Education Articles from College Matching Service

Just like a job interview, applying for an online college can be nerve-wrecking. By meeting some basic application targets, you’ll position yourself as the ideal applicant in the eyes of many online colleges. But, don’t forget to check with your chosen college’s applications counselors. Knowing their specific requirements is the best way to ensure that acceptance letter makes it to your mail box. Here are some tips for preparation:

Extracurricular and professional activities. Online schools may not offer a vibrant campus life, but they do want students who will make a difference in their own communities. Volunteerism and leadership are particularly important. If you’re a mid-career professional, let the school know about your achievements related to your field of study. Whether you’ve spent your Saturdays at an animal shelter or run a successful internet venture, don’t be afraid to toot your own horn.

Well-written essays. The application essay is your chance to let your personality show through. Online colleges are looking for articulate, thoughtful essays without grammatical mistakes. Let a professional proof-read your essay and offer suggestions. But, don’t let your voice get muted. Admissions officials want to “see” who you are by reading your essay – authenticity counts.

Stellar recommendations. Online colleges also want to know how other people see you. That’s why many programs require several letters of recommendations. When deciding on recommenders, choose people who know you well. Some colleges ask that recommendations remain confidential – if you’re not sure that person will give you an excellent recommendation, don’t ask.

Applying to an online college can be particularly nerve-wracking. It can be difficult to know what your chosen program expects, especially if you don’t know anyone who has “attended” the school.

Some online colleges have relaxed admissions guidelines (i.e. everyone who applies is accepted, assuming they have a high school diploma or its equivalency). Other online programs are very selective and only accept the best of the best.

Most virtual colleges fall somewhere in the middle. They’re looking for students who meet basic benchmarks such as a reasonably high GPA in previous coursework and well-written application essays. Being aware of these benchmarks ahead of time can help you prepare to apply.

A successful academic record. Online colleges want to know that accepted applicants will succeed in their classes, without any face-to-face encouragement. Applicants who have high grade point averages in previous high school and college-level work show the most promise. Many virtual schools set minimum GPAs for incoming students. If your GPA is particularly low due to unusual circumstances (your aunt died and you adopted her child, mid-semester) make note of it somewhere on your application. Lower GPAs are sometimes overlooked when the applicant demonstrates other strengths.

High test scores. Whether they require the SAT, ACT, GRE, or LSAT, your online program wants to test your current knowledge and your ability to learn. There are many test preparation programs and books available to help you study. If your first score is too low, you may be able to take the exams a second or third time.

The first week in an online class can be a little disorienting. New students must learn to navigate a virtual “classroom,” interact with their peers and professors without actually seeing them face-to-face, and balance their assignments with their everyday lives. These tips can help you succeed in your online class from the moment you begin:

Determine if you’re in over your head. Take a look at the course requirements and your personal schedule – then, decide if you can really handle the workload. Can you balance the course work with your family and career? Are the required assignments at your level? Are you really dedicated to finishing the online course? Too many distance learning students enroll in online courses and drop out after a month or so. Don’t blemish your record with an “F” or a “W.” If you decide to dropout before your online school’s withdrawal deadline, you can usually get a full or partial refund of your tuition, as well as a clean record.

Buy any required texts. If your online course requires textbooks or other materials, buy them early so you won’t fall behind on your assignments. Don’t feel that you have to pay full price at the online school’s bookstore. There are plenty of ways to get your required readings at a fraction of the price.

Update your computer. Check the course syllabus to see what software or hardware you will need. You may need to install programs (such as Acrobat Reader or Real Player) in order to access the multimedia components of your course. Using this week to make sure your computer can run the necessary programs will save you from being surprised when you’re under a deadline.

Introduce yourself to the teacher. If you’re in an online course with a lot of students, the teacher may never get to know you unless you take the initiative. Use your online course message board or email your teacher with a brief introduction. A teacher who knows a little bit about you will be more likely to help you through the course (and be a little more lenient when it comes time to dish out grades).

Participate. Sometimes it’s difficult to jump in and participate in online class discussions. But, don’t hesitate. Speaking up early will help you establish yourself as an active member of the course. You’ll start to make new friends and will end up with a better grasp of the material.

