# Online universities and the job market, would you recommend going to one?



## Biggusstickus (May 18, 2022)

Online universities is a cheap and more affordable to get your degree. Traditional colleges can just be as expensive, as they are lacking in space for new students, whether because of foreign students, or kids who we're picked because of the color of their skin filling said vacancy seats. And even if you get your degree, you might not find your new job as satisfying as you had hoped.

The question is which online universities are legitimate, accreditable and big companies like Microsoft or the Government will accept applicants from these online institutions. Some online universities like Purdue online are expensive, the other like WGU OWL programs have bad reviews from their former students. And you might have big companies look at your online degree and chuck it into the trash.

Would you recommend anyone go to online universities or online trade schools?

If so which online universities would you recommend people go to?

 And what tools can they use to see if said online university are legal, legitimate and accredited so they don't waste years and money like getting a degree from a traditional university they regret getting?

If you recommend people to go to online courses, what majors would you recommend them to take?


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## Fetish Roulette (May 18, 2022)

It depends entirely on the program. In general, for-profit universities are a grift, and you should stay away from any degree granting institution founded later than 1970 with some notable exceptions (if you really want to go to Liberty University, for example, you could probably get a job out of there). Taking online courses at a pre-accredited university, however, can be a cheap and effective way to gain marketable skills as an adult learner. Just be smart about it- if you attend DeVry University (or take their online courses) with any kind of expectation of getting a job out of school, you deserve whatever happens to you.


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## Uncle June (May 18, 2022)

It's very industry dependent. You'd want to look at whatever specific field you see yourself in and ask professionals in it what certifications or requirements a college/uni degree has to meet to be taken "seriously." This doesn't necessarily exclude online degrees, especially in some humanities (not that I'd recommend those). 

For example, as an engineer I had to go to a university that had a ABET accredited program. Essentially, it just means that ABET (the guy's that essentially are the end all-be all to the engineering market) have looked over the curriculum and deemed it worth of their blessing, so it's generally more attractive to potential employers. I know that a few ABET credited online degrees exist, but I've limited knowledge on them.

All in all though, experience triumphs everything, with the exception of some industries such as Healthcare and Law.  Your best bet would be to shadow or intern with a professional and not only see if the shit is for you, but what employers look for in the industry, in addition to getting experience along the way. 

Hell, I'd even say when you hit a certain point in most industries, you can a degree at damn near anywhere and use it as a boost to your career. Starting out that's likely not the case, so it may not apply to you, but keep in mind that not all jobs require a degree to get your foot in the door. 

But like the poster before me said, do avoid "degree mills." They generally have zero accreditation and exist only to sell education to dumb kids. They're pretty obvious, usually say that you can complete a degree in a year or some other stupid shit like that. Just do your research before committing to anything, but most importantly, TALK to people in your industry of choice. They'll know better than anyone, and hey, you'll even make a connection along the way. 





Also, instead of making three separate threads and clogging the forum, next time please condense them into a general advice/questionnaire thread. Not trying to be a dick or shit all over you, just hate clutter is all.


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## MaybeJaibait (May 18, 2022)

In IT, maybe. I’d prefer self learning from selected online courses by following a major university’s agenda while not paying a bazillion dollars. But since I have a degree I’m just learning new stuff from the interwebz.


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## The Cunting Death (May 18, 2022)

I'm doing online university for IT, and honestly its better that way. Yes their is still woke shit but its easier to filter out and bullshit your way out of it.


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## eternal dog mongler (May 18, 2022)

Uncle June said:


> It's very industry dependent. You'd want to look at whatever specific field you see yourself in and ask professionals in it what certifications or requirements a college/uni degree has to meet to be taken "seriously." This doesn't necessarily exclude online degrees, especially in some humanities (not that I'd recommend those).


Yeah, for example in medicine nobody fucking trusts online degrees. Well doing it for pre-med would be okay but there's no such thing as online med school, and nurse practitioners shit all over the other NPs who went to for-profit online schools because the latter are causing an influx of very, very unprepared workers who technically have the same credentials.


