How do you feel about your online college?

[alzee]

nobody should brag about exam cramming their way to a degree

Why not? Because it offends you?

Some of us aren't in this to learn the subject material, we're in it for the paper. Spending eight hours or more studying something to pass an exam that you could also pass in two hours of cramming is not worth bragging about either, unless you like bragging about how inefficient you can be.

[dfrecore]

so many times I've come on here and read a post where someone is bragging about how all they did was use the InstaCert flash cards the night before the CLEP and then went in and passed it easily - I think that if someone can cram some info and pass a class, then maybe they knew some of the material already, or else maybe a lot of it was based on common sense. I took Marketing & Management CLEP exams with 1 hour of study each, and passed. Was it because I'm a lazy bum who wasn't interested in learning something?? NO, it's because I already knew the material through work and life experience. My husband took the Cybersecurity & MIS DSST's cold one day. He said they were easy. Because he already knew the material. Why would he study if he didn't have to?

that actually pisses me off when I read that

hey, if someone wants to exam cram and forget everything a week after the test I guess that's their choice
there are plenty of students at "real" schools that do that too - yes, there are - so what's the difference? If people don't want to study and just pass the class, that's ok. Not everyone wants to be an A student and dedicate their lives to their studies - they just want that piece of paper so they can go out and get a job. The piece of paper is fairly arbitrary as well. Not every job that says they want a degree actually requires a degree, but they will pass up good people without a degree anyway. So it's not a 1-way street.

but I certainly don't think its anything to brag about

I would think someone would have enough intellectual curiosity to pick up a book or watch a couple of youtube videos - I can honestly say that some of the classes I took in college have not stuck with me at all. Some because the teacher wasn't good, some because the material didn't interest me. Do I have to be interesting in EVERYTHING the school says I should? Or can I choose to have other interests, and be a perfectly well-rounded individual in things that have nothing to do with anything I learned in school. They want me to be well-rounded in what THEY SAY I should be well-rounded in. I don't agree.

I realize people are busy, but are they so busy they can't watch a "crash course" video ? or read a "dummies" book ?

it's crap like that that gives independent study a bad name

I studied my ass off for the CLEP Intro to Psych even though I'm sure its one of the exams that's cram possible

brag about studying, brag about actually learning something, then brag about passing -- even if its just by one point
nobody should brag about exam cramming their way to a degree

I can't imagine getting angry over this stuff. It's not a reflection on you. You know what you did to get your degree, how hard you worked - don't let anyone else's experience taint your own.

[korben996]

A lot of interesting and thoughtful answers so far which have given me a unique perspective. I'm going to try to reply to all of you so it may seem like I'm jumping around a bit. A little background on myself, I'm 28 years old and initially went to a 4-year after high school which I promptly dropped out of after 1 semester and only now, 10 years later, am I trying to get back towards a degree. I'll be opting for a traditional local university as I live in a college town. The reason for this is because I'll have an Associate's finished from my local CC in just 1 year and I'll be able to transfer and obtain a Bachelor's and accelerated Master's online within just about 2 years with CLEP'ing a lot of gen ed requirements. Altogether I hope to pay very little due to many financial aid opportunities available to me including transfer scholarships, federal financial aid and a state fellowship program, for what otherwise would be about $50,000 in tuition. Again, the reason I posted this is I wanted to get an insider's perspective on online education and see if it would be an option worth considering.

It seems the consensus is that online education is significantly more convenient and affordable than traditional schools. I'm inclined to think you're correct in that many employers probably aren't aware of schools outside their state and/or don't care about the reputation as long as you can demonstrate you dedicated the time and effort to obtain a degree. For the majority of industries, it seems that more than anything your experience and skills are valued much more than what the ranking was for the school you attended. I suppose the only situations where a high-ranked school would be important would be for students who are attempting to get into competitive fields like law or medical specialties. Seems to me that employers in those fields would put a lot of value on the type of education you received. However this doesn't appear to be commonplace for most fields. Like dfrecore mentioned, most employers won't know or care about the difference between out-of-state schools. And like Outis mentioned, CLEP is similar to a traditional semester course in that they are both typically defined by the usage of a final exam to test a student's knowledge. I also agree that it's possible people can be deceiving themselves by doing the absolute minimum for passing CLEP exams.

Ndelcollo you have a fascinating background that I envy in a lot of ways. I wish I had the courage to just pick up and leave and move to a foreign country, if only for a while, to experience new things and speak foreign languages. Kudos to you for your dedication to education and enlightening others. I'm genuinely astonished you could get 72 credits for less than $1,000. $1,000 would be the equivalent of one 3 or 4-credit course at my university. The modern university system really is taking advantage of this generation's students with tuition prices what they are.

