RA’s don’t actually discriminate against DETC it turns out;just no one had asked them

My interest here is in whether that statement is factually true or assumed to be true. I suspect that there are instances of both, but that as we look into it, we'll find that it's less factually true than it was at one time.

We might find the opposite, that there is even more resistance than there used to be. I don't know, I'm just interested in knowing.

I do know that RA doesn't always meet with any better acceptance in many cases than DETC - there remains some bias against DL whether RA or NA. Even with 85% of all institutions of higher education in the US teaching online.

 

The requirements for an MBA from Wharton state “Transcripts of all academic work completed at the baccalaureate/undergraduate level and beyond, whether or not for credit or a degree, are required. “ They make no mention of RA. I checked HBS and they use the same language.

I would like to suggest that low prestige schools like NSU, Argosy etc. use the RA undergraduate requirement to make themselves look good. Prestigious schools are, for the most part, interested in GMAT and LSAT. I know people with NA degrees (not DETC) who went on to both Wharton and Harvard.

When it comes to prestigious schools, an NA degree from a bricks and mortar institution may be better than a RA DL degree.

 

The test: There are no situations where a degree from a school accredited by the DETC would be acceptable, but one from an RA school would not. The reverse is still the case.

 

I'm on a graduate admissions committee at an RA school. Our catalog has language requiring an "accredited" degree for admission to graduate study, but I have never seen or heard of any admissions or applications with anything other than RA and foreign degrees. I will check tomorrow to determine whether the policy is interpeted as "RA" only.

 

All this test shows is that a RA degree is not worse then a DETC degree. A Visa card is accepted in more places then a Discover card yet there are many people who carry a Discover card in their wallet. There are many reasons why one would choose a DETC school.

 

Despite popular perception, this simply isn't true. I scored 750 (99th percentile the year I took it) on the GMAT, and applied to both Harvard and Wharton (as well as 6 other schools - just getting into b-school cost me over a grand!). Harvard dinged me without an interview, and Wharton ultimately dinged me as well (although I was invited to reapply - I didn't, because I wanted to do my MBA that year). The best schools don't GMAT whore, because they don't have to. They're already at the top of the rankings, and the best of the best apply there as a result. Lower-ranked schools (20th to 50th in Business Week and US News) fell all over themselves to admit me and give me money, because my GMAT would raise their class average for that year, which would make them look better come rankings time.

I've held my tongue on this thread, because I honestly think that DETC schools and the degrees they grant are great. They help a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise have access to higher education achieve their goals and further their careers. But you have to acknowledge that the fact of the matter is that your average DETC graduate has a better chance of being elected president of Turkmenistan than he does of getting into Harvard Business School, whatever his test scores. Pretending otherwise doesn't do anyone any good, and it might hurt the person who is reading this thread and trying to plot his or her course to graduate school.

 

I'm not certain this is true. I suspect that there are a few RA schools with such a low perceived reputation that their graduates are disregarded by some employers without review. At the same time, these employers aren't aware enough of what accreditation is that they might accept an NA degree over the RA.

This is simply my opinion though - I have no hard examples to point at and in an effort to not offend anyone here, I won't name the schools that I suspect suffer such prejudice (even though they are indeed RA).

 

I have a research assistant and she's on this one. I'll post back here what she comes up with. Her assignment is to determine whether any of the six regional accreditors stipulate from where a member may or may not accept transfer credit.

 

from SACS - position on transfer credit:

And that's the answer to the question with regard to SACS. Not only are members permitted to accept credit from an NA (within certain standards), they are not required to accept credit from other RAs. I think we all knew this already though.

 

Thanks for taking this project on Coach! It is much needed and appreciated. The results can yield some interesting information.

Just wanted to say thanks!

Abner

 

Please name them. I can think of two: cost and graduate transfer credit. And in almost all cases, cost can be matched, approached, or overcome.

In almost any situation, given a DETC-accredited choice, an RA choice is comparable. There are exceptions, of course. St. Augustine's doctoral program in PT, or Harrison Middleton's DA are a couple. I'm sure there are some more.

But those are exceptions. What are the "reasons" for choosing a DETC-accredited school over an RA one? Examples, too, please. Thanks!

 

I meant catagorically, not citing specific schools.

I'm sure there are a few RA schools that have developed a reputation to the point that recruiters have decided to reject applications on that basis alone. In those situations, one would be better off with a degree from an unknown school rather than from an infamous one.

 

You’re missing the point. As you yourself state, you didn’t get into Harvard either, and I don’t see a DETC credential in your tag line. I think mixing the argument all up with Tier 1 school acceptance, and then claiming that DETC accreditation is hurting people, are naïve, backwards looking statements, IMHO.

 

Rich has it, although I would turn it around:

"There are no situations where a degree from a school accredited by a regional accredited organization would be acceptable, but one from a DETC accredited school would not."

Another way to approach this would be to leave accrediting off the table, and pick 5 bottom end RA schools and 5 top end DETC schools, and simply ask, not referencing accreditation at all (to keep from tainting the experiment) which of these 10 schools would you accept a degree as a credential from. This opens the door for better results I think.

 

Had not read this far, but to my point above.. this, I believe, should be a test at the margin..

 

This is what I have found to be the case at many schools. One might be able to negotiate anything. I've negotiated requirements at a few of the schools I attended and was particularly successful at Purdue. If the first "guard" at the school doesn't agree with you then go to the next one. The next one might allow it.

Bing

 

I don't understand this. We've seen many situations where degrees from nationally accredited schools are catagorically excluded. That's what this discussion--as all others on this topic--is about.

For example, you can't qualify to teach for UoP based on a master's from a DETC-accredited school, any DETC-accredited school. Please show an example where degrees from DETC-accredited are accepted, but degrees from RA schools (as a group) are excluded.

 

I didn't say DETC accreditation was hurting people. In fact, I explicitly stated that DETC schools make higher education more accessible, which can only be a good thing. I was responding to AviTerra's point, which was that while lower-tier RA schools insist that graduate applicants have RA credentials as a method of elevating themselves, if you only had the GMAT scores, you could get into HBS regardless of your undergrad degree. That simply isn't true, and my experience shows that.

What hurts people is pointing out the few superstar individuals who make the jump from an NA bachelors to RA graduate study or from NA graduate study to RA teaching and pretending that those individuals are the rule rather than the exception. Someone about to embark on a degree program with an end goal of graduate study or teaching at an RA institution will be much better served earning an RA degree. It can be done with a DETC degree, but it's a much tougher row to hoe, and people coming here for advice deserve to know that.

 

dlady, I think you have this backwards.

There are multiple situations where a degree from an RA school would be acceptable, but one from a DETC accredites school would not.

There are still plenty of companies that have, as a policy, RA only degree acceptance, as just one of many examples.

 

As you have stated yourself, there are some real cool DETC schools out there. The fact that there are no instances where DETC is acceptable and RA is not, should not deter anyone from choosing a DETC school that one has found suitable for him/her self as a result of researching schools.

There are RA-DL-for profits, in cases that I am personally aware of, that offer a level of education, service and personal attention that is INFERIOR to DETC schools.