I graduated from college w/ my bachelor's in 2001. Now after 6+ years of working full time, I'm considering to take my master's (career not going where I want to go). My GPA wasn't so hot, so I'm worried if anyone will accept me and my outdated education or make me retake courses. With my full-time gig, I want to do the online degree, but not sure if it would be as credited as going to a regular university. Any advice? Degrees: MIS and Marketing
you should at least apply to a university for a master's degree and if you can't get in anywhere, then get an online master's degree has a last resort.
Do you mind telling us what your B.S. is? I have a humanities degree and work in I.T. ... I might go for something in the IT industry, but not many of my undergraduate classes may transfer... EDIT: I mean, I don't think I can use my humanities degree for an IT Masters degree, but I will try... I think I might do EDUCATION. Meh, who cares...
You have to choose and focus on one thing. Education or experiences. In IT, you will likely to success with excellency in one of those. You should either work hard to have success at your work, or work hard to get into a good graduate school. Don't try to get a half-ass degree, it won't help you that much.
There are many colleges that don't distinguish between an online degree and one earned in their classrooms, at least as far as the classes required and how those classes, etc. are noted on the transcript.
Have you looked at executive Masters programs designed for full-time working people? they usually have classes on friday nights and all day saturday... that would probably be a more preferable route then an online degree... when i used to hire folks at my old job - whenever i saw any type of online degree - i would throw the resume out.
I know several people who are doing / have done online masters programs. While there does seem to be a stigma against them, I have actually been very impressed with what I've seen as a third-party. It seems that for most of the courses, they basically give you a ton of homework, and that's the course. You just complete it on the schedule they provide, turn it in, and that's that. They have resources you can use to help you, and they have tests at certain intervals. But the people doing the courses seem to get a lot out of it, and they really do a lot of work. It's not just a "pay the money and get a degree" sort of thing. Now, everyone I know who has actually done an online masters degree has done so not with the intention of getting a new job, but either trying to get a pay raise at their current job (teachers usually get paid differently with a masters degree vs. just a bachelors), or trying to learn something to help further the career they're on. In your case, you'd probably be better off going the more traditional route, but I wouldn't be as quick to dismiss online programs as worthless.
If you're thinking about getting an MBA, you're better off with a part-time professional program. The wife of a friend is finishing hers up at Rice and got a fat job from TI making 100K+. Of course, the degree is mighty expensive as well. But online masters degrees tend to be pretty pricey themselves.
U of H offers their entire Masters program online. From an employer's standpoint it is exactly like earning a traditional masters degree, you just take the classes online.
I agree. Alot of state universities offer online programs that are the exact same programs as in residence programs. When they award you a degree, it is the same for all students. Thus on your resume, the potential employer will never know if you did your masters online or not. I personally think you have to be more dedicated to be an online student since no one is really there to motivate you along.