There are certain questions that students ask when looking for a good online program:

How is the course presented?

Investigate the method by which the instructor gives lectures. Does the instructor simply put the lecture online as text? Are there accompanying slides? Is there any interaction? Is there video or audio? Are exams given? How are assignments turned in? The format of the course is sometimes as important as the content. Great content is more easily absorbed if it’s done in a dynamic and innovative manner that involves interaction between the student and instructor as well interaction with the content itself. Online learning technology provides many opportunities for innovation. Find a school that takes advantage of it.

How do students interact with each other?

Is there an established method for interaction and congregating? Online programs can use chat rooms, instant messaging, teleconferencing, and video conferencing to communicate. The key is to find a program that has this interaction built into it and even requires it. How the online community functions should be very important to both the instructor and the educational institution.

Are the instructors qualified?

Check out the credentials and degrees the instructors hold, as well as their knowledge of online learning and its differences from classroom learning. What kind of support do the instructors get for their online courses? If technical problems arise, is there someone to turn to? A school that is dedicated to its online programs will have the development staff and the support staff to make it successful. Instructors (and students) have to be able to adapt to changing technology.

The big question in everyone’s mind is, “Is an online degree from an accredited college or university seen by potential employers as a lesser degree?” The jury still seems to be out on this. On the plus side, the IT fields appear to place more value on online degrees because of the nature of the work itself. As would be expected, human resources (HR) professionals tend to place more value on degrees from established universities rather than virtual universities they’ve never heard of. A career network Web site did a survey of 239 HR professionals and found just that. According to the results, which were released in February 2001, 77 percent of respondents believe that an online degree earned at an accredited institution like Duke or Stanford is more credible than one earned at an Internet-only institution.

Here are some other findings from Vault’s study:

Twenty-six percent believed that online bachelor’s degrees were as credible as traditionally earned bachelor’s degrees, while 37 percent believed that online graduate degrees were as credible as traditionally earned graduate degrees. This perhaps follows the idea that people seeking graduate degrees are doing it online because it’s their only or best option due to current job demands. These people may be seen as more driven and self-motivated.

The most commonly cited drawbacks of online education were the lack of social interaction with peers (61 percent), lack of data about the effectiveness or quality of the education — it’s too new to gauge (53 percent), and loss of real-time teacher/student exchange (39 percent).

The three industries most likely to embrace online degrees were Internet/New Media (70 percent), Technology (46 percent), and High Tech (44 percent). Media and Marketing (29 percent), Telecommunications (29 percent), and Consulting (22 percent) followed.

The three industries least likely to embrace online degrees were Medicine (68 percent), Law (56 percent), and Health Care/Bio Tech (52 percent). Academia (44 percent), Government (22 percent) and Finance (18 percent) followed.

In response to the escalating cost of higher education, many people have begun questioning the value continuing their formal learning beyond high school. Questions as to whether the high cost of tuition, the accumulation of thousands of dollars in debt, and the opportunity cost of choosing college over full-time employment weigh heavy on the minds of those who are wondering if the investment will be worth it in the years to come. The expense of high-priced tuition and other college fees poses an especially significant threat to families living on a low-income, already struggling to make ends meet. In an effort to decide whether or not higher education is actually worth the investment, facts regarding the value of higher education and the rates of return on the investment both to the individual as well as to society should be examined.

Taking into consideration the monetary problems people interested in further studies face, new alternatives for formal education has come about. One substitute for going to regular universities is through taking up a formal degree in the internet. Online degrees are specifically designed for aspiring career professionals and working adults who want to further their education without placing their career on hold. There are many colleges and universities that provide a large variety of continuing education, associate, bachelor, master and doctoral degree programs that can help you achieve your personal and career goals as quickly as possible. These online degrees not only help people acquire the type of education they need without the disruption of their careers, but they also provide extra convenience to those who don’t have enough resources to be able to afford the commute of going to and from the school.

There are many fork roads that challenge everyone in life. Upon and when you are taking online classes requires just as much time and effort as class on campus and there are some new twists for most of us. To see if online classes are right for you, you have to know if first you are the type who likes independently. If the answer is yes then definitely you will have lots of time for yourself because you will be working at home and relying on yourself for the answers so it really is a plus for learning and depending on your own but some what hard at first because there is no one there to support you first hand.

