Once you have decided to earn your degree online, selecting a program is usually the first critical decision you make. There are so many types of degrees available online, which one to choose, how to select, sometimes making it confusing and hard to decide. This article will give you some guidelines to get you started.
Decide An Area of Interest
There are a few ways to get a start in selecting an online degree program. You could look within a traditional discipline such as history, art, literature, or psychology; or within a professional/occupational area such as engineering, nursing, or education; or simply related to an area of general interest like family studies, the culture of Italy, or environmental issues.
Most online degree programs offered by colleges or universities have their catalogs customarily organized by department, division, or school. Hence, once you have decided on an area of interest, you could start looking and asking for the related online degree programs from these colleges.
Type Of Degree To Earn
What is your educational goal? Are you looking for an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, a master’s or doctorate degree? Each type of degree has its own pre-requirements in admission. An online master’s degree program may require you to have a bachelor’s degree to qualify for the program and an online doctorate degree may ask for a master’s degree for qualification. Some universities do give credit for life experience so that you can waive for certain pre-requirements. Whether you are looking for an associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D., you can check the pre-requirements to your selected online degree program from the school’s web site.
Go for Specialization In Your Field
For many people, it may be helpful to think of the specialization and then create an appropriate field of study around it. You should feel free to make contact with academic advisors at the schools you are considering and seek answers to all your questions. For your own benefit, it is important to ensure that your school is committed to explaining these elements completely and the school understands your need to fully comprehend the curriculum development.
The Ability to Transfer Courses
Another point to consider in your decision in selecting an online degree program is the ability to transfer courses or larger program segments from one institution to another. Not all universities will allow you to transfer all of your credits into their program. Often there are ceilings – six credits or two courses are typical at the graduate level. For undergraduates, the allowances are more liberal and can be as much as 75 percent of a bachelor’s degree program. You may want to go for an online degree program that can accept the most on your credits transfer so that you can accelerate or complete your degree faster and save some money because fewer credits are needed to complete the program.
In Summary
Selecting an online degree program is your most critical decision to make, spend time understanding your purposes of earning a degree and considering other factors such as your interests, your career goals, and your education budget. These will help you to narrow down your scope and finally choose an online degree program to enroll in.
Note: This content was curated from a third party.