Arizona State vs. University of Illinois Springfield

I have a friend who is thinking about earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Arizona State or the University of Illinois, Springfield. Both of these colleges offer distance learning programs in philosophy. Which college do you think is better? Does anyone here on this DB have any experience taking distance learning philosophy courses from these colleges?

 

I'm guessing that no one will be able to answer your question because so few people pursue this degree, especially in the DL mode. Let's face it, most of our members are mid-level professionals trying to get ahead. With all due respect to the discipline of Philosophy, it's not reliably going to help anyone move forward in their career. I don't know what your career goals might be but I have to tell you that it probably doesn't matter which of these schools you choose. Both are decent state schools and so, if nothing else, they won't blow up in your face. More important will be your GPA. A 4.0 from _____ will beat a 3.5 from _____ regardless of which one you place in the first blank. Also, as a discipline, Philosophy is all about grad school. Read up on it here.

The Philosophical Gourmet Report 2011 : Welcome

 

I took Intro to Philosophy as a free elective, and it was the biggest waste of time of my academic career. It got to the point that I would put forth absolutely ridiculous theories, knowing they were ridiculous, and the professor would just stroke his beard and say "Hmmm.....interesting".

 

My thoughts...

Bruce and Kismet are right on.

Philosophy is an undergrad degree is just a stepping stone - it doesn't prepare one for a career the same way an engineering BS,nursing BS or marketing BA would.

It is useful for the following:
1) I need a Bachelor's degree as a requirement for an entry level job (example would be retail managment training program, administrative assistant)
2) I need a Bachelor's degree to apply for law school, a Master's in Philosophy, or another Masters like Public Policy or Master of Library Science
3) I need a Bachlor's degree before getting my teaching license/certificate.

WIth the above being true, choosing between these schools would cause me to ask these questions:
Which one is easiest to get into and graduate from with a high GPA?
Which one is closest in location to where I want to live?
Which is cheapest?

 

I forgot this point: When my daughter was considering law school, she read that philosophy majors have the highest admittance rate to law school. I'm not sure it's true - I don't have a source to quote. However, that doesn't mean it's a sure ticket for admission. It could be that philosphy majors are well-prepared for law school based on core courses but it could also be that there are fewer (albeit well-prepared) phil majors applying (skewed sample due to small size population) or that people who do well as philosophy majors have the right kind of brains for law school or the LSAT.

 

I minored in Philosophy, but majored in CJ. I did this to prepare for law school, and courses in logical reasoning, ethics, and decision theory were great training. If I made the rules, I would require all students to take a class in Modern Philosophy as a graduation requirement. It was the one course I felt "tied it all together" and helped me understand why we think the way we do in the West. It's the one "take away" I would wish on everyone. But I wouldn't advise anyone to major or minor in Philosophy if grad school wasn't the plan.

 

One of my best friends from my youth majored in philosophy at Virginia Tech. It didn't lead to anything in his life...nothing. He ended up working for his dad. All these years later (nearly 15) he's still in the same line of work. He doesn't talk about it and I don't ask but I think he regrets his choice of majors.

 

In general, law schools do like philosophy majors. This study found that philosophy/theology majors were tied for the second-highest LSAT scores (behind physics/math majors, tied with econ majors). I suspect that philosophy majors would have scored even higher in this study, if they had not been grouped with the theology majors.

 

I guess either school is fine.

Thanks for the link.

 

ECON majors rule!:veryhappy:

 

Not that I'm biased or anything, but I have to say ASU!!! And I have taken 3 philosophy classes there (2 satisfied gen eds and 1 was a really cool elective). I would never major in it, but I have to say that I really enjoyed the classes. Applied Ethics and Bioethics both applied towards my humanities requirements and Existentialism was a REALLY cool elective. SO if philosophy is the intended degree (I'm not going to say anything about that one way or the other) then I say ASU is a great option.