Advice/opinions needed for newbee

This is my very first post in this forum. although I have browsed a lot of the existing posts, and it appears to be ideally suited to my purpose. Specifically, I am seeking advice and/or opinions vis-a-vis the advisability of enrolling in Excelsior in order to obtain my Bachelor degree. I currently have no credits at the college level, although I have taken various practice tests for CLEP and the GRE subject exams, and apparently, I would be able to obtain a substantial amount of credit in this manner. Frankly, I'm amazed at how much I have retained from my "A" levels courses in Pure Math, Applied Math and English Literature, even though it has been (good grief) 28 years. Although educated in England, I have been living in the US for the past 18 years. My current feeling is to go for it, while trying to ensure that any (or many) of the courses/exams I take might transfer to a local Bricks and Mortar institution, so that, in the event that this degree is looked at less kindly by future Grad Schools, I would, in fact, not be further behind than I am now in terms of obtaining another degree in a more "traditional" manner. In other words, trasnsfer in as a sophomore or junior.

I realise that there are various on-line schools through which you can obtain a masters degree, however, I think I would prefer to attend B&M school for that portion of my education. On looking through the posts I note that many people have stayed with the distance learning option for Grad School. I would be interested in knowing if this was due to choice or necessity.

Many thanks in advance

Jennifer Prestia

 

I chose distance for my master's due to a) best available program for what I wanted for least cost (4th tier school and RA) b) I have a life (job, family, etc.) c) honestly, as much as I love learning and it's occasionally nice to sit in a class, I wasn't relishing the higher education classroom setting where, often as not, one has to deal with instructors' political/social engineering/personal life agendas. I like the focused nature of distance learning--all my energy is spent on task.

Good luck.

I finished my BA in 28 years! Just completed my MA and will now embark on the PhD.

 

On re-reading my post. I realise that it may have sounded as if I, personally, felt that a BA (or MA or PhD, for that matter) from an accredited distance learning institution was perhaps less acceptable that one from a B&M institution. Actually, nothing could be further than the truth, but I'm aware that there may be misguided admissions officers who feel differently. What I am looking for is some feel for how generally accepted a BA from Excelsior really is, assuming one has a good GPA.

TIA

Jennifer

 

Hi Jennifer:
I think you will find a degree from Excelsior to be a very highly regarded and marketable degree. I played in a B&M school and had the grades to prove it. I then went to a junior college and took other courses and transferred all of it into Exelsior (Regents at the time) and then obtained entrance into a graduate program at Liberty.

In answer to why do people go for DL degrees.....well, once you get out of the B&M environment and find out that education is more what you do than what the professor does you have achieved real education and it is almost impossible to go back and jump through hoops! At least that is my opinion. And to support it I have a B&M Associates, Bachelors, and Masters and a DL Bachelors, Masters, and PhD. I am looking at obtaining another PhD and possibly another masters and you can rest assured it will be DL -- even if it cost a little more.

Questions --- [email protected]

 

Well, I was on vacation last year and I met a couple of academics from New York. Conversation one evening turned to universities and I can tell you that they had little regard for Excelsior.

Personally, I would recommend pursuing a traditional academic program from a B&M institution via DL. This is the safest with respect to avoiding any bias (there is definite bias agains non-B&M / alternative degrees). If you look around, I am sure you can find such a program that meets your needs.

I chose a DL program due to convenience and learning style. I did a lot of research and limited myself to only traditional degrees from respected b&m universities... I have never had any difficulty.

I am considering a second dl degree.

 

Thanks for your responses. The main thing I've got from them is that, provided your learning style fits the DL model, it's probable that you would prefer this delivery method. I had hoped that more people would post regarding the acceptablility of degrees from institutions other that those with B&M facilities, but C'est la vie, I suppose.

Jennifer

 

Jennifer,

If you have A-Levels from England this may qualify you for substantial credit at an American university. You may have to "shop around" to find a reputable school that offers the best credit allowance, but this is not an impossible task.

If you have a choice between DL or traditional, go for the traditional method of learning (i.e. B&M). This is usually more accepted in social circles, academia and the working world. However, if you cannot read for a traditional program, then find a DL program from a reputable B&M school that does not ONLY do DL.

Exclusive DL institutions are not generally respected and a degree from a DL institution may raise too many questions. Do you really want to go through life being asked "is that a correspondence degree" or "is that an accredited school" or "what's the weather like in Hawaii?"... etc...

I've never done a correspondence degree, but in the field that I am in, have interviewed people with DL degrees. It puts both myself and the applicant in an awkward position when I ask the above questions.

Then why do I ask these questions you ask? Because I have to. There are many degree mills out there and a person holding a DL degrees may not be the person who actually earned it. It may have be a group effort or a favour or something else. There is no quality control on the students end.

Good Luck.

 

As for quality control, there seems to be little from YOUR end Scott, because you don't even have a rudementary understanding of what distance learning is all about. You make these wild statements, yet you don't back it up with hard evidence.
What empiricial data do you have that supports what you have been saying?

But surprise, surprise, you are somehow an expert on their value and worth? Get real, already. You come here with ascertations, admitting that you haven't taken a correspondence (what about the rest of d/l, are you an expert on it too) and propose to give your supposedly sage advice about such things?

Ah, if you haven't frightened her away from dl by now, you should actually be apologising to her. We are the ones that should be wishing her good luck after reading your "expert" advice about d/l, or "correspondence degrees," as you like to call them.


Darren.

 

Thank you, Scott and Darren, for your (diametrically opposed) input.

While taking into consideration the points you raise Scott, at this time and in my current circumstances, (I have a chronically ill, home-bound child at the moment), DL is effectively my only option. I am aware that it is possible to obtain credit for my "A" levels and am currently investigating this.

With regard to your comment, Scott, I'm not certain why one would be embarrassed to answer the questions you pose. Personally, I have found it more embarrassing to explain exactly why I do not have a degree (since I am reasonably articulate, people assume I have one) rather than otherwise. Nor am I sure why you should be embarrassed should you find yourself in the position to ask those questions. I think a lot depends on the spirit in which those enquiries are made - if made in a genuine "thirst for knowledge" only the most thin-skinned of us would be offended. Whether the degree (B&M of DL) has been genuinely earned - well there are, unfortunately, many individuals who are less than honest, and I don't think that education is the only area in which this is the case.

On further discussion with the people who know me best (my mother and my husband) I have decided to go the DL route. My husband, who has no experience of the DL system (he graduated from Carnegie Mellon, and took his doctorate at University of Pittsburgh) nonetheless feels that, knowing my poor tolerance for the internecine squabbles and bureaucratic hassles that, sadly, occur with a vengance at some of our areas 'seats of higher learning', that I would be better served going this route. Not only that, he feels that much of the "peripheral advantages" of a B&M education are vastly overrated. I have to say, if I'm going to take the advice of someone who has not gone the DL route, his is of more value. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I feel my learning style is better suited to this educational method.

Many thanks

Jennifer