Korean Job Discussion Forums

[funknut]

Hello, everyone! I have a question for anyone from the United States. I know this might seem appalling, but does anyone know of a good, accredited online college or university for getting a Bachelor's Degree. I currently have an Associate's degree and was wondering if anyone have any ideas on earning a Bachelor's degree besides going back to the US.
Any helpful comments or advice would greatly be appreciated. Thanks!

[Koreabound2004]

online degrees are worthless....save your money and rep and go to a real institution

[The Man known as The Man]

I would not be so quick to dismiss Athabasca university.

[Koreabound2004]

[thepeel]

I disagree. There are a variety of reasons that one would work on an online degree. I am considering a masters via Deakin University as I have the time to do it now, but don't want to take another whole year off from work. I suppose you might have a few 'rich' kids who do it cause they can't get in anywhere else, but I there are so many universities that it seems that even the worst students can find acceptance somewhere. But, it is true that a 'normal' degree would likely be better, all things considered.
BTW, I have done some research on this, and the program that I would be taking will allow me to gain acceptance to PhD programs in Americaland, at schools such as FSU, for example (provided I do well, of course). I think that lends some cred to the degree.
In the end, I think you really have to read up on the various accreditation agencies and who recognizes what accreditation and so on.

[Scott in HK]

I did my masters by distance through Deakin and I agree that there are lots of reasons why people take distance course. The first obviously being distance...half the people taking courses with me were people who were in Australia but couldn't get a major city to take their courses.

Another reason is time...I was working full time as were all my classmates...

Finally there is money...not the cost of the course but the cost of giving up employment while you take the course...I have a wife and two kids and there was no way I could take a year off to do my course...

There are other reasons. My study was very practical...the courses I took were related to things I was doing in class...it was really useful to take ideas from the papers I had read and used those ideas in class.

Distance degrees are not useless. Mine helped me get a good uni job here in Korea...and really enhanced my knowledge about teaching and that knowledge has made me a better teacher.

If you were doing your degree for academic reasons...you wanted to go on to do a PhD, then on campus degrees may be the way to go. You need to make the connections with advisors...but those of us who simply wanted to learn more about our chosen field...the distance degree is quite a good way to go...

[Chillin' Villain]

I guess I'm kinda biased, cuz I'm in the middle of their program, but the University of Birmingham's TESL/TEFL Distance MA is pretty solid (expensive, but solid)... You've gotta submit a whole whack of stuff to get accepted, there's a dissertation to write, and you can switch to on-campus for the last half or the dissertation part of the program. I've been in contact with all sorts of people who have used the degree to get pretty sweet positions in universities around the world, and many of them are now working on their PhDs....

Furthermore, if getting into a Korean uni is your sole goal, it certainly doesn't hurt. Most schools'll put your resume into the "Interview" pile for simply having an "In-progress" distance MA on your CV (worked for me!).

I realize a lot of 'em are degree mills that hand out MAs for barely any work of quality, but there are certainly some viable options out there for people who can't afford to take two to three years out of work.

[fusionbarnone]

If you want to find a good university online go to degreeinfo.com. There are so many sham outfits out there, it's easy to get taken in. You can investigate any university in the world through this outfit.

In addition, the Discussion forum can be very helpful(you'll be surprised how knowledgeable this mob is so fire your questions away). and, if you want an online brawl with multi-multi-lettered ivory-towerites, you'll get that too. Makes it hard for me to face my saturday-night's-alright-for-fighting email add sometimes.

If you would like to transfer credit(including a degree of life experience), check out the top three like Excelsior University, which is one, that will award credit and is regionally accredited as well.

As a side note;there's an article about one guy who did his degree in 6 weeks this way. The article is in the "articles" section on degreeinfo's homepage. Need I say more.

There is a an even "more" interesting article about another guy who's mapped out the fully legal procedure in reducing work required for a degree to an absolute minimum of cost and time. And, I mean minimum.

I think your question is valid. If I'd known the things I know now, I would never have paid US$500.00 for a no name tesol cert. Probably could've reduced the four degree study time/cost as well.

As to the two examples mentioned, they(the two guys and one gal) have proven you don't have to stress, go broke, and graduate ten years shy of a codger's retirement home, to git that thar ploma. Think outside the box.

Good luck.

[ThePoet]

[turtlepi1]

[Koreabound2004]

If all these online schools are so great, you wouldn't feel the need to defend or justify them...if they are good, their rep should speak for itself......


And the reason they have so many students attending is due to the fact that they will admit anyone with a pulse and money....and there are a lot of folks out there with those things....


You can discuss it here till you are blue in the face, but you will never convince me of their value...

[thepeel]

[Chillin' Villain]

[ThePoet]

[Koreabound2004]