I am doing an informal survey on how / why you chose you online school / degree. What is tuition, accreditation, etc. Here is my list (ranked) for my MBA 1. Accreditation - wanted AACSB 2. Location - Had onsite visits, so wanted something as close as possible. 3. Had a B&M offering - stigma related. 4. Private - not a determining factor, but wanted to see the differences from the public schools I went to for the undergrad. 5. Response Time - Advisor called within 24 hours, reviewed my faxed information, and accepted within 48 hours. Non factors: Cost (employer reimbursement), Onsite visits (employer reimbursement), GMAT - Have to take it with most AACSB schools. This differed greatly when selecting my doctorate school, but I am curious how others picked their school?
1. Accredited. (Good standing with accreditor) 2. Program and course content. 3. Method of delivery. 4. Responsiveness 5. Cost 6. Do they have a physical location that I can visit. 7. Utility beyond graduation. (for me) I used the same criteria for my PhD program selection.
Capella Ph.D. Here is my list: 1. Offered my specialization of interest 2. Learning methodologies fit with my learning style 3. Residency requirements fit with me living outside of the U.S. and the times when I could travel back 4. On-line library resources and services 5. RA (not my #1 reason, since it was a given in my mind anyway) 6. Utility of degree (gauged by alumni employment) 7. Customer service/student support Factors not important: 1. Cost (I figured it'd be expensive, no matter what school I chose) 2. GMAT/GRE scores. I have pretty high ones, although they were not required at Capella (or most of the DL Ph.D. programs I considered). Hmm, can't think of any more at the moment.
Interesting topic, Han. I'd bet that some of us will have very different priorities. My list looks like this, from most important on down: 1. Does the school offer a program that's of interest to me? There are lots of schools out there, but not all of them offer what I want to study. 2. Does the program look credible? What do the syllabus and course descriptions look like? Who are the faculty? What does a Google search look like? 3. What are the entrance requirements? Could I even get admitted? 4. Cost. Can I afford it? 5. Does the school demand visits? This might be a major factor if the school is located half the world away, but of less importance if it's here in Northern California. Other hassles associated with the program would probably go here as well. 6. Accreditation. This obviously is a factor in number two above, credibility. But if I really believed that a program was valuable and credible, accreditation probably wouldn't be a huge consideration for me. My interest is more with education than with credentialling. But if I needed a degree for a job, this factor would rise abruptly. 7. Customer service. I'd weight his one fairly low, unless the service was so bad as to make the program near to unusable. 8. Method of delivery. I'm not picky, so long as it works. 9. Online library resources. Not important for me since I have access to several academic libraries and love browsing the stacks. But this one would be big if I lived in a rural area. 10. Licensing requirements. Not relevant for me, but some people need a program that will qualify them for a license in their field.
I am a computer programmer. Have been for 13 years. I had never taken any credit courses, just a certificate in programming from Columbia here in New York City. That has always been enough to get me a job. But, 13 years ago, after paying $8000 and spending a year and a half to earn the certificate, I discovered I HATE computer programming. But I kept doing it because it's all I know how to do. I've finally decided, no more. I am going to change careers. I am a people person. I will either go overseas and teach English or enter an accelerated nursing program here in the US. In most places overseas, it's not really required to have a degree to teach Englsih, but they will take advantage of you if you don't. An accelerated nursing program is a 15 month BS in nursing for people who already have a 4 year degree. So there is my reason for a degree. Now, the rankings... 1. Accreditation - RA, gotta be if I'm going to apply to nursing school 2. Must be fast. - I'm tired of putting this off. I'm wasting my life with a life I hate. It's not just a job, but a life style. 2. tied with above, must require NO residency, cause I want it FAST 3. Location - US schools only, thought that would be a plus either direction I choose. 4. Had to calculate GPA - necessary for entry to nursing program 5. Had to accept Excelsior college A&P exam. A&P is a prereq for any accelerated nursing program and a suprising number accept the Excelsior exam, so I needed to get those exams in my first degree 6.Type of degree - as long as it is RA and I have A&P, it could be in knitting for all anyone cares, but I want a degree fast, so it has to be fairly easy and it can have NOTHING to do wtih computers. If I get a degree in computers, then they will expect me to teach computers and I will end up having to explain I hate computers. Besides, it's been over 10 years. I would have to spend time studying and do well on the computer science GRE and I don't want to do that. I will take 3 easy exams, maybe 4 with computers, no more TESC database concepts, TESC C programming, DANTES Into to Computers and DANTES systems management or whatever it is Non factors: Cost (considering all my other requirements, I was left with pretty much only the BIG 3, and they all about the same price).
Colorado State University 1. Accredited 2. B&M basis 3. Cost - paying myself 4. Recognized name 5. History of doing program
For me, I started with - 1) Accredited 2) Offer BS in computer science 3) Cost 4) Reputation After seeing how few options there were for undergraduate BSCS degrees and how many there were for graduate MSCS degrees, I changed to Undergraduate- 1) Accredited 2) Offer CS or CIS 3) Speed to completion 4) Cost Graduate- 1) Accredited 2) Offer MSCS or MS in Software Engineering 3) Reputation 4) Cost Excelsior was perfect for #1. University of Illinois (where I am currently enrolled) was perfect for #2. In the end, I will get a BSCIS and a MSCS at similar time and cost to a BSCS had I stuck with the original goals.
Hi James, I just wanted to clear up this very common misperception. While your statement was very true, say, 10-15 years ago, you will find that now it would be extremely difficult to find a position teaching English without some type of degree. At the bare minimum, even the lower standard schools (i.e., read sweatshops for teachers) want a TESOL certificate or B.A. A B.A. is generally what is required to teach at the secondary level and below, although a Master's is preferred, and to teach at university level, the Master's is required. Although there are always exceptions to any statement, this is generally the case worldwide. Thanks to the hard work of several professional organizations, educators in this field have (mostly) successfully changed the perception that to teach English all you need to be is a native speaker. EFL teachers are now recognized, for the most part, as professional educators. There's a lot more to teaching a language than just being a native speaker of that language! For more information on the subject, check out the main professional organization in the US, TESOL: http://www.tesol.org Regards, Adrienne