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## Just A Butt (May 18, 2022)

@Biggusstickus stop asking people to decide your fucking life for you, jesus this is like the 3rd or 4th thread you've made about this. 

be a man and make a decision, if you can.


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## Prophetic Spirit (May 18, 2022)

Just A Butt said:


> @Biggusstickus stop asking people to decide your fucking life for you, jesus this is like the 3rd or 4th thread you've made about this.
> 
> be a man and make a decision, if you can.


don't be so harsh with newfags, they're basically born yesterday


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## MrTroll (May 18, 2022)

Go to Kiwi University or don't bother.

Or Harvard. I guess Harvard is ok too.


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## Kosher Dill (May 18, 2022)

Any online university that's not a complete scam of a degree mill is nearly as expensive as a real university and takes nearly as long. Just go to the real thing or not at all.

If you absolutely must though, here's a sheet I found on Google for Bright Horizons EdAssist.


			https://clients.brighthorizons.com/-/media/BH/EdAssist/client-company/documents/Network-Docs/Network-List.ashx
		

That's one of those corporate "tuition assistance" benefit programs - in other words, this is a list of schools that _employers_ are willing to pay to help you go to. That is, they meet the bare minimum bar of not being a complete fraud. Filter it down on "Modalities Offered" to only ones that contain "O" if you want online programs.


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## Chocolate Wombat (May 18, 2022)

You need to take remedial English before you even think about going to college,  online or in person.


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## FFinfo (May 19, 2022)

IT stuff can be decent online. I wouldn't bother with an online engineering degree if it's not either from a brick and mortar institution's online school or grad school, though. Whichever you do, you'll need to study off-hours too, as the curriculum will not be as intense as a normal university. Or you can spend that time doing personal projects (assuming you're talking about programming). I know at least one L7 at Amazon didn't go to college at all.



MrTroll said:


> Or Harvard. I guess Harvard is ok too.


There's a funny bit of "drama" about Harvard's online degree programs. The Extension School was originally meant for working professionals that could still be serviced by Harvard, and it's a ~100 year old school and one of the 13 schools of Harvard (the eighth oldest, after the school of business and before the school of design). With the internet, they've become a lot more accessible but till damn pricey.

The fuss is that their admissions standards are different: For Harvard Extension School, you take 3 courses at Harvard (either presented in person if you're a Cambridge local or online if not) and must have a 3.5 GPA from the three courses for entrance. The classes you take are just the normal Harvard classes done by the faculty there and everything, depending on the degree program it's the same courses exactly. The catch, though, is that *you cannot get a degree in [x] *from the Extension School. This is because, technically, the only degree the Extension School offers is a degree in Extension Studies. Yes, this technicality _does_ result in people being disqualified for jobs from time to time.

The reason is because the (often wealthier) other school/alumni bodies do not like the idea of students being able to claim their degree is as valid as ones from those admitted out of high school: The previous dean advocated for renaming the degrees to their actual fields of study, but it was shot down. The argument against it is that the Extension School is a lesser school because the requirements are more lax, but the requirements are getting no fewer than 2/3 A's for coursework administered by Harvard itself.


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## HackerX (May 19, 2022)

Obviously, this thread is going to invite powerleveling to some extent.

As what others have said, online school credibility is based on the field. My formal college education has been 95% online, in an IT-centric area. I imagine this field is the most readily accepting of online degrees, but at the end of the day, the people hiring you see the diploma as a required bullet point.

WGU (Western Governors University) is a very solid option because it's relatively cheap, and along with the degree you pick up a few certs along the way, which are also resume bullet points.  IT Certs are an entire different mess that is cancerous, but that's another discussion.  BUT, at the end of the day, you only are going to learn based on how much you put into it. You can easily just coast through WGU, putting in just enough effort, and not learn a whole lot.

For Masters, I'd look into elsewhere but that's debatable. I used my GI Bill at another institution, but that would go too far off topic.

