# online college vs college



## Feral sheep (May 13, 2011)

I have been thinking about trying some online college courses and possibly obtaining a degree. 

the thing that Im worried about, should i go down that route is, would the degree from online college be just as respected and same quality as a the typical college? would employers respect and honor the degree of an online college? 




if anyone can maybe offer some feedback on this, maybe you gone down this route or known someone who has, or considering it as well. I would appreciate it.


thank you all for reading and responding.


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## blit (Dec 17, 2010)

I posted this on another thread. 



99 others said:


> @WNelson @Cheveyo @Dupree @BUtheBabyUnicorn @Eiderdrown
> 
> As I stated above, I'm taking the online Stanford AI class taught by Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun. They both stated many times that their goal is to have a "Stanford quality level of education online." They recently posted an announcement on the site that they will have live talk with Sal Khan on the 9th. They will talk about what they plan to do to innovate the system and what problems do they foresee. Also, you can post questions and rank others' questions prior talk.
> 
> LINK: eduatgoogle's Channel - YouTube


-Thread

"Who here would love to get a CS Master's degree online, if it is of Stanford quality and only costs $2000 in tuition? Please reply." -Thrun via twitter

Apparently, they think a high quality degree online doesn't exists yet. I had several professors who balk at the idea. Personally, I would wait it out for some certain amount of time. I think it's worth the wait if you choose to go that route.


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## jay_argh (May 27, 2011)

Many 2 year community colleges offer online classes. Accredited and online and cheap. Best of three worlds.


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## Siggy (May 25, 2009)

I've taken online classes. I didnt like it, as I missed the real time discussion and face to face interaction with the teacher and my classmates. But I am an extrovert and I thrived on those things.


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## blkrbt (Oct 29, 2011)

I've taken online classes and I do like the idea that just about everything the teacher relates to you is written. I'm a visual person so this helped me quite a bit. If I see it, i'll remember it. I've had a really good experience with it. Do I think I learned as much? No. I do enjoy when the lecture professor will go on a rant about something whether its going to be on the exam or not. I did not get any of this from the online lecture. 

I found it easier to speak with the professor about questions or concerns. I generally don't work well with office visits because I'm just not structured enough for that. I like to take my time to write out my questions so I can see their flaws before the professor does. For the general masses it doesn't seem to matter to employers what kind of degree you have just as long as you have one. With that said, there are always people who look down on a "lesser" form of education. Unfortunately the online degrees do have a stigma of being diploma farms to some extent. I will say that all of my online classes were significantly easier but then again, most of the exams were multiple choice which I do well in. 

I have friends that are making 90k+ with the help of their online degrees, and know quite a few instructors of online colleges personally... It's really about if it is right for you... I think it's better for those who already have jobs and just want to pass some walls put up by their employers or looking to move within their current careers. If I were just starting out from HS, I would rather go to a class. Personally I think your quality of education is just going to be better.


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## jay_argh (May 27, 2011)

I'm trying to take a lot of my written work and humanities classes online at the moment. It is quick, efficient, and pretty constructive-especially with the discussion forums employed. They do require a bit of motivation...waiting till an hour before the assignment is due seems to be way more tempting when there is zero interaction with students/professor. Have to agree about the interaction being one of the intangible benefits of actually sitting in a classroom.

This is probably a personal learning difficulty on my part, but one thing that I've noticed is that it is an absolute slog to get through certain powerpoints/pdf files. Reading through them doesn't seem to make the info stick as much as hearing the professor and writing the notes. Reading off the laptop and then writing down the notes seems pretty redundant, but at least stores easier in my brain. One thing I sort of am surprised about is the lack of video lectures. I would have figured that'd be the way to go in online classes, but no-90% of the material is written/visual.


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## Promethea (Aug 24, 2009)

If you are going for an _online college_, then you need to find a non-profit school. The for profit ones are shitty degree mills and no employer will take your resume srsly if you have that on it.


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## Promethea (Aug 24, 2009)

Oh, also, make sure the school is accredited


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## sofort99 (Mar 27, 2010)

I like doing online coursework.

There are a few online schools that will work as clep credit banks. Then you just find the course you like and test out of it.

One school is even going to let me take a MIT open courseware advanced physics class (branes) online, and then proctor me on the test MIT provides for the class.

If you can think it, there will be somebody that will help you do it.


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## JDiNicola (Dec 1, 2011)

You have to do your due diligence before enrolling for an online degree. Most schools like University of Phoenix, Capella, Devry, Grand Canyon, etc., are all considered "diploma mills." These are schools that aren't taken seriously by employers because it is well known that they are not a legit institution and just give out degree to students without proper education. Try Post University in Connecticut. They do online programs and are accredited by the right administrations. Be sure to check out the accrediting association too. Sometimes they're just as fake as the schools are.


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