Online Degrees good for hire?

I heard many stories about online schools: "they are good, they are bad, they are accredited, yes, they count, no they dont count"...regardless of what is said about the online schools, how do employers or big corporations carry it out when hiring someone with an online degree? do they count? has actually anyone graduated from an online school and gotten a job?....





I asked a business owner about this...and his reply was:





"Yeah, by all the other suckers who paid their money to get a quick and easy degree for little or no effort. But, if you came to my office to apply for a job with one of those "degrees", I'd call the janitor to sweep you and you useless paper work OUT of my building. God Bless you"....





what do you think??

Online Degrees good for hire?
Unless the degree is from a nationally accredited school, it is not worth the paper it is printed on.





For example University of Phoenix offers on-line degrees that are properly accredited.





Most of these other schools "accreditation" is from some fictitious international organization and thus is bogus here in the states.
Reply:I think the best strategy is to go to a local college that you know is well respected and acredited, you can usually take a bunch of classes online but take a few classes in person if you can, most of your classes will be online but your degree won't show it.





Plus you could ask the college what their policies are, Do they distinguish between degrees earned online verses degrees earned by sitting through class? if so how many online classes can you count toward an "in-class" degree? Ask these questions because you might find that there is no difference between an online degree and an "in-class" degree so when you apply for jobs you wouldn't even need to tell your employer your degree was online.
Reply:Some people have the impression that online degrees all come from diploma mills. And some do. But anyone who makes a blanket statement like the business owner you quoted hasn't bothered to inform himself.





Many respected brick-and-mortar institutions now offer online degrees. I'm doing my master's online at Penn State. My diploma/transcript won't note the fact that I never set foot on the campus because it's not relevant. I'm meeting Penn State standards on my coursework, and that's what my degree will show. So your business owner wouldn't even know I earned an online degree unless I volunteered the information.





CUNY (City Univ. of NY) offers an online BA. Someone here referred to U of Maryland's program. Boston College, Notre Dame, Indiana State, Northeastern and Northwestern, and many more also have accredited online programs. (See http://www.elearners.com/colleges/index.... for about 100 more.) These "name" universities aren't risking their reputations by churning out "quick and easy degrees". Any employer worth working for has the critical thinking skills to know that.





I work for a large university (yes, one that offers an online degree in addition to its face-to-face programs). We recently interviewed and hired someone with a distance master's degree from a respected institution for a tutoring center coordinator position. While the job has nothing to do with our online degree program, we felt her online experience was a plus: her experience will be useful as the university continues to evolve in the 21st century, not only with e-learning, but other e-services as well.





About that business owner, all I can say is that when you talk to employers, remember you're not the only one interviewing. You are showing them if you're worth hiring; they're showing you if they're worth working for.
Reply:I think they are worthless.
Reply:Well, it all comes down to the competition for the position. If you have two applicants - one with an on-line degree and one from Harvard, who would you hire?
Reply:Employers couldn't care less about degrees from ANY source. They care about what you KNOW. HOW you learned makes little difference. Many employers would rather find a good PERSON and do the training in house.
Reply:Depends. Who I hire someone who took classes from "Boris College Online"? Probably not. University of Phoenix online? Probably. Depends on whether they are well known for reliable degrees.
Reply:I think you wouldn't want to work for that jerk anyway!





The vast majority of companies will accept and even think highly of a online degree provided that it is from accredited school. I have half of one (still in progress) from the University of Maryland's distance learning program. Everyone I have dealt with thinks it is great because not only is it just as good of an education but I am completing it while working and raising a child. It tells them a lot about priorities and responsibility.





I have to work much harder in those classes then I ever did as an undergrad at a traditional college.





Besides degrees are the least of what an employer looks for. They are far more interested in you work experience, references, and accomplishments at previous employers. They would much rather hire someone with an online degree and excellent recommendations and relevent experience then someone fresh out of any traditional college with little to no experience.
Reply:Online degrees count as much as any other. All crediable schools have online programs and it is especially convient if you are working at the same time. These degrees take just as much effort and time. And on given days with some programs you are still able to meet with class mates. It was totally inappropiate for someone to tell you otherwise.
Reply:I hear unless you bring it up they won't know. It be a good idea to just say that you went to the school. I find it funny how the people with money and time, are able to go to school get more respect then the people who struggle to keep their family together on the beans the call a paycheck. Go to school online and get dismissed.
Reply:I agree. I think that unless the online coursework came from an institution that didn't solely exist on cyberspace then I'd not give the person as much credit.