The opinion I've given before and will always advocate is: If you're a 18-21 year old male in the US, join the US Military. Yes, the branches are kind of pozzed right now, but that's mostly surface layer marketing.  Either way, nowhere can an 18 year old, fresh out of high school kid, make the amount of money they do, along with the current benefits (housing, insurance, etc) and future benefits (GI Bill is fucking awesome, VA Home Loan), AND get on the job experience.  That experience won't necessarily be 1:1 with what you want to do after, but nothing is ever 1:1.


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## urr13 account (May 19, 2022)

It's a waste of money. Just lie and say you already took the course.

If its a two-year program you can literally just say you did it and add it to your resume, they never check those. Just find out the name of a course and say you took it. Like 'oh, yeah I did Business Admin at local community college', it's an easy way to pad out your resume and no job will ever ask for proof.

For actual degrees, its a bit harder to lie about thme because a lot of jobs will ask for proof. For those you'll need to find someone who can sell you a fake transcript or something.


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## Red Hood (May 19, 2022)

Chocolate Wombat said:


> You need to take remedial English before you even think about going to college,  online or in person.


You'd be surprised at how poor the writing skills of a lot of college students are.


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## Chocolate Wombat (May 19, 2022)

Red Hood said:


> You'd be surprised at how poor the writing skills of a lot of college students are.


Sadly I wouldn't be surprised at all.


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## Picklechu (May 20, 2022)

It entirely depends on the individual university and the program. Generally speaking, most online-only or primarily online institutions are laughably bad. A small handful are regionally accredited (that's the "good" one, not national accreditation), aren't complete jokes academically, and may have some relatively unique programs that are difficult to find with that level of flexibility.

The online divisions of regionally accredited, non-profit, brick-and-mortar universities are generally going to be fine. Something like Colorado Tech, DeVry, Full Sail, etc should be avoided, but once again, that's going to come down to individual institutions. Also, keep in mind that some non-profit institutions are shitty and won't be taken seriously.


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## Biggusstickus (May 20, 2022)

Instead of making a new thread, what about online coding bootcamps? Especially the ones that say you don't have to pay them a tuition until you make above a certain amount of money with a company?


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## Just A Butt (May 20, 2022)

you should sell steak knives door-to-door


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## Colloid (May 20, 2022)

Sounds like you still need to figure out what your end goal is first before you actually commit to expanding your skills. 
And yeah you’ve got enough life advice threads here for an account less than a month old.


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## Rabid Northman (May 20, 2022)

I'm suprised no one has brought up networking and that's a big benefit of physically going to a university vs online. When I went through school I went to a lot of events in my faculty aiming to befriend the upper years at first then helping newer students later on. This opened a lot of doors later on when I was out applying to companies and I had a reference already working there.

I know most don't like Nepotism but it's better the devil you know than the one you don't.


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## TheRedChair (May 30, 2022)

Short answer is no.   The long answer is that Community Colleges do have online classes.  This is the way I would go if I was going to attend college and finish up a administration degree, which I would never use.

There is so much I want to say about college VS education these days.

These are my opinions

1. DO NOT KNOCK  Vocational schools.  Everyone will need a plumber.  Everyone will need a truck driver. That is a fact as you can plainly see who our fucking government really messed this one up because of the LAWS and of the coof bullshit.  We are having a serious problem because of the lack of truckers on the road.   Vocational schools work.  That's why I'm a Blue Collar Millionaire with several white collar skills to round me off.  It sure as hell works for me.  

2.  LEARN AS MANY SKILLS AS YOU CAN.  
1. I have that much of a skill set to build a house from scratch and do it TO CODE.  I am Tech savvy enough to manage and own a computer repair service.  I am skilled enough to write for a online tech site. I am smart enough to survive the dark side of humanity WITHOUT GOING TO JAIL.  Proud of that I was able to avoid all of the bullshit of hustling in the ghetto.

Heh I'm even Autistic enough to laugh at myself too.  Skills keep you alive and ahead of the game

3.  DO YOUR RESEARCH AND BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR LIFE.  Cross index everything and anything when searching for something and anything.  WHY IN HELL I'm here???   This site has given me a great deal of information that I can not normally get.  It has changed my view point on several different things as a lot of you guys are smart as shit to the point of making me jealous at times.   

