Korean Job Discussion Forums

[barfomcgee]

Hi,

I hope no one gets angry and blames me for lowering job standards and all that, but I'm just curious.

In Thailand, I have a friend who purchased a "degree" from one of these online places. He paid about $600 and got a BA in Education without doing any studying, he even got sealed transcripts to go with it. In Thailand, he was able to get a work permit and correct visa using this "degree."

Now, I know it's pretty dodgy and it's not a real degree, but would this work in Korea? If not, what are the possible consequences?

Thanks for your help.

[Juregen]

Until they find you out.

[barfomcgee]

But what happens when they find you out?

[rawiri]

Fined and deported (paying your own airfare, or rotting in prison till you can get it). Big fines too.

[Saxiif]

Korean immigration is pretty incompetant, if they give you a visa in the first place the chance of anything happening to someone after that is very very low.

Wouldn't recommend it though, would probably only be able to get really sketchy jobs.

[TOMODACHI-KID]

"barfomcgee,"

Online degrees are a "dime a dozen." One who has one will only go so far, just for that very reason it is "online." I was going to go through that route once, but I was informed by all of the professors I spoke with--"don't do it."

On the other hand, it is a fast way to receive a degree, and it may be less stressful in terms of correspondence sake. I had a friend who had spent $600 on one of those. He had a difficult time in the USA getting a job. All in all, it may work for some people depending on the country they are working in. Once again, this is my subjective view. But I tell you that getting a real "Education" is a long process; that is, the in-class teacher, student experience.

[ThePoet]

It is important to clarify where this thread is going:

You are all discussiong the credibility of a diploma mill degree (no credibility whatsoever). Please do not confuse these fake degrees with online degrees or distance degrees.

Many brick and mortar schools also offer degrees by distance, and many universities that are distance based (such as Athabasca University, the Open University of the U.K. or Open University of Hong Kong) enjoy a long tradition of reputable, accreditable degrees.

These days, some schools are starting out as online universities. They have not got a longstanding tradition yet, but they have gone through the hoops and rigors of accreditation standards. They have begun developing strong reputations at this point (Northcentral University www.ncu.edu is a good example of this).

Rule of thumb here is if the price is too good to be true (less than a thousand dollars) and the workload is too good to be true (i.e. not even equivalency exams such as GRE subject exams), and the time factor is too good to be true (get your degree within one month of paying for it...then it is a fake degree from a diploma mill and it is not with the powder to blow it to H E L L.

Poet

[soju pizza]

The police in my town contact universities to verify degrees. Central police stations have foreign affairs departments and one of the jobs these guys have is verifying degrees directly from universities, which isn't really the case you're in, but when the cop goes to the website to check how to contact the school and sees the words "life experience", he'll know it's fake. Your degree needs to be from a university accredited in the same country it's from. The cops fax a copy of the degree and the registrar verifies it or says it's fake. Places such as St. Regis are known to immigration and to the police. If you get caught, you're in trouble. You would be taking a really big gamble with your life if you try it.

[Roch]

[barfomcgee]

Once the visa has been issued, will they actually double check the degree?

And, if a person is caught once in Korea, what exactly are the consequences? How much is the fine?

Thanks again for the replies.

[soju pizza]

Don't know about the fines, but I know they double check in this province and it's done by the police. The end result is you go home, after a few days in a detention cell and probably after a few million won in fines. This is first hand info.

[barfomcgee]

Would you be black listed and not be allowed to enter Korea again?

[fustiancorduroy]

From what I understand, getting caught with a fake degree means deportation. And deportation means a three-year ban from Korea, along with a several thousand dollar fine.