when choosing a school ...

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by xgoddessx, May 9, 2006.

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  1. xgoddessx

    xgoddessx New Member

    .... what was or what would be the most helpful to you in making your decision (assuming the resource doesn't currently exist):

    - a Bear's Guide-type book

    - reviews of schools by current and former students, ala Amazon.com

    - reviews of professors, like Ratemyprofessors.com

    - online school rankings, like BusinessWeek

    - some rubric to classify how instructionally sound an online course or program is

    - the blog of an online student or professor from the college/university in which you were interested

    ... etc. etc.
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I chose Charter Oak because of their reputation for customer service, and because an assessment college (i.e. one of the "Big Three") was clearly the fastest and least expensive way for me to finish a Bachelor's. Prestige was not important to me; regional accreditation was sufficient.

    I chose GW because it was highest ranked program in my field of interest (24th on the U.S. News list when I started, now up to 21st), and because it was, while not the cheapest, certainly extremely reasonable at around twelve thousand dollars total tuition. It also occurred to me that I would be returning to the Washington, D.C. area while I would be in the program, making it not obvious to a prospective employer or client that it was a distance learning program -- although this was a very minor point of consideration.

    I am considering institutions now for doctoral work, and again my priorities have changed a bit. Ranking is less of a concern, especially as (unlike for my Master's program) all of the highly ranked choices are outside my price range. I am more interested in global perceptions rather than American ones, since I expect to work more internationally than domestically. I am most interested in finding a good match for my research interest, which (broadly speaking) is the intersection of international education and development studies. This has me considering the following schools:
    • George Mason University. They're less than ten miles door-to-door, their tuition is low for in-state students like me, and they have an interesting Center for International Education that shows they have people interested in what interests me. This is the only domestic choice I am strongly considering at this time -- there are programs at Georgetown, GW, and the University of Maryland that I haven't entirely discounted, although they would probably be prohibitively expensive and time consuming.
    • The University of the West Indies. Adella and I plan to return to the Caribbean eventually, and this is the premier institution there. They're a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities and they started life as a college of the University of London, so I'm also comfortable with their reputation internationally. As a Dominican-by-marriage, I should be eligible for the supporting country rate, which would be very inexpensive. It would also be a thesis-only option, which I find preferable to a program requiring coursework, although my consideration of GMU shows that's not a deal breaker.
    • Various South African options. Many of them have good international reputations, and many of the education faculties seem like good matches for my research interests. They're also thesis-only and inexpensive, which are both positive. If I go this route I would prefer Witwatersrand, Rhodes, or Cape Town. However, I have not ruled out Unisa, Johannesburg, or Pretoria.
    I should add that my thinking on this has varied an awful lot since I started considering options two years ago, and probably will keep doing so until I confirm someone's acceptance of my application. :)

    -=Steve=-
     

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