I do have a question for TrailRunr, you said:

"You didn't mention your age or background, but I think folks fresh out of high school should seriously consider a more traditional path involving community college and an affordable traditional 4-year school. I learned far less for my 2nd degree than my first."

Is this because of the networking potential of a typical university? You mention you learned more from your traditional 4-year than you did online. Why do you think this is? Was it the learning environment, the quality of the professors, or something else?

[cookderosa]

Hi, I'm a second-year college student and recently signed up for InstaCert to pass a few CLEP exams that I noticed at my testing center my university would accept. This will allow me to get about 22 credits which will put me on course to graduate earlier than I would otherwise. In fact just today I scored a 74 on my first CLEP!
[COLOR="#0000FF"]
Congratulations! That's an exceptional score. [/COLOR]

why did you decide to attend your online school I chose TESU because they award credit for teaching at a regionally accredited college in subjects that you don't have on a transcript. They allowed me to apply for 26 credits, which I received, and enrolled.

how do you feel about it and do you think it has/will help advance your career? Yes and no. I didn't need the degree for my career, so it really didn't matter. However, I did use it to get into grad school which did help my career.


What made you decide in an exclusively online school over a more typical university, especially with so many traditional universities offering their own distance education programs? I chose a traditional university for grad school. I also had an associates earned traditionally before I earned my AA and BA through TESU.


Do you feel as though you're cheating yourself out of an education by taking the "easy" route? If that were true, I should have been stung in grad school. In fact, I graduated in the top of my class, so there was no cheating, just a fast forward button. Not everything you do is necessary and not everything is sequential. I used ZERO of my US History CLEP content in grad school. I used a ton of my stats DSST exam in grad school. It was fine.


Do you think future employers will believe you did? No, while in the last semester of my grad degree (also online) I landed a job at UNC-Chapel Hill doing nutrition research. Of course they knew, I live in NC and my graduate degree was earned in NY.

Did you choose it because you just needed the diploma? Isn't that why everyone goes to school? LOL

Have you experienced or perceived any type of prejudice or received differential treatment because your chosen school is unorthodox? No. You overestimate what most people know about education, accreditation, credit sourcing and the like. TESU is a state university, and my degree is 100% regionally accredited and legitimate as if I'd driven to TESU and sat in the classroom. Testing out of gen eds is unorthodox, but considering the time and money I saved, I think it makes me hella-resourceful. That said, I am an adult, and have already got life experience under my belt. I think younger students don't need to be in such a hurry.


Do you think your degree is worth "less" than a degree from a regular state school? TESU is a regular state school. (see? people don't know nearly as much as you think. No offense)


Would you have preferred to go to a traditional public/private university? As an adult, it's about getting a degree. As a teen, it's probably more about getting life experience, so as a teen- yes.

I don't mean to be doubting anyone or their chosen path of education, I'm genuinely curious about this. I can totally understand wanting to avoid your average public university tuition of $10-20,000/year. TESU is $500 per credit, which is $15,000 per year. I didn't avoid that cost by choosing TESU, I avoided that cost by learning all the rules of the game and being more resourceful than the students walking in and paying rack rate. The folks paying $15,000 each year at TESU and I have identical degrees.

Edit to add: I realize this thread will devolve into a thread about clep-study-cramming-etc. in about 2 seconds, but let me add that most people ALSO over-estimate the knowledge required to earn college credit. I realize a teen isn't going to have a good handle on something like Macroeconomics unless they studied it on their own- but College Algebra? All day. Many teens have already moved onto precal/calculus before college- there is no reason they shouldn't go back and swoop up those credits. There are people who ALREADY KNOW what is on the exam without studying. (Analyzing and Interpreting Literature is another perfect example- it's just a comprehension exam, no study needed). So, as a 35, 45+ year old adult, is it really that unlikely that I can spend a few days studying US History 2 and passing? The exam covers content from my life - c'mon. In addition, Human Growth and Development teaches about pregnancy, stages of child development, lactation, etc. If I've got 4 kids, you can bet I've "been there done that." So the point remains that all people bring something to the table- whether it is life experience, previous education, an interest in something.... so for some people passing a 90 question MC exam isn't all that challenging. I, otoh, tried to teach myself French- that was a failure, but if I were from a bilingual family? Low hanging fruit. I think anyone here who has earned more than 30+ credits by exam has probably exhausted their supply of natural ability and has had to start studying.

