Pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree Online

There are several questions most people have when considering earning a Bachelors Degree Online versus earning one at a traditional educational institution. Many wonder if employers will even consider an online Bachelor Degree in the same light. There have been many scams out there, and particularly online, that have given the “Online Degree” a bad name, however perspective employers will always have a hard time denying a familiar College name, or the Accrediting Institution backing it.

Ultimately, times are changing and many of your potential employers will have themselves earned a Bachelor's, Masters or even a Doctorate degree online, and or possible pursuing one at the moment. In fact it is considered the norm as “79 percent of corporate managers rated a distance degree ‘as good as’ a residential option in 2000 while fewer than 50 percent of corporate managers held this opinion in 1989″.*

Is an Online Degree Worth as Much as a Normally Earned Degree?

Choosing a Degree Online is much like choosing a degree on ground.
A degree earned online versus a degree on ground, one of the biggest concerns of people however it shouldn’t be. A degree pursued online today is much different as one yesterday. Today’s classes and curriculum online generally match those in the classroom. The most important thing to consider when shopping for an online program is the accreditation behind the school. For instance, most State schools and colleges in California are held to standards set by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges WASC, the standard accrediting body for most California Colleges. If you’re considering a Bachelor’s degree online produced from a school in California, WASC is the Accreditation you would want backing your degree.

One other thing you might be interested in is what your potential employer considers a good school, and that will typically be one that he or she has heard of. The approval rating of online schools rises from 80% to 90% “when the name of the institution offering the degree is immediately recognizable to the prospective employer.”

The most important part of your education however is the quality of your education, and only research can tell you if the degree online or on ground, is going to be the one for you. Heather Hamilton, a Staffing Manager at Microsoft* suggests that in addition to considering a school, one must decide if the skills acquired in the program “will prepare you for the type of work you would like to do.” In addition, how will these skills and the degree earned, “differentiate you from the masses of other folks that could be applying for the job”.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 1st, 2006 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Online Degrees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.