Have any of you wonderful ladies done online degrees?
I've taken a semester of online classes at my previous college and I wasn't a huge fan of them. They seemed oriented for older, returning students. That is probably because at my college you had to be a certain age and been away from school for a certain amount of time to even be considered for the online program.
I don't have a choice in finishing my bachelors online. I want to finish my bachelors before my husband is out of the Marine Corps, so by March 2013. If I can do the normal 4 or 5 classes a semester I should have no problem finishing by then. I have my associates already and 2 semesters of classes after that.
Unfortunately I know it's more difficult to take on that many classes when it's online. I'm trying to look at all of my options and get advice to see what the best plan is.
I have looked at a lot of online colleges and colleges that have online degrees and as of right now I think my best option is Kaplan University. They are extremely accommodating to military families. I get 10% off of my tuition and all of my books paid for. They have an advanced start program for people who already have their associates which makes it easier and faster to get your bachelors. Some of the other great features are that you don't have to pay the application fee until you know you are accepted. Theres a 5 week conditional "test drive" of the program. You take your classes just like anyone else but at the 5 week mark of your first semester you can decide that it's not for you and withdrawal completely from the university without any financial obligation other than your application fee.
The classes are 10 weeks long and Monday-Thursday with a 1 hour a week seminar where you have to be online with your entire class and teacher. Other than that 1 hour you are free to log on and off whenever you want and your only obligation is to do your work and hand it in.
The University is quarterly instead of using semesters so you can apply every month and can apply 2 months in advance before starting. I really like this feature because I can really start when it's convenient for me.
With the 10% discount I would be paying $371 per credit hour. That is before applying for scholarships or financial aid.
The advisor I talked to was absolutely wonderful. He didn't pressure me into attending and was really all about having it be about me and my time. He was extremely helpful and informative and made it feel like this really might be a great place for me to finish my bachelor degree.
I want to know from people who have taken online classes if this sounds better or worse than your experience, how many classes you would recommend taking at one time, and how much your college charged before scholarships and all of that.
Also any other advice or info would be great!
Thanks!!
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What degree are you seeking??
ReplyDeleteI have attended many a college....and many of them online. I attended Ashford U for awhile and then changed degrees so I went to a school in CA where it was online and I also took classes at the actual campus. Right now I am attending Grand Canyon University for my Masters, I don't know what the undergrad prices are but at Kaplan that seems like a pretty good price. And will the deals on books and the faster track to your BA it seems like a great choice! I have never attended an online school where you were required to attend at a certain time for a 'class meeting', so I can't really say how that would go, but if you are sure you would be able to attend those sessions it shouldn't be a problem. I think that taking two classes would be easily doable and if you are really, really motivated you could take three, but it would consume all of your waking moments! Last year I did my BA in 18 months by taking two to four classes at a time....I really wanted to finish! Good luck!
Thank you so much for posting! I wish that I could attend college at least partially in person but with the baby and where I'm located it's impossible. I was thinking that 3 classes would probably be my max, possibly 4. I did 5 classes but dropped one because I couldn't comprehend accounting online lol. I didn't think 4 was too awful BUT that was one school and this is another.
ReplyDeleteOh, I am getting my bachelors in Business Management.
I managed my bachelors with some online and some regular classes. I did it through Drury University, which we had a local branch of. I took all the classes I knew I would have trouble with, math and such, in class, and all my fun electives on-line. I had no issue with it.
ReplyDeleteThe master's program I did was all online. The school was a traditional school that added online classes. It was hard since I was a single mom at the time and working full time, but I did it in the 2 year requirement. There would have been no way I could have done it in a regular class setting around work and a 2 year old.
And you have to remeber that babies make everything harder, including finding time to work on classes!
ReplyDeleteLet's see.. Since I've started my college journey back in the fall of 2006; I have attended Art Institute Online, Copper Mountain College, Germanna College, and Northern Virginia Community College. Yes, I know that is a lot of schools, lol.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is going to start National University- online. It is a traditional school; however, their campus is in California. I am thinking about transferring (and staying) to them, because they offer a fast track program where you complete a class a month. They go consecutively throughout the year, and you can complete 12 classes a year. If you do well in the first three month, you can request to add more classes to your load.
This is great, because you don't have to be stretched thin with 4 to 5 classes all the same time. You can focus one class at a time, and overall you complete more per year.
Just a thought! (And I don't know what you, but I like fast track classes!)
oooo. I really like the idea of one class at a time and finishing one class each month. I'm going to have to look into that. Thank you so much for sharing :-)
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