Online classes can work for any student, just as a physical, onsite classroom with face-to-face instruction can work for any student, but we all know the quality of the “fit” with a particular instructor or a particular class environment varies. In this type of actuality, the tendency is to rely more on the teacher or the professor instead of figuring out and identifying the pro and cons or cause and effect of things and reasoning behind the answers and solutions. The plus side is that you will have a growing urge to learn on your own and grow independently from the help of others which is really quite good. When I say some one who will support you first hand, what I mean is an actual teacher or a professor that will literally and physically show you what to do and where to get the answers from.

Before enrolling in any online college, its safe to make sure we research first on the university that is providing it. All reputable schools will be very open about their accreditation. Accreditation also shows you that the school is regularly audited for admissions, financial aid and education policies and practices and as a good and reputable as a requirement of accredited college, all online instructors at an accredited school will need to have minimum qualifications and relevant life experience in order to teach the classes offered. Accountants and Auditors (CPAs) Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), help to ensure that the nation’s firms are run more efficiently, its public records kept more accurately, and its taxes paid properly and on time.

What more can one ask for when having to learn this type of degree online or what we call an accredited college. They perform these vital accounting functions by offering a wide array of business and accounting services to their clients. Like all things about the Internet, there is a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly out there. So how do you find that excellent educational experience and distinguish it from a lesser one? All top-quality online degree programs will have the following as essential components of their school. The first is accreditation by a recognized, national educational authority in the US is an essential. These services include public accounting, managerial accounting, governmental accounting and internal auditing. One type of accredited college is an Online Accounting Degree, which prepares you for a career in the detail-oriented accounting and financial management fields.

When you say ideal, usually the first thing that comes to your mind is something useful and convenient. When it comes to getting an online bachelors degree then you get the usefulness and the convenience right at your own home. Getting a bachelors degree online is now much easier due to improvement in the personal computer and internet/communication technologies. You can now access all the course work provided by your chosen university via email, Internet, discussion forums etc. Getting a bachelors degree online has been very successful over the past few years for those who are unable to go to school full time and at the same time want to have good career growth. This is your chance to earn a bachelors degree online in the program that matches your passion and skills.

Select from online bachelor’s degree classes either a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in accounting, art, and business management, to communications, technology, education, and more. A bachelor’s online degree generally lasts four years with your choice of major and minor areas of study. Earn your bachelor’s online degree from the convenience of your home, work or even while traveling. You won’t find much difference between an online bachelor degree and a regular campus bachelor degree, so it is ideal for students who are working or have family commitments. A bachelors degree online is recognized all over the world regardless of whether it was earned online or in a traditional classroom setting. They do not demand any stringent commitment to specific times.

An online bachelor degree program will also allow you to earn a living while you are studying. Because there are no time restrictions, you are free to do what you like and take your own time to finish the courses. You don’t have to travel or relocate to study for your bachelor’s degree. There is absolutely no reason for not choosing an online program.

It is very fast and quick to get an online graduate program. This not only helps people get jobs right away but it helps people get jobs even during their enrollment in the program.

The two-year associate degree is your fast track into the workforce. With accelerated options that allow you to graduate in as little as 18 months, online graduate programs prepare you for entry-level positions in business, healthcare, design and more. Transfer your credits to a bachelor’s degree program later for career advancement. The standard requirement for most of today’s professional careers, a four-year bachelor’s degree provides critical thinking and communication skills in addition to career-specific training. Take your career to the next level with online graduate programs. These two-year programs generally require a bachelor’s as a prerequisite, and they build on that general knowledge to help you develop specialized skills in technology, medicine, education and much more. Increase your earning capacity with a master’s degree online. Study from the comfort and convenience of your own home, whether you’re learning a new language, taking a business class, or getting your bachelor’s degree.

One of the best things about online education is that you don’t have to make a major commitment in order to enrich your life and your career. With the latest in interactive technology, online college courses make it easy to get the education and training you need to succeed. Interact with classmates and faculty around the world, work on your own time, at your own pace, and complete a degree, diploma, certificate program or single class that enriches your life and your career.