USNews.com online bachelor's degree rankings

[Ladyplf]

I agree with sanantone. TESC is a decent school with a good tuition plan, has a decent online learning program, and here in NJ has name recognition. When I wore my TESC t-shirt to work once, several people stopped me in the hall who were either attending, had attended, or knew somebody who attended the college. It's nice to meet alumni and know that you are a part of something unique.

This also proves that it is important to do your own research when choosing a program because what feature may be important to one student may not be important to another. Price, location, degree choice, and method of learning all have different values to different people.

When I chose TESC it was because I was familiar with the school and how they taught the subjects and I wanted somewhat of a college experience and fellow student to chat with. Other people may just want to put their nose to the grindstone and knock out their courses as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible. So to me those ranks don't really mean much. I would always choose the school that fit my needs best.

I will say this though, when I was at TESC the "mentors" left a lot to be desired. In fact one course I took I dropped because the mentor was so tough she gave everybody an F on our first assignment and criticized everything we said in the discussions but didn't offer any mentoring or guidance. So I bailed the class and later on a student contacted me wondering why I disappeared and he was failing too. So the remaining students got together and complained and got that mentor removed. You could tell she had no respect for online learners and treated us like crap.

No need to feel bad for TESC, expecially considering that it has a lot more students than COSC and it doesn't feel the need to gouge students on tuition (Excelsior) and coerce them into taking ECEs and Excelsior courses. :p TESC managed to beat out all of the traditional colleges in New Jersey with their CPA passing rate a couple of years ago. The rankings are partially based on faculty credentials (TESC has mentors) and student support services (we all know that TESC has terrible customer service). But, to say that TESC was not ranked is untrue. Their rank was not published.
Methodology: Best Online Bachelor's Programs Rankings - US News and World Report

[sanantone]

I agree with sanantone. TESC is a decent school with a good tuition plan, has a decent online learning program, and here in NJ has name recognition. When I wore my TESC t-shirt to work once, several people stopped me in the hall who were either attending, had attended, or knew somebody who attended the college. It's nice to meet alumni and know that you are a part of something unique.

This also proves that it is important to do your own research when choosing a program because what feature may be important to one student may not be important to another. Price, location, degree choice, and method of learning all have different values to different people.

When I chose TESC it was because I was familiar with the school and how they taught the subjects and I wanted somewhat of a college experience and fellow student to chat with. Other people may just want to put their nose to the grindstone and knock out their courses as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible. So to me those ranks don't really mean much. I would always choose the school that fit my needs best.

I will say this though, when I was at TESC the "mentors" left a lot to be desired. In fact one course I took I dropped because the mentor was so tough she gave everybody an F on our first assignment and criticized everything we said in the discussions but didn't offer any mentoring or guidance. So I bailed the class and later on a student contacted me wondering why I disappeared and he was failing too. So the remaining students got together and complained and got that mentor removed. You could tell she had no respect for online learners and treated us like crap.

As someone else said, I don't think any of us chose any of the Big 3 because of their rankings. None of them are ranked in any category that matters to employers or even graduate schools with the exception of TESC's MSN program. Even then, the MSN program is ranked in the 200s.

WGU's students are almost completely self taught. I have issues with how US News ranks national and regional schools mostly on reputation, but there is no way I can tell someone with a straight face that WGU provides a better education than Rutgers. WGU is probably better at delivering online programs because that's what it specializes in. IIRC, the online program rankings also include student loan debt. WGU is cheap, but do any of those things really say that WGU is better than Rutgers or any of the other schools ranked below it? How about return on investment? Some of the more expensive colleges have a better ROI.