Mixed Degrees on a Resume

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by quest_chun, Nov 3, 2005.

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  1. quest_chun

    quest_chun New Member

    Hello all,

    I'm curious to find out your thoughts on this. I have a traditional B.S. degree from a B&M school. I'm currently on my way to achieving a regionally accredited MBA (Ellis College). When I place my resume, which might be after graduation next December, is it advantageous to include or exclude the fact that my MBA is from an "online" program?

    Personally, I would rather be up-front about it. Show my pride and confidence, especially since I plan to earn a high GPA. If I am lucky enough to get an interview with the employer knowing my credentials, I know I got a good chance since they called me.

    If I mislead them and get into the interview and they spring the question, I might not be ready. I think if my resume is solid with qualitifying experience, excellent references, and an overall indication to advance and work hard, it could work for me. Also, I am in the technology field where alternative educational delivery methods might be more widely accepted.

    Along with the B.S., MBA, and experience, I have professional certifications from Microsoft and CompTIA, and soon Cisco.

    This thought was sparked by the recent articles posted about the utility and acceptance of online degrees.

    What are your thoughts?

    Q_c
     
  2. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    Unless you're living in the immediate vicinity of the college I think they'll figure it out, no?
    Jack
     
  3. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    It is not necessary to list the method used to obtain your degree.

    I suspect that the readers who give your resume greater weight because you did your degree online would be severely outnumbered by the ones who would be negatively impressed.
     
  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Perhaps, but people move around a lot more these days, and unless the person reading the resume does some serious date/locale matching, I doubt it would come up. I earned my bachelor's degrees from a New York school while living in Massachusetts, my MBA from a San Diego school while living in Texas, and my Ph.D from a Cincinnati while living in Virginia. No one has ever asked why or how. (In fact, the only questions regarding my degrees were from people who thought I graduated from SUNY Albany. Sigh....)
     
  5. AGS

    AGS New Member

    I agree with you


    Yes , I agree with all of you ...

    Remember ....accreditation is the important factor ...As long as the school has accreditation ; it does not matter how you obtained your degree.....

    Even if they know ..... It doesnt make a difference .......

    Its the same degree as the one on campus ....

    As a matter of fact ; if the people in their early 20's did the non traditional way ....

    College campuses would lose admissions .........

    I have read from a CLEP marketing test book ....that 80 % of people in their early 20 's and late teens don't even know about the CLEP or these non traditional schools...

    I never knew it existed .....

    If they did ; why put up with college and waste commuting time for 2 years when you can complete your degree in a year and a half .......

    And it is legal .......It is accredited ...

    Colleges need the revenue .....

    I think it would be good buisness to make CLEP summer schools for people who go to high school and send them to Excelsior ....


    Any entrepeneurs out there ?
     
  6. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    As far as I'm concerned, this just proves my point. They didn't have to ask as it was already perfectly clear. You couldn't have earned those degrees from those schools living where you were living by any other means than DL. If an interviewer couldn't figure that out then they shouldn't be in their job.
    Just my opinion.
    Jack
     
  7. CoachTurner

    CoachTurner Member

    How would you list it?

    MBA, Ellis College NYIT (online) ??

    Not sure that's needed at all. Now, if asked then certainly be upfront. The web page at ellis.nyit.edu is pretty clear about the online nature of some programs there.

    On the other hand, if you're applying for an online teaching position, the online degree might be a considerable advantage.
     
  8. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    Re: I agree with you

    Perhaps it's just me...but a sentence ends with a period....not a "...". It is...very...annoying...to...try....to....read....with....all of the.............
     
  9. fortiterinre

    fortiterinre New Member

    You have a regionally accredited MBA, that's really all that matters. I would not rhapsodize about how many long, lonely, dedicated hours you spent on your computer, because this is still pretty far from the face-to-face, cohort-driven instruction at famous business schools. Ironically for DL students, since zip codes can be a legally protected category, some employers have a policy of not inquiring about where you actually live, so I would be a little surprised if this came up in a negative way.
     
  10. bazonkers

    bazonkers New Member

    Well, I'll be honest here. I wanted to go to grad school for History and I needed some kind of BS/BA degree. I was a manager so getting a business degree was going to be the easiest. I could also test out of the whole thing.

    I passed all my CLEP/Dantes exams with mostly A's as I found the pass rates to be shockingly low. I'm a good test taker, but I don't know how much I actually learned during that process. I crammed and passed some CLEP's within 3 days of opening the text.

    I think that Excelsior is a good program for people that need a degree later in life but I'm concerned that we'd have a bunch of people running around with paper degrees and no knowledge for real world jobs. I wasn't really concerned about this in my case since the real learning I wanted to do is happening in my graduate classes.