[rebel100]

Hi, I'm a second-year college student and recently signed up for InstaCert to pass a few CLEP exams that I noticed at my testing center my university would accept. This will allow me to get about 22 credits which will put me on course to graduate earlier than I would otherwise. In fact just today I scored a 74 on my first CLEP!

In any event, after reading a lot of threads here I noticed a significant portion of the regulars here are graduates or soon-to-be graduates of online schools like TESU, COSC, Excelsior, etc. with a multitude of exams/classes under their belt from CLEP/DSST/ACE/etc. I have several questions such as why did you decide to attend your online school, how do you feel about it and do you think it has/will help advance your career? What made you decide in an exclusively online school over a more typical university, especially with so many traditional universities offering their own distance education programs? Do you feel as though you're cheating yourself out of an education by taking the "easy" route? Do you think future employers will believe you did? Did you choose it because you just needed the diploma? Have you experienced or perceived any type of prejudice or received differential treatment because your chosen school is unorthodox? Do you think your degree is worth "less" than a degree from a regular state school? Would you have preferred to go to a traditional public/private university?

I don't mean to be doubting anyone or their chosen path of education, I'm genuinely curious about this. I can totally understand wanting to avoid your average public university tuition of $10-20,000/year. I'm just intrigued since I see so many of you going the online route. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for your input!

I'll answer just for fun, not sure if you're sincere or just trolling. First I will turn it around on you, how do you feel about completing nearly 1/4 of your education with non traditional CLEP credit? Cheated? Is it really the "easy" route? What will an employer say if they learn you tested out of nearly 1/4 of your degree? Truth is that no one will likely ever know except you, and that is essentially true for most of us as well.

I think your nomenclature is flawed. I think you are asking about non traditional or alternative education rather than online. Online doesn't really carry much of a stigma as far as I can tell, and to deny it is the way of the future is probably a certain course to extinction. Most traditional Colleges and Universities offer online education in one form or another and many offer full degrees online...if the traditional schools are "all in" I think making a distinction that online is bad is really a moot point. If on the other hand your real issue is with alternative methods then we can maybe have a little debate.

To engage in the debate you need some background. CLEP was designed and sanctioned by the College Board, same folks that brought you the SAT's and AP exams. The boards stated purpose is to expand access to higher education. It is a consortium of some 6000 schools, and related organizations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Board So, at least in a round about way, the exams are sanctioned by Colleges and Universities. In fact one generally takes the exams at a member college and applies that credit to a member school (not always, but usually). So the problem with legitimacy is greatly diluted when you understand the foundation of the credit. Note also that schools are always the final determinator of what credit is allowed and where it will fit...sounds like this is the case with your school, you indicate that they take some but not all CLEP...just as the system was designed. Schools are also free to limit the number of allowed credits, Yale doesn't accept any CLEP, Harvard Extension School is the only member of Harvard University that allows any CLEP and they limit it at 12 credits, Florida Public schools limit you to 45, TESC to less than 117, Charter Oak to less than 114 (or is it 90?)...so schools run the gamut. Note to that AP varies as does acceptance from one school to the next even for credit earned butt in seat at a regionally accredited institution.

Imagine this for a moment, I don't know what school you go to, but I assume it is a regionally accredited institution. I doubt anyone would dispute the validity of your acquired in class credits...but there are numerous schools who wouldn't accept them in transfer. Harvard College, Yale, US Military Academies...all of these feel the students experience at their school is diminished by the acceptance of outside credit so they simply don't take it (in most cases, there is an exception to everything). Do you feel shortchanged knowing that much of your acquired credit is worthless at many other schools? You shouldn't, because it in no way diminishes your accomplishments, but the value is arbitrary when thought of in the abstract.

As it happens, I did make use of alternative credit in completing my degree. In my case however I went in with over 160 semester credits. They simply weren't the right credits to acquire a degree. many of my credits included stuff like pharmacology, how to intubate or gain venous access on a patient, how to shock a heart back into a normal rhythm, how to cut someones throat to provide them an airway.....but colleges see all of this training/education as lower level and not worthy of 300-400 level credit...so I had the wrong 160 credits. I had to rely on straighterline, two DSST exams, and taking online classes through Colorado State University Pueblo and transferring them back to Charter oak State College to earn my degree. All of those CSU-Pueblo classes were studied and completed in between calls while I was working on the ambulance. I had to support my family and couldn't deplete our meager family savings (my two kids were about to hit college themselves). While my partner slept I studied ethics in healthcare, operations management, human resources, and human geography of all things....human geography WTH will I need to know that for ...but it's a requirement. So in the end, sure kid, I will put my "school experience" my "easy route" against anyone's...anytime.

