Top Tier DL Bachelor´s Degree

What is the top DL BA program in the US?

Is there any prestigious school that offers a BA totally online in the US?

I´m talking of B&M schools with good reputation. In Europe there´s the External Program of the University of London. Is there anything like that in US? First and/or Second tier schools?

In the US I know that Harvard has some courses online, but not the whole undergraduate degree.

What do you people think?

 

I think that most of the big state universities have some sort of Bachelors program available through distance learning. Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Wisconsin... Good luck trying to get some consensus as to which is the most prestigious.

 

I agree. IMHO, Penn state has the most prestigious DL RN to Nursing Bachelor
degree in the US.

 

Specifically, a BA in what? The question is a lot easier to answer if an area of specialization is what you're pursuing. Different universities do different things better than others, and as such, have better reputations in specific areas.

Also, as Kizmet said, good luck trying to get some consensus as to which is the most "prestigious".....you'll likely get as many answers as you do postings.

Dave

 

Actually, I'd rank the Penn State programs near the bottom of the pile.

The "Pennsylvania State University" actually consists of twenty-five distinct academic entities throughout the state. They all offer separate degrees and have separate admissions requirements - some which are not much higher than a community college.

The "World Campus" is not even associated with a physical campus - it operates on its own.

Sure, people from other parts of the country might not know the difference. But anyone around here will - and they'll ask about it. On the other hand, a DL degree from a school like Florida is just that - from "the" (one and only) University of Florida.

 

What is the most prestigious DL MBA program in the world? A degree that would shine like a big huge rock on the finger of a madame. A prestigious degree that would make a CEO say out loud, "diablo que intelligente!, vamos a llamar esta persona ahora mismo!!".

 

"Specifically, a BA in what? The question is a lot easier to answer if an area of specialization is what you're pursuing."

Good point.

I´m looking for the top BA in the business area (could be general business, business administration, marketing, etc...).

 

Drexel University is a regionally accredited, Tier 1 school located in Philadelphia, PA. They offer a 100% online BS in Business Administration. Drexel ranks #112 in the latest list of Top National Universities from US News & World Reports. The Drexel LeBow College of Business school ranks #99 on the USNWR list of top business schools in the country.

I am in my second term as a student in the Drexel online BS Psychology program. My only complaint thus far is that Drexel operates on the quarter credit system, thus it will take longer to complete a degree with them. Otherwise, my experience has been very good.

BTW, don't let the .com address for Drexel's online programs scare you. The .com site is just for the online programs. Students in the online programs are taught by the same Professors and Instructors that teach on campus and Graduates from an online program receive the same diploma as their on-campus counterparts.

So, perhaps Drexel is not the most prestigious school to offer degrees online, but they are certainly up there.



- Tom

 

In the world of "in-the-seat" bachelor's there are indeed some recognized "shining stars" such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, Duke, etc...

Nobody has ever been able to definitively establish which among those are "the best".

In DL bachelor's I don't think there are "shining stars" based on the same criteria. We (DL people) tend to concentrate on accessibility, cooperation, customer service, versatility, etc... and not on academic reputation.

Has anyone gone down the USNWR list of top national universities and checked each of the "top" 25 school's DL offerings?

 

US News ranks schools as "Top Schools" (upper 50%), "Tier 3" (from 50-75%) and "Tier 4" (below 75%). So technically, US News does not have "Tier 1" and "Tier 2" categories anymore. If they did, however, Drexel would apparently rank in "Tier 2", since it is located near the bottom (112 of 124) of the "Top Schools" category.

Drexel is a fine school, and it must be one of the most highly ranked pure DL BS degrees, but it would not be a "Tier 1" school as the term is commonly used, with respect to the US News rankings.

 

To say nothing of the leading liberal arts colleges, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury etc.

While it's easy to understand the appeal of the prestige schools, these matters can be a little misleading when they are applied to DL.

Prestige schools get that way by being extremely selective. Harvard has an 11% acceptance rate, Stanford's is 13%. And these schools' applicant pools are filled with impressive candidates. Once admitted, students attend full-time, on-campus, often with big-time financial-aid packages. The whole point of a "top tier" education is that it's intended to be a life-changing experience. At Cal Tech, 75% of undergraduates have composite SATs above 1460. 25% are above 1580. (1600 is a perfect score.) 98% of freshmen were in the top 10% of their high-school class. Faculty and peer interactions are intense, to say the least.

That's precisely the point. DL programs are typically open admissions. They usually don't emphasize grades or test scores. Most students study part-time and many drop-out without completing their programs. And just because the programs are DL, there usually isn't the same interactivity, stimulation and intellectual excitement that students encounter in the better B&M programs. DL students are more apt to be isolated lone-rangers off studying on their own.

That's not to say that DL is a bad thing. It's a wonderful opportunity, both for the adult contining-education crowd and for people in remote locations. DL is an entirely credible mode of education. It's just something that doesn't always seem entirely consistent with the "top tier" elite model.

 

I spent the better part of the afternoon looking over the webs of the USNWR top 25 national universities. The list that starts with Princeton and includes the likes of Harvard and Yale.

I didn't find a single DL BA/BS in the bunch. Some have extension bachelor's programs but not DL. Many have online courses (but not full degrees) and more than a few offer master's significantly online.

26-50 are next...

The question I'm asking is "what is the highest ranking (according to USNWR) school that has a 100% DL BA/BS/etc. available" understanding that this doesn't speak directly to the quality of the DL program but to the reputation of the school issuing it.

 

The University of Florida is a US News "Tier 1" national university (ranked #47), and it offers an online Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration.

However, there are significant limitations, which may disqualify it as a 100% DL program. First, the BSBA program only covers the final two years of the undergraduate curriculum; you are expected to cover the first two years at a Florida community college. Don't know if it is possible to get the first two years online. Second, testing is conducted exclusively at 26 proctored exam sites in Florida, which would make the program impractical for most out-of-staters. "Non-Florida students are welcome in the Online Business Program, but they will need to make travel arrangements to an established Florida test site up to four times per term per course to take exams."

 

just a little info on harvard, since I emailed with them recently:

The only two programs that may be completed entirely online at this time
are the Certificate in Environmental Management and the Certificate in
Applied Sciences. The Master of Liberal Arts in Information Technology
can be completed almost entirely online, provided students fulfill a
one-semester residency requirement.

 

I couldn't disagree more.

Penn State degree is a Penn State degree. It doesn't say "World Campus", or "Berks Campus", or "University Park" on the degree nor the transcript.

Nobody asks what campus it's from. Most Bachelor's degrees are not even available from most of non-University Park sites. Only a few of them actually offer the who 4 year program; most of the local campuses are only 2 year school.

If you have a 4 year or grad degree from PSU, it's assumed it's University Park.

 

Actually, every undergraduate campus in the Penn State system offers at least a few four year degrees. Yup, all nineteen locations (the other few are special purpose - graduate only, medical, law, etc).

I did not know there is no distinction on the degree. In my opinion, this really undervalues a PSU degree, especially since several branch campuses are aggressively adding more four year programs.

I anticipate University Park alumni to be up in arms about this soon and demand the campus to be placed on their degree.

 

The alumni will not care. It is all one big university with multiple campuses.

 

You don't think alumni will care that their university has the lowest admission standards of any in the US News top tier?