    Also, I did spend a few years in a B&M school on campus and it was some of the best years of my life. Going to college football games, parties, people you met, watching TV whenever you want, skipping classes ... no wonder I left school w/o a degree in the first place :)
     
  11. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    Perhaps. However, if a persons resume says that they were employed (you know most DL students are employed during the time they earn their degrees) at XYZ Corporation in Boston from 1995 to 1999 and they earned their MBA at CSUDH in 1998 then I think I can pretty much figure out that this was a DL degree.
    How far apart does a jobsite and a schoolsite have to be before a prospective employer says to themselves "DL?"
    Look, I've got to tell ya, that overall, I don't think it's necessary to advertise that you've earned a DL degree. However, some people seem intent on disguising the fact that they've earned a DL degree. They themselves are thinking that their degrees are not up to par.
    Not good.
    Jack
     
  12. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    Frankly, I have no intention of hiding the fact that I'm earning my degree by DL. I'm not going to go out of my way to draw attention to it, but I'm actually proud of the fact that I have the discipline to earn my degree in this manner. I would tell any employer the same thing.

    I view my degree at Thomson Education Direct as a stepping stone to a regionally-accredited bachelors, but it will go on my resume. I think any employer should jump at the chance to hire someone who has proven they can work unsupervised, meet deadlines and accomplish a goal. If not, who needs them?
     
  13. blahetka

    blahetka New Member

    When I was a mangler, the thing I looked for was whether the school was accredited or not. One company I worked actually had the requirement that only RA schools could be used to meet educational requirements for a particular job. HR would do a background check and if it was not a recognizable school, would check to make sure it was RA.

    One thing that was never checked was the modality. When I worked for a couple other companies, I did make an issue of modality. DL does not have the same connotation today as it did when my dad was doing "night school" at the Chicago Industrial Engineering College.

    When I was on the resume team at ProMatch we would take the stance that if the employer really wanted to know, they would ask. Often times a manager gets 20 seconds to scan a resume. They may glance to see if there is a degree or two, but if the job requires a degree, that's the focus, not how the person obtained it.
     
  14. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    You don't have to date your degrees, as requiring that can be a backdoor means of determining one's age, which is a no-no. If you don't list a date, then it's indeterminable that you didn't earn it before you went into the workforce, or during a gap, or what have you.

    As far as trumpeting that a degree was earned online, I wouldn't bother list the modality without obvious benefit to you to do so. Generally speaking, your resume is supposed to get you an interview, not get you a job, so if they care let them ask.

    -=Steve=-
     
  15. gasbag

    gasbag New Member

    You never know how someone is going to react to your resume. In general, resumes are used to screen people out, to narrow down a list of candidates who are then summoned to appear for interviews in the flesh. I can't imagine that on-line would strike many people as being better than B&M -- so, why give the screeners any fodder? Get the interview, wow them in person, and then talk about on-line. About figuring things out -- HR departments aren't usually staffed with the brightest bulbs in the corporate chandelier. I once had an HR person call me to report that he/she had "verified that there is indeed such a school as the University of Wisconsin at Madison." Another HR rep asked me "What is M.I.T.?" Good grief . . .

    gasbag
     
  16. potpourri

    potpourri New Member

    This seems to be a problem that one of my friends is having as well. She earned an Associates degree while also earning a Bachelors degree almost simultaneously and I do think that listing the dates causes some alarms with potential employers i.e. she did a traditional B&M school, while finishing with another degree from a distance learning institution and the employers always ask her how she earned both of them at the same time. She replies that she did her one degree online and the employers seem to frown upon it.

    I don't really know why employers would have such an issue so long as the degrees that she earns are regionally accredited, which they are. Would she be best advised to not list the years (dates) she earned the degrees? Also, she has more than one Associates and Bachelors degrees and don't know if it is best for her to list all of them or just the ones that are geared for the position she is applying for?
     
  17. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    You know Steve, I guess you're right about there being no requirement that someone date their degrees. But I've got to tell you, if someone is interviewing with me I can generally tell within 5 years how old they are and if they've left the dates off their resume then I'm guessing that they're not protecting their age.
    Jack
     
  18. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    List those most relevant to the position. Typically, an associate degree in the same subject area as the bachelor can be left off the resume. For government positions list every degree, diploma and certificate. I agree that leaving out the dates is a viable means to reducing potential prejudice as well as allowing one to list AA and BA degrees in the same subject area.
     
  19. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Of two minds

    I suppose that's true. In my case I finally earned a Bachelor's recently, even though I'd long had the knowledge. I'm in something of a quandary about listing the date because I'm concerned that it suggests a lack of expertise (yes, even though I have a great deal of experience -- we call know how clever HR recruiters can be).

    I suppose I'm also placing emphasis on the program I'm taking now rather than one I've completed.

    -=Steve=-
     

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