Ivy League online degrees

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by MedInformatics

Let me ask you brick and mortar guys this. If you had to choose to hire or work with a particular job candidate which would you choose: A recent college graduate from a brick and mortar institution or someone who has an online degree with six years military training, leadership/followership skills and/or real world work experience? The choice seems pretty easy to me but i'm curious to see what others would choose.

That's interesting - what you've done is narrow it down to an "either/or" thing, which isn't realistic.

I'll give you a personal example: I graduated from a brick and mortar institution in 2003 (I worked full-time, approximately 50 hours per week to pay my way through college), then worked for 3 years after college before heading off to law school. Now, I take law school evenings, four classes (at a lower tier one law school) and work 50-60 hours per week at a high stress job, while trying to spend as much time with my wife as possible.

While that may be somewhat of an exception, I know a great many people who have done the same thing, either in undergrad or grad school. I have classmates who work jobs as engineers, physicians, and in other professions, who have families, and who, like you, have done this country a great honor by joining the military.

I'll admit, I've formed my opinion without taking an online class myself. However, I've spoken to people who have taken online classes, many at solid colleges, and they had a variety of issues with the classes. They also said that they didn't take away nearly as much information or benefit as they did in a more traditional setting.

I respect your service to the country, and I understand what you're saying - but you also need to understand that not every "brick and mortar" student is a traditional student, so to speak, so the criticisms of the online classes go a bit deeper.

Originally Posted by Kevin

Not getting into the substance of this argument, but KSigKid is probably one of the smartest people I've encountered on an internet message board. You lost a bunch of credibility with that statement.

Wow, thank you - I really appreciate that.

[MedInformatics]

Well done, KSigkid. You and your friends are definately the exception...

Most guys I know really didn't work their way through college let a lone have a family and on top of it all you move around or deploying every year or so.

It's great that you could stay in one place and get your education but some don't have that option, which is why I think online classes are great. Think about it for your undergrad.. If you did have the option to take online classes and free up some of your time, would you have?

I understand as far as Law School goes and if I was into Law i'd go to a brick and mortar school just like you.. The fact you picked that specialty means you need to simulate trials constantly and learn the nuances of the court system before heading into the court room. Plus laws are always changing and the more robust your resume becomes the better lawyer you become.

There's a number of programs that I would never attend online courses for: Any Med School, Law, any sort of scientist, carpentry, engineering and probably some i'm forgetting. But when it comes to fields such as: Anything informatics related, management, education, arts and literature, english, MBA, BA, Healthcare Management, I don't mind it one bit.

They are all very challenging and very easy to expand on in an online environment because every problem can be solved in a number of ways. It's all about learning different methodologies and getting the basics down so you aren't lost when you perform your OJT. With specialties such as yours you can't really do that. They have to be ready to go out the gate with very little variance in their success rate.

This debate is all relative on ones experience and surroundings but with technology advances online schools have become just as good as brick and mortar schools as far as the learning aspect go for certain specialties. The part I wish I had more of was the comradery part. You can't really eat lunch with someone or hang out after school in an online environment so it's difficult to make lasting relationships. The good part about online school is that it gets you ready for nation wide business conferencing and interacting with a diverse group of individuals.

For instance, I have a group in my masters class that I would have never met if it weren't for online classes. I have a guy from France, a girl from India and a guy from Canada all in one group. It really gives you the opportunity to learn first hand from people in other cultures and broaden your horizons about issues abroad.

Either way you slice it, each type of University has it's place. If you're a hard working student you are going to get the same education out of either type and the same goes If you slack off.

Check this out, my buddy went to Penn State main campus and got all A's and B's in his B&M classes and then got two C's in his online courses (the only 2 he ever took). He thought they were much tougher because of the discipline it took to actually do the work without actually being in class.

I think we can agree on one thing, the opinions formed are generally subjective as far as online schools go. I've yet to see an objective response from a poster on the subject so hopefully we get one... Cheers!

Originally Posted by KSigkid

That's interesting - what you've done is narrow it down to an "either/or" thing, which isn't realistic.

I'll give you a personal example: I graduated from a brick and mortar institution in 2003 (I worked full-time, approximately 50 hours per week to pay my way through college), then worked for 3 years after college before heading off to law school. Now, I take law school evenings, four classes (at a lower tier one law school) and work 50-60 hours per week at a high stress job, while trying to spend as much time with my wife as possible.

While that may be somewhat of an exception, I know a great many people who have done the same thing, either in undergrad or grad school. I have classmates who work jobs as engineers, physicians, and in other professions, who have families, and who, like you, have done this country a great honor by joining the military.

I'll admit, I've formed my opinion without taking an online class myself. However, I've spoken to people who have taken online classes, many at solid colleges, and they had a variety of issues with the classes. They also said that they didn't take away nearly as much information or benefit as they did in a more traditional setting.

I respect your service to the country, and I understand what you're saying - but you also need to understand that not every "brick and mortar" student is a traditional student, so to speak, so the criticisms of the online classes go a bit deeper.



Wow, thank you - I really appreciate that.

[Thetagirl218]

Because of the stupid spammer who posted above me, I found this thread!

Before I went to university, I took college classes during highschool via an online program! I enjoyed they and they were challenging! Some schools, especially junior and community college (4 year colleges in FL) are offering the same courses you would find in the classroom online. I liked taking a mix of in class and online and it helped my work schedule a lot!

I don't know about the Harvard program, but many universities in FL such as FSU and UCF has complete Masters and even PHds that you can earn either online or at a nearby distance learning campus!

I am taking advantage of online learning this summer. I teach at a Christian school, and I have to earn some college credit in Bible. All of the local Christian colleges are very expesive, but I am taking a class online from a very well-respected Christian college for half the price. I am excited!

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Thetagirl218

Because of the stupid spammer who posted above me, I found this thread!

Before I went to university, I took college classes during highschool via an online program! I enjoyed they and they were challenging! Some schools, especially junior and community college (4 year colleges in FL) are offering the same courses you would find in the classroom online. I liked taking a mix of in class and online and it helped my work schedule a lot!

I don't know about the Harvard program, but many universities in FL such as FSU and UCF has complete Masters and even PHds that you can earn either online or at a nearby distance learning campus!

I am taking advantage of online learning this summer. I teach at a Christian school, and I have to earn some college credit in Bible. All of the local Christian colleges are very expesive, but I am taking a class online from a very well-respected Christian college for half the price. I am excited!

There are definitely some legitimate programs out there that make use of being online. As I've said, my law school offers online classes for one of its LLM programs, and I know there are some other schools that do the same thing. The programs are organized and conducted by knowledgable faculty members. Most of the ones I know of are supplemental programs - they're not "primary" degrees, as I would think of those degrees (like a BA/BS, J.D., PhD, M.D., or Masters), but supplemental programs (like the LLM, certifications, or the Bible classes you're taking). I still have questions about how effectively one could run a "primary" program online.

I also know, from talking to some of those faculty members, that teaching a course online is a big challenge. The schools that correctly utilize it are frequently tweaking with the setup.