Cleveland Institute of Electronics/World College

Why oh why are degreeinfo so against DETC degrees????? All you so called "experts" keep saying it's the worst, it's not. Why should I spend $1600 for a programming course at TESC, if I can do it for $300 dollars at a DETC university. I work for the Department of State, and i'm finishing my DETC, yes that's right, DETC accredited degree and after I will get a 40% increase in my salary once I have obtained that, and I will even get more money once i completed my DETC Masters degree. So please, why should I pay 30 000 dollars + a year, if i can get it at a reputable DETC college for under 5000. A DETC degree is recognised world wide. I have many friends that work in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. Many of them have a DETC degree, and it hasn't affected them at all, in fact, a DETC Masters degree has helped many of them to actually immigrate to other countries, based on their education. All they were ever asked is if it is accredited with the Education department of their country. That's it. So please, i'm sick and tired of people and "Senior Members" dishing DETC degrees.

 

I am a CIE student

I just finished my first 6 month semester at CIE.
It was a lot of hard work and your education is legitimate. A lot of the tests can be soft but, some are also very challenging. Some of the course work is a bit clumsy but, the confusion seems intentional to ensure you actually remember all the material rather than forget it a year or two after graduating. By making certain elements more difficult, you will absolutely remember the material for many years. I see some areas for major improvement but it's not a constant pattern from one lesson to the next. Just a few key topics stand out in my mind.
It's a crash course format in many ways and they cover a lot of material in a small amount of space when you start out. Overall the language is very clear and the lesson booklets are written by some very successful and well educated people who typically went to traditional colleges and have worked for big business and the military. Once you get beyond the little red booklets, you step out of the crash course format and the new, large booklets have a more relaxed, distinguished format. It feels like those red booklets exist to either make or break you because if you cannot get through the cram sessions, you won't be able to make the rest of the trip.

In this way, they take advantage of someone fresh out of high school with solid math and science who should cruise right through the material and walk out the end overwhelmed and impressed with how much they learned while taking those of us out of school and rusty deep into the caverns of our brains where we once studied algebra and physics to knock the dust off things and pickup where we left off.
Like I said, there's definite room for improvement on a few key topics but it's a brilliant method of education. It genuinely works if you can discipline yourself and make the commitment to a schedule.

I think any admissions board at a regionally accredited college familiar with their system wouldn't hesitate to accept your credits if you decided to pursue a bachelor's or even higher degree elsewhere. While this is a bold statement, these boards are full of bold statements based on nothing but conjecture. I have many years as a hobbyist in electronics and as the son of an electrician. I feel what I am learning in the Associates program is what a traditional college would cover in their 4 year bachelor's program. I have also read that a lot of the material in World College's Bachelor's program spends a lot of time covering the business side of being an engineer but I can not testify to this. This claim does however substantiate and explain mine. These teachers know many other schools and employers will frown upon their method and they want to produce engineers that really knock people's socks off with their existing knowledge and ability to adapt and learn quickly.

It's not a glamorous degree by a long shot in terms of class war.
You might not be taken seriously by big shot employers and have to prove yourself.
You may indeed have trouble getting credits to transfer to a regionally accredited school and again, prove yourself.
It is a useful college degree though and you'll find many college graduates managing JC Penny's or driving a truck for UPS that went to a regionally accredited traditional college because they so often get easy, worthless degrees in drama, fine arts, sociology, Phys ed. etc.

It's a technology degree in a country where hardly anyone is graduating from college with a viable education in technical fields. So much so that the Chinese are killing us in the electronic's market. I feel most employers are just happy to have applicants with degrees at all with the state of education enrollment and completion in this nation. Lastly, you sure as heck can't beat the cost!
I'll walk away with an associates degree, oscilloscope, analog meter and a few other core tools for about 6 grand. If any of the big 3 can compete with that, they would. I researched college accreditation for a couple years and it's nothing but more financial class war so some silver spoon born snob can turn their nose up at your education and documentation. In the end, anyone can cheat their way through any college as long as they can make the payments.
I believe we will see a tremendous change in the way National accreditation is perceived over the next 10 years anyway. As I pointed out, the nation as a whole is pretty unimpressive at turning out college graduates with technical educations in large numbers.

 

From my understanding CIE has an excellent reputation in the field. I would choose a school that has a good reputation in the field over and is DETC accredited over an RA school that is not distinguished in the field. Yes it is DETC accredited and you may have to work a bit to get your credits accepted but over 70% of DETC students do get approval. There is certainly a bias here against DETC by some. In the past it may be deserved, but with the present problems with several "Gold Standard" regionally accredited schools one has to question this bias.

Plain and simple, if it works for you do it. If you want to continue at Capella, then ask if they will accept your CIE degree (get it in writing). Several other schools are known to accept DETC degrees without a problem. Also there are schools that are part of HETA that are willing to look at credits from non RA schools and many are RA accredited. The only thing is that if you have a desire to teach in a university, a DETC degree will not fly.