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Online degrees

Rilescat

Senior member
Good day all,

Do any of you have a degree from an online college? Do your employeers treat it differently? Has it helped you in your job or career?

Bachelors? Masters? Recommendations for Schools......or suggestions of ones to stay away from?

Thank you for your assistance.

 
i'm kinda curious about this myself...i wouldn't think it would be held in the same regard as a paper degree from a real campus...but i'm not really sure
 
I'm not going to lie, if I was a manager hiring people, I would very much treat an online degree much differently (read: worse) than a paper degree. But that's just me.

--Mark
 
i have no related work experience and am not an employer.

I'm one of those stupid college kids who thinks getting a degree from regular college is only way to go about things.

So I'm gonna go ahead and say, the university of phoenix online is not something you'd want to put on your resume.
 
my advice: be careful when choosing an online university (and search these forums for accredited universities)

you wouldn't want this to happen to you. 😛
 
Originally posted by: SaturnX
I'm not going to lie, if I was a manager hiring people, I would very much treat an online degree much differently (read: worse) than a paper degree. But that's just me.

--Mark

i also agree with this sentiment.

my reasoning is that there's a lot more teamwork at a face-to-face level. at a job, you'll run into similiar situations with coworkers, especially if you work as a team (and chances are, you will). i think regular interaction and attending classes is almost similiar to going to work, and that itself is good.

i have a friend who does computer work full-time at home. nothing is wrong with it, but he's distracted all the time since the internet is at his fingertips and he has nobody to look over his shoulder to make sure he's doing his work. i've had my fair share of trying out online courses (not in a university capacity, however) with the same result.
 
Ebay Technical Institute... j/k

I think it depends on the type of online college. If it's an online correspondence type program from a recognized institution, that's fine. But an actual online college is iffy - most of them probably don't even have proper certifications to issue diplomas 😛.
 
Originally posted by: SaturnX
I'm not going to lie, if I was a manager hiring people, I would very much treat an online degree much differently (read: worse) than a paper degree. But that's just me.

--Mark

What is the person has experience? Take myself for example, I have 5 years at IBM, 10 years in IT. I now am a network manager at the Mayo Clinic. However, I have no degree. Would you still look away from someone with this type of experience and an online degree?
 
Originally posted by: Rilescat
Originally posted by: SaturnX
I'm not going to lie, if I was a manager hiring people, I would very much treat an online degree much differently (read: worse) than a paper degree. But that's just me.

--Mark

What is the person has experience? Take myself for example, I have 5 years at IBM, 10 years in IT. I now am a network manager at the Mayo Clinic. However, I have no degree. Would you still look away from someone with this type of experience and an online degree?

i must ask you the obvious question: how old are you?

employers expect the younger generation to have a college degree. you can have 5 years of IT support, but they won't hire you if compared to someone who has the same credentials (or similar) but also went through 2-4 years of college.

you'll still see decent jobs available that state on their job apps "college degree preferred, but not required" but i think those job opportunities are growing smaller as time continues and educational opportunities are becoming more widely available.

i really don't know if an employer would treat someone from an online university more differently than someone who didn't get a degree at all. the online university probably gives the individual some smaller advantage, but having a real university degree would make all the difference.
 
this is beside the point, but

I watched a Nightline / Dateline (not sure which) special on this "Hamilton University" - it was also an online university which awarded degrees to approx. 10,000 people. Some of them only had to submit one 10-page paper to get a degree!! LOL!
 
Originally posted by: Rilescat
Originally posted by: SaturnX
I'm not going to lie, if I was a manager hiring people, I would very much treat an online degree much differently (read: worse) than a paper degree. But that's just me.

--Mark

What is the person has experience? Take myself for example, I have 5 years at IBM, 10 years in IT. I now am a network manager at the Mayo Clinic. However, I have no degree. Would you still look away from someone with this type of experience and an online degree?


Personally, if you had that experience under your belt and NO DEGREE, I'd respect it more than if you had some online degree. Again, that's just me.

Also, age is important, like mentioned about, the younger generation is more/less expected to have a degree, but given your experience you sound older, so in my mind you'd be treated differently (read: experience means everything)

--Mark
 
Originally posted by: meltdown75
this is beside the point, but

I watched a Nightline / Dateline (not sure which) special on this "Hamilton University" - it was also an online university which awarded degrees to approx. 10,000 people. Some of them only had to submit one 10-page paper to get a degree!! LOL!

Yeah, I watched that too. lmao!
 
Originally posted by: tami
Originally posted by: Rilescat
Originally posted by: SaturnX
I'm not going to lie, if I was a manager hiring people, I would very much treat an online degree much differently (read: worse) than a paper degree. But that's just me.

--Mark

What is the person has experience? Take myself for example, I have 5 years at IBM, 10 years in IT. I now am a network manager at the Mayo Clinic. However, I have no degree. Would you still look away from someone with this type of experience and an online degree?

i must ask you the obvious question: how old are you?

employers expect the younger generation to have a college degree. you can have 5 years of IT support, but they won't hire you if compared to someone who has the same credentials (or similar) but also went through 2-4 years of college.

you'll still see decent jobs available that state on their job apps "college degree preferred, but not required" but i think those job opportunities are growing smaller as time continues and educational opportunities are becoming more widely available.

i really don't know if an employer would treat someone from an online university more differently than someone who didn't get a degree at all. the online university probably gives the individual some smaller advantage, but having a real university degree would make all the difference.

26 years old. The problem is that I am 2 hours from the closest brick and mortar college (Univeristy of Minnesota).
 
if you plan to pursue employment in that particular geographical region, i suppose it doesn't hurt to get an online degree for lack of other options. employers there would understand -- but not if you relocate and seek employment elsewhere.
 
I know people that have them. It really depends where it is from. In some cases, the education from an online degree is better than at most colleges. If you do want to pursue one, it is adviable to seek out a reputable and longstanding institution, rather than an online only one.
 
DeVry is supposed to be less laughable than most of the others.

I've sorted through resumes at my current and previous jobs for hiring software developers, and I'd rank a degree from a random online university down below (or maybe equal to) a 2-year associate degree from a real community college. I'd rank real work experience higher, though of course experience plus a 4-year CS or CE degree puts you at the top of the pile.
 
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