I'm curious to know if anyone on this board has a perspective about which DETC accredited degree granting schools are most well regarded generally and which least? I don't mean to try and solicit a bad review of any school, but there must be some kind of hierarchy that explains why some DETC schools' tuitions are so much higher than others. Maybe it's just my world view, but gradations like this seem commonplace with RA B&M schools. (ie. in my home state there is Yale which is more well regarded generally than Fairfield U, which is more well regarded than Quinipiac, which is more well regarded than UCONN, then Southern Connecticut State U, then Post University, etc.- just an exaple). Is there anything about particular DETC schools that makes them generally more (or less) desirable than the rest of the pack?
I can't personally vouch for these institutions, but just in reading this board on a regular basis, there are two DETC schools which seem to garner the highest praise: Grantham and Aspen. There is also a lot of talk on the board about a couple of DL law schools which I think are also DETC accredited. I gave serious thought to enrolling in Ashworth College either for an AS in Marketing or maybe their MBA, but this would be in addition to the BA in Journalism and Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications or Public Relations that I plan to get from RA schools. I just wanted to get some basic business credentials to back up the communications degrees, and they seem like decent low-cost alternatives. I have read good things and bad things about Ashworth, but I guess you could say that about any school.
I'd suggest that those DETC-accredited schools that have further chosen to have their courses evaluated by the American Council on Education have greater acceptance and credibility. There is a list of those at www.detc.org.
Bear's comment is right on. My favorites (domestic--GAAP-level schools overseas excluded): Aspen APUS Grantham CCU (Yes, CCU. They're long-established and reputable.) CCHS College of the Humanities and Sciences (Very cool.) William Howard Taft WGU But that's just a personal opinion. I don't know of any studies that distinguish between DETC-accredited schools.
Thanks Thank you for your replies, I've learned alot on this board and I appreciate feedback from Dr Bear and Dr Douglas. About ACE credit recomendations for DETC courses, where is the easiest place to find out which courses have ACE recomendations and which do not? The DETC website lists institution which have "some" of their courses evaluated by ACE. I suppose I could buy the 2004-05 National Guide to College Credit from ACE, but that's a hefty investment for a book I'll likely look at two or three times. My local library does not carry the guide, neither does the UCONN (Stamford) library. I emailed AMU and an Enrollment Management Representative said that he does "not have a listing available nor does our website at the present time". Short of buying the ACE guide, what's the best way of getting ACE credit info? Any advice you could give I would appreciate.
About a year or two ago, I called ACE and asked which CCHS courses were reviewed. They offered to email me a listing.
what about giving ranking for all DETC accredited Universities??? considering their reputation and recognition in the business world? not academic.. Kozen
I will certainly be corrected if I'm wrong, but I think to be fair you have to distinguish between reputation and recognition in the Degreeinfo world and reputation and recognition in the outside of Degreeinfo world. The reality is that most, if not virtually all, DETC schools have very little profile outside of, I don't know, this forum? As a test, I have emailed a list of DETC schools to a friend of mine. Not a scientific study, but she works in HR for a major household name company. She had not heard of one of them. I also gave her a list of RA schools offering DL degrees, some prestigious and well known, some not. She had heard of virtually all of them (one exception I think). Like Dr. Douglas' comments this is restricted to the US based DETC schools, not the overseas GAAP equivalent schools. Also, I would add that any sort of ranking of DETC schools would be a massive undertaking, and if you have the time and inclination to undertake it I'm sure I speak for many here when I say I'd love to see it.
I agree that most DETC schools are unknown to the general public. A friend of mine, serving on the search committee for a top-level academic appointment, was surprised to find two Walden Ph.D. graduates among the candidates. She was familiar with Walden, but no one else on the eight-member committee had heard of it. (Walden is regionally accredited, of course; I'm just mentioning it as an example of a nontraditional school.) Incidentally, the committee chair asked his secretary to check whether Walden was accredited. She came back promptly with a "yes" response, and no one questioned the candidates' educational credentials from that point onward. (The position was not a regular faculty appointment and did not require a PhD, but many -- most? -- of the applicants did have doctorates.) I agree that people =ought to= judge individuals and academic programs on their own merits, but I'd be surprised if many search committees do much more than a perfunctory check for accredited/non-accredited status -- or if many are even aware of the differences between regional and national accreditation.