BUT I learned things.  I'm not some old Boomer set in his ways, (and yea I've had to deal with that too with people in my age group they make me want to puke at times).   YOU HAVE  TO BE FLEXIBLE IN ORDER TO SUCCEED.  That is why I associate with the Zoomer Generation far better than I do with people in Generation FAIL.  I really think they (Zoomers) can be the next great generation if given the chance.   So Zoomers do your research with different viewpoints and make a logical conclusion.  I've got a lot of faith that you can do this overall.

4. GO TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FIRST.  Get your basics down before transferring to a major college. Not only cheaper in the short term is it cheaper in the long term as well.   Community Colleges IMHO are better than the traditional colleges because THEY KNOW THE COMMUNITY for the most part that is. 

5. AVOID YOUR FUCKING DEBT.  This means savings before college, working while in college, and making sure if you have to take a loan IT IS A SMALL ONE.  I have seen full blooded retards from GENERATION FAIL having 100 to 200 hundred thousand dollars in college  debt alone??? WHAT PART OF THE MOON DID YOU COME FROM???  Avoid the debt as much as possible.

AND THE BIGGIEST MISTAKE OF THEM ALL (IMHO)....

6.  Make sure that you are sure that the job market is there when you get out of college. IF IT IS NOT THERE,... CHANGE YOUR MAJOR YOU MORON.

You have no idea on how many Journalism/Arts/humanities/etc., Degrees I've seen working a baristas at StarSmucks.   Because they were told by the monkey machines in college that your underwater basket weaving degree is worth something. Keep a good eye of the job market you are wanting to enter into.  You have to if you want to survive this cut throat society of today. 

7.  NETWORK.... NETWORK.... NETWORK...  This does not mean that you have to suck someone's ass to get ahead (seen that happen for real) but it does mean that meet REAL  people and network.

Example: I've met my lawyers who took my case on a commission.  We got along so well that we became investment partners.  Or while working in the Death Industry I've met other people that had similar hobbies (besides getting drunk on the golf course) that I help them out and they help me out. 

Networking is so important today that I can not see anyone succeeding purely on their own. 

I made my millions knowing what I know.  It is sure as hell different that what is being taught now and I can see why major colleges are a money sink IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL. 

So in ending.  Community college and online classes are a big YES to me.  
Also Vocational classes,  Doing your research, BE Flexible in everything you do and of course have a network established for the long term.

And in the end, you will be fine.


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## Biggusstickus (May 31, 2022)

TheRedChair said:


> 1. DO NOT KNOCK  Vocational schools.  Everyone will need a plumber.  Everyone will need a truck driver. That is a fact as you can plainly see who our fucking government really messed this one up because of the LAWS and of the coof bullshit.  We are having a serious problem because of the lack of truckers on the road.   Vocational schools work.  That's why I'm a Blue Collar Millionaire with several white collar skills to round me off.  It sure as hell works for me.


Do you got any websites where a person can find a reputable vocational school near their location? School that are accredited and can teach them what they need to know ?

What's your take on Welders and Machinists?


TheRedChair said:


> 2.  LEARN AS MANY SKILLS AS YOU CAN.
> 1. I have that much of a skill set to build a house from scratch and do it TO CODE.  I am Tech savvy enough to manage and own a computer repair service.  I am skilled enough to write for a online tech site. I am smart enough to survive the dark side of humanity WITHOUT GOING TO JAIL.  Proud of that I was able to avoid all of the bullshit of hustling in the ghetto.


What about skills you don't want to learn? Do you factor personality and aptitude when learning the skills you learn?


TheRedChair said:


> 4. GO TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FIRST.  Get your basics down before transferring to a major college. Not only cheaper in the short term is it cheaper in the long term as well.   Community Colleges IMHO are better than the traditional colleges because THEY KNOW THE COMMUNITY for the most part that is.


Got any advice for those who've already graduated from colleges and are in their early 30s?


