managers in 2000. I did one with HR managers (related to accreditation) in 2003. DETC has done a few with their graduates (and the graduates' employers). That's about it.

 

Almeda is an absoulte virus in the higher ed world, I have had to tell about 20-30 students that their credits from there will not transfer, and they asked me why, and I convinced quite a few to purchase Dr. Bear's book; needless to say, they were all apalled and a few want to take legal recourse.

Their website is definitely flashy, and they have a large and vague statement concerning accreditation on there.

I have gone on to their E-Public eye website quite a few times and warned the "degree holders," it's obviously not doing much good.

 

alc712: I have gone on to their E-Public eye website quite a few times and warned the "degree holders," it's obviously not doing much good.

John: It helps warn those few who actually benefit from warning, so this is a useful behavior. But for the most part, alas, it is akin to going on an alcohol (or drug or prostitution or gambling, etc.) site to warn about the evils of such behaviors.