Ivy League Online

I think that both of you have made excellent points. Of course, I've been saying that about online degrees for years, especially that the term online university is an oxymoron. Obviously, I'm willing to cut some slack for online programs at brick-and-mortar universities, but if I knew that a school specifically called a program "online" right on the diploma I'd walk away from them very fast.

At the very least, based on the diploma pictured in this thread, Wharton is treating its online students as second-class citizens. With what Wharton charges, they should not have that right.

 

Why even care? These are continuing education hours.

 

USC offers an extraordinary collection of online masters degrees. It's especially well known for DL engineering programs.

https://online.usc.edu/programs/

It's huge in LA. Very much a prestige institution there. I wouldn't be surprised if lots of USC engineering graduates are employed at SpaceX (designing spaceships!)

Does it matter what Ivy League students think? I'd be more interested in what the relevant professional and academic communities think. Employers, people like that. And that, once again, that's almost certainly more a matter of departmental reputation than where the school as a whole falls in the (increasingly meaningless) US News undergraduate rankings.

I wouldn't either in the natural sciences and engineering. (USC isn't terrible in those areas, just not exactly MIT.) But USC is almost certainly better than MIT in the arts and humanities.

I just looked in my old 2015 US News rankings issue (the one that's on my shelf, I don't buy them every year) and they have a ranking of undergraduate engineering programs at schools that offer doctoral programs in engineering. MIT comes in at #1 (Stanford is #2). USC is down the list a little ways, in a tie at #26 with Harvard, Ohio State, UC San Diego and U. Pennsylvania. So while not the utter tippy-top, it does seem to be broadly Ivy equivalent in undergraduate engineering. (In USNews' estimation anyway.)

 

Well, I was just responding to something that Lerner said and so since it's a thread about the Ivy League I guess it has some relevance. But you've made some good points and there probably are some people (strange, West Coast people) who would rather have a degree from USC rather than MIT. Now we all know that ranking systems have their faults and shouldn't be considered to be the last world on any subject but the Times rankings for 2019 places MIT at #4 in the world. There are 4 California universities in the top 20 but USC isn't one of them, so

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats

 

Master’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering
from Purdue University


https://www.edx.org/masters/online-masters-in-electrical-and-computer-engineering



#5 in Best Online Graduate Engineering Programs

$22,500
30 Credit Hours
Fully Online

 

perhaps not a big deal but we really don't need multiple posts on the same topic.

 

Not necessary, but it seems these top schools want to offer knowledge and credential that is separated from their prestigious brands. It just likes Guess and Guess Factory, or Armani and Armani Exchange.

 

I do not particularly like it when universities depict a degree as learned online. If you look at the Georgia Tech OMSCS degree, it does not state it was earned online (I saw one on LinkedIn). My MBA does not depict that it was earned online. These Ivy League schools, in my opinion, do not want to co-mingle their prestigious on campus students with their distance learning students.

I know my MBA is not from an Ivy League but I am thankful it mentions nothing about online. That’d make it look...ugly? LOL

 

The fact is that there is a difference. It may not be a hierarchical one but it's different nonetheless. It's a difference in the delivery method. You may be worried that some people will conclude that the online version of a degree program is somehow "less than" it's classroom-based equivalent but we know that it is, in fact, equivalent despite the difference in the delivery method. These days, if someone earns a degree/cert while they are working it's almost a certainty that it was done online, regardless of what the actual piece of paper says (or doesn't say). And anybody in the position of hiring knows it. To me it's just not a big deal. We've had some fun conversations here about "Who has the best looking diplomas?" and the question of whether it says "online" (or something like that) on the actual piece of paper seems to be a critical issue for some. You're entitled to your opinion but to me it's just not important.

 

The diploma is rarely asked to be presented for employment tec.
But its the displaying of it in the office or home that people take pride in their achievement. And nobody wants to hear "Oh but it says online?"

Well with videos like this - SNL ;-)

 

None of my diplomas include the word "online." However, the marksheet for my Indian MBA says Center for Online & Distance Education while the transcript says School of Commerce and Management. Either way, none of these matter because I only send my Educational Credential Evaluators' (ECE) report to interested parties.

 

This is not the case with University of Pennsylvania's actual degrees. They don't say "online" on the diploma. I don't know why anyone would care about a non-credit certificate program that accepts just about anyone. A lot of professional development is done online.

 

The University of Pennsylvania - https://online.wharton.upenn.edu/

Wharton On-Line offers programs.

Upon completion, you become Wharton On-Line Alumni

 

Those are not degree programs; those are non-credit, professional development programs. That's why they are accredited by a continuing education organization.

 

University of Pennsylvania has actual online degree programs. One is a bachelor's degree offered by the College of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. This is the only online degree program offered by LPS; the rest of the programs are on campus. Your diploma will not say online. Since this is their extension school, the tuition is cheaper.

Penn's other online program is the MCIT. It is exactly like the on-campus program, and the diploma does not say online. The tution is relatively cheap for an Ivy League school. The entire program is about $25,000, and it's not from a college of professional studies.

Wharton, currently, does not have any online degree programs. They offer online continuing education courses and non-credit certificates that really aren't that expensive.

 

That MCIT program looks enticing too. In a world in which technology is king, having technological education can carry one far. That said, if I wanted a computer oriented degree, I would choose Georgia Tech and their Online Master of Science in Computer Science program.

 

Pure brilliance (a rare feat for SNL these days) - I would call this video a must-see.

Remember my old line, "I have a non-profit RA Ph.D. - and you don't?" (Which, in itself, is a take-off on an old SNL line by Chevy Chase.)

Just for the sake of being obnoxious, I think I'll start using a new line - "You have an online degree . . . and I don't."

 

How's your non-traditional degree any better than an online degree?