I'm looking to get a Bachelor's at 30 years old. I'm looking at GWU, Penn State, or SUNY. Which would you go for? Is ranking really a big deal, or should I go for the school I like? GWU's BA isn't online, the other 2 are.
Like AV8R asked already, it depends on what you want to do. I'll give you my opinion derived from my experience in the business world. Ranking is a big deal only in a few specific fields. In most employment situations, a bachelors degree is just a check mark in a box on an application form and two questions are asked: "Does he have the degree? Is it regionally accredited? Yes, yes, ok. Move on." All three of the schools you are considering fill that requirement. Also, if you are already established in the field, it becomes even less important because experience is usually considered over the rank of your school. Penn State is ranked #45 over all which is really high, but unless the field you are going into is sensitive to those sort of things, it doesn't matter.
If you're planning on grad school you might want to save your money and take a cheaper and quicker route for your bachelor's degree. If you'll stop with a bachelor's it might be a good idea to go to a ranked school depending on your goals.
I don't know anything about GWU but I have taken courses from Penn State, and I earned an AA and BS degree from SUNY Empire State College. I know both of these are highly respected and I know plenty of ESC grads who got into prestigious grad schools. People put far too much emphasis on the ranking of the school. You need to make sure it meets at least your minimum needs (accreditation, has the program you desire, leads to the type of licensing you hope to obtain for specific careers). If you are hoping to get into a good grad school after earning a BS, I believe that if you earn a high GPA and do well on your GRE, you will be admitted to most schools of your choice. In reviewing what you originally asked, you said GWU is not online. A bigger decision for you is whether you want to do this online or not. If you live in New York State, ESC offers options that are not online. Obviously, Penn State has campuses that are not online, as well. I did not earn my BS online as I did it before the Internet was prevalent, for one thing.
