Degree through distance learning - anyone done it?

[Jewel1310]

My company has very good tuition reimbursement. I have a mgmt position as I have worked up through the rants at another company and have excellent experience, but no degree. I would like to work towards a degree but would need to do it primarily remotely. I am most interested in health care mgmt.

Have any of you worked towards a degree from an acredited university that wasn't a "pay for diploma" type school? If anyone is interested in sharing their experiences I would appreciate it.

 

[LoraJ]

I am currently doing this. I work full time on swing shifts, so that makes it difficult to attend classes.

Out of high school I went to college for 3 semesters and dropped out to go to a trade school. While I don't need a degree for my current job, who knows what the future may hold. So I decided to go back to school and take advantage of the tuition reimbursement program through my employer.

I started off at University of Maryland University College http://umuc.edu/index.shtml. I started taking classes there 7 years ago because it was one of the few I could find with an online Communications program. I didn't really get into the online learning experience and ended up withdrawing from one class and was going to do the same for the other but forgot and ended up getting a D.

Around a year and a half ago I decided to try again. I took required courses they had on researching and college learning. That helped me out so much. I wish I had taken those classes 7 years ago. I would have been done with my degree by now.


I ended up switching to City University of Seattle http://www.cityu.edu/ this quarter because UMUC's communication program lacked in online courses for my field. CityU has a much better program. I am enjoying my classes a lot.

I think online classes are much more work than traditional. There is so much reading and you are required to participate. When I used to go to classes on campus I would barely pay attention. Here you really have to work at it. But it has been very rewarding so far. I used to be a C student, but I have been getting A's now. Not sure if I will be able to get an A in my algebra class, but so far I am not doing too bad.

Whatever school you decide on, make sure it is regionally accredited.

 

[teacups]

Hubby has his BA via a traditional school and getting his MA via an online U.
He works for a MAJOR computer co. and they value the online schools and pay for it. Agree with pp.... make sure its a good school. Dont go to Uncle Bob's online skool.

 

[ckret01]

From the age of 30 to 34 I went to school all online and finally received my AAS degree in Business Administration at a community college in NY. I can't tell you what an accomplishment that was for me. I plan on going back (possibly Empire State College) to earn my BA degree as it is required for the job I have now.

When I first started taking classes online I felt very overwhlemed and scared but within a few weeks it became second nature for me. Like the previous poster mentioned you have to participate a lot more then in a traditional class room setting. And you have to be desciplined as far as doing the work. Because you are not in a class room listening to a lecture you have a lot of reading to do, assignments, test, quizes, and participate in discusssions.

Going to college online was the only way for me to earn my degree. Most of my professors had a schedule of when assignments were do ahead of time so I would work that into my own schedule and make sure I completed them ontime. For example one of my classes the preofessor always had assignment that needed to be done on Mon, Tues and Sat. So it allowed me to juggle the rest of my days during the week to complete the assignments. And most of my classes I had to at least log into my class 3 times a week and participate in discussions.

Once you get the hang of it , it is really a great way to earn your degree. Good luck to you if you decide to go this route. Let me know if you ahve any other questions, I would be more then happy to answer them.

 

[Jewel1310]

Thanks - this is great information. I don't mind the extra work. Fitting it into my schedule would be worth the extra investment and effort.

Thanks!

 

[LoraJ]

You could even just start off by taking one class to see how it goes. One thing that I love about cityU is that they make all of the course details available to you so that you get an idea of the work load for every course. My advisor suggested I take the requirement course for my major core classes, but when I saw I had to write a paper every other week I decided to hold off since I have a trip planned next month and didn't want to fall behind.

At UMUC, they didn't show you the course guide's but when you declared a major they put you into a club and there you could discuss upcoming courses to determine what your workload would be.

I am hoping that I can continue with 2 courses a quarter. I'd love to be done in 3 years.

 

[MyManGoofy!]

I am an admissions adviser for an online university. Be sure to check their accreditation. You are looking for regional accreditation over national.

I believe that someone has mentioned that going to school online can sometimes be more difficult than a traditional school so be sure to ask them what kind of support they provide for this format.

Also, be sure that they are listening to you regarding what you want in an education and not just "selling" you a program, kwim?

Please feel free to pm me if you have specific questions.

 

[Jewel1310]

thanks mymangoofy and others. Let me look around and I may take you up on the PM offer.

 

[Gina]

I started my degree back in '83, but never finished. In 2005, I decided that I really wanted to finish it -- not for any specific career, but to set a good example for my son. And for myself! I've been a student at West Texas A&M University since then. It's important to choose a school in your own state, unless you're rolling in the dough -- out of state tuition is insane.

I agree with the others who have said that online classes are much harder than on-campus classes. It's not that the work is harder, it's that you are so much more responsible for making sure YOU have stuff done on time. There is no hand-holding. Plus, you have to learn to be sooooo good at distraction-management. I have to concentrate and focus on a quiz I am taking, even when my son is wailing away on his electric guitar, the phone is ringing off the hook, and the cats and dog are reenacting last week's WWE episode on the floor behind me. You develop a mental "cone of silence." LOL

One important thing to look for in a school is a commitment to non-traditional learning. A school can offer a few random classes online, but that's very different from offering whole programs and support systems. My entire degree plan (Bachelor of General Studies) is able to be completed online at WTAMU. I know friends who have had to take a few classes here, and a few classes there, and they were very frustrated at having to piecemeal their degree together.

I FINALLY graduate in December, and I am so excited. Good luck to you!!

 

[Jewel1310]

Congratulations Gina - that is great news!

 

[rt2dz]

DH earned his MBA online. His school is a real, bricks and mortar school. I actually have a very good friend who went there for her BS. This school just happened to have distant ed classes. DH took all his classes via distance education; most people do a combination or all "in-person".

It was a lot harder for him to do it online than in-person. There were support systems, but since it was a "real" school, most were when he was working. There was after hour support, but not as many choices/times. It took a lot of dedication, self-starting, and willingness to find help yourself if there were questions. We had another friend who started an MBA at the same time and he spent a considerable less amount of time working on his MBA since he was there for classes and could ask questions as he went. There was a time that we were on vacation at WDW and DH would go down to the lobby of the WL and work from 11 PM to 1 AM to complete assignments.

On the up side, he graduated from a tier one school with a high GPA and employers have loved what the abilities that completing degree online shows. It really was the only way he was able to do it; his job at the time required quite a bit of travel and dinner meetings when at home.