Which college would be your choice - balancing reputation/perception - cost - time

[esh]

Have read through a ton of posts in this great forum.

My question is in the hopes of having an 'on point' conversation about your choice of college if your balancing 
- reputation/perceived value to employers/opportunities
- time
- cost
In that order.

Of course each of is making this decision based on our own situation but if we would put the value perception/name brand issue at the top of the list, what schools would you consider?

Just want to be sure I'm not excluding a school.

degree area would be liberal arts or general business.

Thanks!

[nyvrem]

Imo it depends on your age, and where in your career you're at right now.

if i was in my early 20s and my career is still undefined, i would probably look into Northwestern or Penn for 1 of their online undergraduate degrees. Both allow you to transfer in half the credits, so completing a degree would still cost 45k. If you qualify for pell grant for 2 years, you might be able to lower that fee to 35k (of course this means spending the next 5-10 years to pay it off) I would focus on a STEM area to maximize my earning potential (eg, Data Analytics or maybe Information Management). Alternatively, you can probably consider 1 of the big state schools, eg, Arizona State, University of Florida (they really cheap for instate, like $125/credit hour).

If I was established in my career, in my 30s, and getting some company reimbursement, and I just need a degree for promotion, UMPI or NAU with their cb programs is prob the way to go.

[ss20ts]

This will vary dramatically. Every region is different. Every industry is different.

If money is no object and one can get into and handle one of the Ivies, why not go for it? Of course they don't offer every major that exists.

A liberal arts degree is a liberal arts degree. Unless you're on campus networking, they're all pretty much the same.

You need to figure out if you want to go down the ACE credit path and only complete a handful of credit at the school like TESU and EU or a CBE program like UMPI or WGU.

[Alpha]

Many people on this board believe that reputation, etc. doesn't really matter much.  If you can put a check mark in the box then they're satisfied.  The time and the money are the priorities.  TESU or UMPI will get the job done, even if they don't turn too many heads.  Where I live you need to go Ivy League if you want to attract attention.  So with that said, maybe you should look at HES
Harvard Extension School | Earn a Degree or Professional Certificate

[dfrecore]

For a Liberal Arts degree - go wherever. As long as a school doesn't have a bad reputation, you're fine.

For a business degree, I'd probably look for a nearby local state school with a good business school and lots of internships available. But if you're going online, then honestly, I don't think reputation matters.

[Flelm]

In my opinion, you need to start with your goal. What do you want to achieve? Not the degree, that's how you get to your goal. I mean what kind of career do you want? What types of companies do you want to work at? Where do you want to live? If you have real, solid answers to those questions, that should guide you to the type of degree and school you should aim for.

I went to TESU to get a degree. I didn't do it to network, to tap into an alumni network, to have a prestigious name on my parchment, but just to get a degree. I was well-established in my career, I had a manager title, I had an industry-standard certification, but I was missing that piece of paper and was missing out on interviews due to it, and every interview I did get I needed to address that issue. My goal was to continue my career in its current trajectory, so any Bachelors in Business would have succeeded in that.

It's the same reason I'm going to HAU now for an MBA. Right now, I don't even need an MBA for my short-term goals. However, I could see that in 10 years, it might be necessary. Again, I'm not going to network or do any of that other stuff, so my options were a local school that was at least a little well-known, or the cheapest degree with at least a neutral reputation I could find. I looked at Eastern, HAU and Walden for these goals, and settled on HAU for the price.

If I wanted to do investment banking, or work for a big 4 firm, etc., I would have made vastly different choices. And I would be a different person.

[bjcheung77]

In addition to what has been mentioned, you really need to review your previous posts/threads.  One from a couple years back and one just recently.   8/27/2020  Link: Big Brand Name Schools and last week... Link: WGU - faster to just do it all there - or - Sophia/Study.com???? - In short, your focus is on the undergrad, where as you should focus on what is required for admissions to the Doctorate/PhD program.  Simple - Hit all the requirements and more!

The reason is this, you've got a Masters in the UK, you're looking at getting a Bachelors to bump up your application or to strengthen it for admissions.  You believe a better undergrad will get you into the dream Doctoral/PhD program of your choice.  Well, that's LOLX3, Learner Over Load, Learner Over Look, and Lots of Luck.  I think you're going overboard with searching for the "best" undergraduate program, when you should be deciding on the one that checks the box.

Here's an example of a member, DeanLewis, finished Masters, Doctoral and come back for Bachelors and Associates.  There was not once they worried about recognition, reputation or anything else, getting it done is the main requirement.  Getting the prerequisites is much more important than the school name.  You need a full package application, what will strengthen it would be to display your certificates, degree, experience, and anything else that is required.