Is it a bad idea for a young person to go for a DL bachelor's degree?

Here's the next in my series of related questions/threads. We touched on this indirectly in another of my threads, but I hope you don't mind me asking this question directly.

Is is a bad idea for an undergrad-aged, young person earn their bachelor's degree via a RA online school? Does an online bachelor's look bad on a resume? Would that hurt their competitiveness in the job market? We all are well aware of the DL vs. B&M debate, I'm wondering if the "DL stigma" issues might be worse for an undergrad degree than it is for graduate degrees. This is what someone is suggesting to me and I argue that it is not the case.

I personally don't think the DL stigma is as bad as we (including me) often make it out to be and therefore suggest that a DL bachelor's would be a fine idea for a young person. This is an argument that I am having with someone and would like to hear your opinion.

 

I don't think distance education is ideal for the typical college aged student. An 18-22 year old gets so much more out of college than what they simply learn in class, and those things can't be replicated in a distance learning format. I think distance bachelors are great for non- traditional students, though.

 

I don't think it is bad idea, but it would be lacking of social networking and college experiences. If I have a choice again, I would attend on campus for undergraduate school. However, it was due to the greedy because I wanted to earn my 4 years College degree before leaving active duty. I went to Troy University via distance learning at age 20, and completed 2 years after that. I graduated as the same time with those kids I went high school with; but I was in active duty.

I look back, I make more money than those went to B&M colleges. It depends what you want to do with your college degree. Just likes the girl, who owes $200,000.000 tuition at Northeastern University with a Bachelor in Sociology, and I don't think she makes more money than me. I know there is a girl who graduated from high school as the same time with me in 2002. She went to 4 years college in New York, now she works at StarBucks.

So, if the person is still young I wouldn't recommend distance learning unless in certain situations.

 

I think it would serve the student better, if he or she attends a traditional face-to-face degree program before venturing into the world of DL. Why? Although, studying through DL is harder (because the course work is basically dumped on the student who has to swim out of it alone), in my opinion, DL programs are notoriously passive and this does not serve young people well because of the absence of face-to-face social interaction, which is critical to developing inter-personal and other soft skills - critical skills that serve students well (after they graduate) in their professional careers. So I would seriously discourage against going the DL route for the first BS degree.

 

There's only a few situations where I would recommend a young person pursue an online degree. Examples:

Military
Certain disabilities
Rural location with no nearby colleges and no desire to relocate
Really good job (eg. family business)

There's very, very few people who had a real on-campus college experience that regret it. Typically you hear that it was some of the best years of their life.

 

For a young person I suggest a hybrid - some DL and some B&M courses - especially for those attending night school.

 

Another advantage to B&M study is that a young student can get exposure to a wide variety of academic disciplines. B&M schools typically offer a much broader variety of majors and classes than DL schools, and there is also the opportunity to meet students with different majors, attend departmental presentations, join student clubs, etc. A lot of kids don't have a well-focused direction when they start college, and a good B&M school gives them the opportunity to check out different things.

At most DL schools, you aren't going to have the same range of options. Consider, for example, the University of Phoenix Online Campus, which issued 14,576 bachelor's degrees in 2008-09 (source: College Navigator). This is probably the biggest undergraduate DL program in the country. Yet virtually all (over 99%) of its bachelor's degrees are issued in the following five general areas:

- Business
- Computer/IT
- Nursing/Health Care Administration
- Psychology/Behavioral Sciences
- Security/Protective Services

Other DL schools are similarly focused on these specific areas. There is nothing necessarily wrong with majoring in any of these particular fields, of course, but they don't exactly represent the whole scope of human knowledge and career opportunities either.

 

Fascinating, thank you.

 

I attended college on-campus right after high school. I don't regret that choice at all. I did receive a full scholarship, so the choice was easy, but the experience was more than just the education in class. I had the opportunity to discuss philosophy with my dorm mates at 2 AM. I enjoyed on-campus activities. I spent time just walking around campus with my friends. These are experiences that I would not have had if I had a full-time job. I also wouldn't have been able to enjoy the benefit of face-to-face relationships with my professors.

I would not give these experiences up, and I would advise anyone right out of high school to consider what they may be giving up by attending via DL.

For non-traditional students, it is a different matter. These individuals generally won't experience the social elements of residential life, so the convenience of DL weighs more heavily.

 

Very good thoughts on that. I tend to agree with you. Thank you very much, MC.

By the way, can you CLEP an earth science? or a natural science?

 

I AM talking from personal experience, and I greatly cherish my experiences as an undergraduate student at a B&M campus. I am grateful for the existence of DL programs, as they are convenient for me now (full-time job, wife, kids, etc.), but I believe that my experience in a B&M format has helped me in my DL studies.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but I know that I was not ready at the age of 18 to give up the social elements of school. Furthermore, I met my wife in college, so I certainly value B&M attendance for this personal factor!

 

I wouldn't trade my Auburn experience for any degree you can earn online. College is what you make of it, and if a student is simply going to go to class then sit in his or her dorm room/apartment and not take advantage of all the great things a traditional college experience can provide them with, then by all means, earn a degree via DL. Of course, if someone would actually do that (go to a B&M and not socialize), then I question their people skills and ability to function in society.
College, no matter how over-rated or over-priced it is perceived to be, is an outstanding experience. Pledging my fraternity (best 12 weeks of my life I'd never want to have again), football games in the student section, student government, fraternity/sorority socials, road-trips with friends...I'm sorry, but these kinds of experiences can't be replicated or adequately substituted in any other setting that I am aware of. I have dozens of friends that I met my first week of college, many that I still talk to on a weekly basis (in contrast, I believe I have three from high school). I have an alumni association that allowed me to have a network of peers I was able to socialize with the first week I moved to a new town. The list goes on and on. I can't imagine my life being as fulfilling had I not had the traditional college experience, more specifically my Auburn experience.

 

My Bachelors was done in-class and I actually prefer that way of learning. One of the things we've heard over and over is how much committment a DL degree requires. I've experienced that myself (please see the "washout thread"). I don't think a DL Bachelors would hurt anyone but I don't know many 18 year olds who have the self-discipline for that type of education. Are there some? Of course. If an 18 year old person had a decent job in a field they liked and wanted a degree and couldn't go to night school, etc. then I'd say that person is not too different than most of us mid-career people. But do they have the maturity to see it through? As always, it depends.

 

Original Question: (Made big so more might notice it; not intended to be belligerent) Do you think a young person would face discrimination in hiring because their bachelor's was DL?

 

That's tough to answer because there are so many variables. Was the person working full time while earning their degree via distance? Ifso they should have several years experience so they wouldn't be looking for entry level jobs and competing with recent grads from traditional programs. I think a DL degree would put a young person at a distinct disadvantage for the most sought after entry level jobs because those companies go to college campuses to do the or recruiting.

 

I'd be curious to know how many people between the ages of 18-22 even know about the option to earn a degree online. I'll admit, when I started looking at colleges four years ago, I had no idea DL programs even existed. If anything, I wish that I had at least looked into the possibility of it. In high school, I made the mistake of thinking the process of choosing a school was over after I got my first acceptance letter. I'm very happy with the school I ended up going to, but it was literally the only place I applied.