TheRedChair said:


> 5. AVOID YOUR FUCKING DEBT.  This means savings before college, working while in college, and making sure if you have to take a loan IT IS A SMALL ONE.  I have seen full blooded retards from GENERATION FAIL having 100 to 200 hundred thousand dollars in college  debt alone??? WHAT PART OF THE MOON DID YOU COME FROM???  Avoid the debt as much as possible.


Speaking of debt, what's your take on Medical Schools, Dental schools and other graduate schools? What about for those who want to take Post-doc programs to increase their GPA to get into these graduate schools?


TheRedChair said:


> 7.  NETWORK.... NETWORK.... NETWORK...  This does not mean that you have to suck someone's ass to get ahead (seen that happen for real) but it does mean that meet REAL  people and network.
> 
> Example: I've met my lawyers who took my case on a commission.  We got along so well that we became investment partners.  Or while working in the Death Industry I've met other people that had similar hobbies (besides getting drunk on the golf course) that I help them out and they help me out.
> 
> Networking is so important today that I can not see anyone succeeding purely on their own.


Can you recommend any places to network if a person has a 9-to-5 hour job and has to commute?


TheRedChair said:


> I made my millions knowing what I know.  It is sure as hell different that what is being taught now and I can see why major colleges are a money sink IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL.
> 
> So in ending.  Community college and online classes are a big YES to me.
> Also Vocational classes,  Doing your research, BE Flexible in everything you do and of course have a network established for the long term.
> ...


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## Blobby's Murder Knife (Jun 1, 2022)

If you are already out of HS, your best bet is to contact the local trade union for the trade you want to practice, if you are in the US or Canada. They can give you info about apprenticeships, how to apply, etc. 

Do not go into debt for a degree. It is rarely worth it anymore, even for STEM studies. 

Networking is just the people you know at work and at social clubs for the field you want to get into. Internships and temp work are also good ways to get in if you can prove yourself to the staff.


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## Mojo Thief (Jun 1, 2022)

Biggusstickus said:


> Do you got any websites where a person can find a reputable vocational school near their location? School that are accredited and can teach them what they need to know ?
> 
> What's your take on Welders and Machinists?
> 
> ...


As someone who does technical hiring (not trying to PL, I talked about it in an earlier post), I don't give two shits about your college degree. If you want a good paying technical job you need to show you have the aptitude for doing technical work. Most jobs will require you to take some kind of test to show your capabilities. Put up, or shut up. My suggestion, if you don't have some kind of post-HS education, would be to enroll in a trade program or take a technical program at your community college in something like the skilled trades (plumbing, electrician, HVAC, installation, repair, IT, medical equipment technician, etc). It's nowhere near as expensive as a 4 year degree, and arguably will put you in a much better spot to get a better job than most 4 year grads who don't have a technical background.

Honestly, given the disparity between the demand and supply of skilled labor these days, you have absolutely no excuse to not find a good-paying job in a technical field.

Now, if you're trying to become a journalist, or start up a non-profit for disabled autistic children in Guatemala, then I'd suggest skipping college altogether. Your outcome will be the same, except you won't owe tens of thousands to Fannie Mae while struggling to make rent.


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## No Batty Boys in Jamaica (Jun 1, 2022)

Fuck no, don't go to online college, unless it's accredited. 
Do community college or 4 year. 

I have a friend who got a degree in IT from university of Phoenix. When we first met, I was too polite to explain to her that it was bumboclaat. Now she actually knows her shit with IT but she $20k in debt and employers never call her back because they immediately see University of Phoenix on her resume and throw that shit in the trash. 
She recently fixed the problem by getting a bunch of certificates from the local community college. 

Me, I have a pre-law degree from University of Nairobi and a JD from Harvard.


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## Blobby's Murder Knife (Jun 2, 2022)

Mojo Thief said:


> Now, if you're trying to become a journalist, or start up a non-profit for disabled autistic children in Guatemala, then I'd suggest skipping college altogether. Your outcome will be the same, except you won't owe tens of thousands to Fannie Mae while struggling to make rent.


Tim Pool will vouch.


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