Since obtaining my degree from Charter Oak...which is a "State College' btw, I have been promoted three times and was accepted and subsequently completed an online MBA...my undergrad education served me, and continues to serve me quite well. Should anyone ever ask me, i will relate my experience detailed above...but here is the kicker...no one freaking cares! Most HR departments wouldn't know NA from RA State U from pudunk online college...The folks who interview you only have their own experience to relate to. When you say "college" they think of frat parties, or study group, a favorite teacher....or the inside of an ambulance. This said not to diminish the value, but outside of certain occupations (most occupations) and certain schools (few schools) where you went to undergrad has little bearing...what you studied and your grades may matter, but RA to RA the name over the gate has little bearing. (I will give extra points to those gatekeeper schools like the Ivey League, the MIT's, and the flagship football playing juggernauts that have strong alumni bases that can get you jobs), but a place like Chadron State, University of South Florida, XYZ State....please Thomas Edison State University, Excelsior College, or Charter Oak State College are every bit their equal on paper...for the most part it just doesn't matter.

I'll close with something that really will affect your future...borrowed money. I've no idea where you go to school, and know nothing about your finances...but if your borrowing money for the experience you may well be making a mistake. Student loans are a yoke of oppression. Owing significant money will drive your decisions on what job to take, where you can live, what else you can buy, how long you stay at a job you may hate, when and potentially to whom you marry, rather or not you can afford the life you hope to live. Alternative education eliminated this concern for me and in large measure is responsible for the brilliant way my daughters are completing their educations (a hybrid model where they maximized CLEP/DSST then relied on other methods like dual enrollment to complete as much as possible). Alternative education is a gift you can give yourself...good luck and congratulations on finding those 22 credits to shorten your stay and reduce your costs.

Best,
Rebel

[Outis]

Some of us aren't in this to learn the subject material, we're in it for the paper.

quotable gold hilarious

[sanantone]

I can't imagine getting angry over this stuff. It's not a reflection on you. You know what you did to get your degree, how hard you worked - don't let anyone else's experience taint your own.

I've been able to cram for social science and management-related courses because I already have a background in those areas. That's why I don't have to study as hard for MIS tests as I do for more technical tests. I've also been able to cram for biology exams, but I took pre-AP biology, anatomy and physiology, and health science technology in high school. Plus, watching programming and reading books and articles related to biology and medicine is an ongoing thing for me.

[Zachcleigh]

I attend a traditional school. University of Alaska Fairbanks. Well... I guess I should say: I will be attending UAF. The first day of my freshman year was supposed to be August 29, 2016. However, for significantly less than 1000 dollars, I am arriving for my first day of sophomore year on August 29, 2016, because of CLEP/DSST exams. Do I feel cheated? Hell no!
Why feel cheated about saving money and time? Why feel cheated about testing out of something you already know? Why feel cheated about not having to sit in a class room for months with a potentially terrible teacher who may teach you nothing or worse grade you unfairly.
I do not feel cheated, because I took it upon myself to saddle up and teach myself with the wonderful resources at my disposal. I do not feel cheated for saving on 10k dollars of tuition per semester. I do not feel cheated for potentially learning the material better, than if I had sat in a classroom.
CLEP/DSST/ONLINE PROGRAMS are amazing resources that are important tools for anyone trying to get a degree. Whether you have kids and don't have a lot of time. You may work. Be short on cash for whatever reason. You may be in highschool just looking to get ahead.
It's not cheating. It's utilizing tools of the 21st century to win, and win we shall.

[edwardfurlong]

I am only just starting with COSC this fall.

It's pretty much about time and money for me, I already have 120 credit hours from three schools, I will still need another 45 on top of that. I certainly do not feel bad about testing out of any GEC classes I am missing. I have taken my share of classes that seemed like a waste of time.

I think a degree will help with job prospects / promotions. I think the type of degree matters more than the school, for me a degree in information systems from charter oak means about the same as a degree in information technology from the local school. Both are pretty general degrees I wouldn't expect the local one to do much more for me. Only difference really is the local one would take 3 or 4 times as long.

[bluebooger]

Some of us aren't in this to learn the subject material, we're in it for the paper. ..

gee, I just can't understand why some people have a low opinion of online degrees /sarcasm

hey, everyone look at me !
I got a whole semester of credit with only 8 hours of study

hang that diploma up and display it proudly
you worked hard to achieve it LOL