Hello Everyone! Well, I feel that distance learning has limited in Networking. Especially job and etc.... Sometimes people ask me if I go to SMU after seeing my email address. I don't know if I should answer YES or NO. Do you feel the same way? All my degrees are from Distance Learning, and I feel that my next degree needs to be at the B&M campus. Any opinion?
My experience has been different. I have many friends that are fellow Leathernecks. I have referred and had people graduate from WIU. I go to homecoming and am a very active alumni. You will only get from your degree, from a networking perspective, what you put into it. I network consistently and my degree has helped me --- never hurt. Hope this helps!
I'd answer by saying "Yup, sure do. I'm enrolled in their distance ed. program blah blah blah ... ". My bachelors is from a non-traditional school (Excelsior) so I'm trying to get into a B&M schools for my masters but can only do classes via distance ed. I don't need to physically go to a B&M school. Having one on my resume is good enough for me. Eventually, people won't know that you didn't move to go to school in person. As for the networking, I'm of the opinion that the onus for networking is always on the individual. You could be physically attending a B&M school and never really network with your peers anyways. Join professional associations, go to national conferences for academics/professional etc. There is no reason you can't network with a distance ed. degree.
