Online college rankings

cacharo

I stumbled upon this ranking of online colleges. It does have several metrics that determine the rankings and clearly defines the metric and each college's broken-down rating. I do not want to openup another debate on B&M colleges vs Online colleges or who should/shouldn't be on this list. This should only be used as a reference to do further research on. Clearly, there are many additional schools that are not 100% online that may offer programs that you are interested in.

Enjoy

http://oedb.org/rankings

eMeS

Here's the problem with this:

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=oedb.org

and

http://www.andyhagans.com/

Do you think the rankings page ranks schools higher that pay him a higher commission for referrals?

MS

cacharo

Could be. The reason I posted it was the use of actual metrics in the ratings; Acceptance Rate, Financial Aid, Graduation Rate, Peer Web Citations, Retention Rate, Scholarly Citations, Student-Faculty Ratio, Years Accredited all contribute to the rating. Sure there can still be some bogus numbers or the selected metrics favor one college or another, that is why additional research needs to be done by the student before making a major decision like this.

the_Grinch

Why not get the best of both worlds and go into an B&M online program? My program can be completed online and the degree still says Drexel University. Plenty of B&M offer online because there is a huge segment of the population that are working professionals.

meadIT

the_Grinch wrote:

Why not get the best of both worlds and go into an B&M online program? My program can be completed online and the degree still says Drexel University. Plenty of B&M offer online because there is a huge segment of the population that are working professionals.

I looked into the Drexel program and even with 80 college credits already, it was going to cost me something like $50,000 just for two years of the program

cisco_trooper

I looked into MIT when I was done with about 60 credit hours at UMKC. Jesus Christ..that place is not cheap

the_Grinch

Yeah they are expensive!

CCIEWANNABE

got my bachelor's from AIU Online. very happy with the whole deal. has paid itself off easily. i wouldn't have been hired in the position i'm in now w/out it.

skrpune

I'm not sure how much I trust those rankings...WGU dropped from 13 to the 30's in rank from 2007 to 2008 because they didn't have half the data for the calculations. And apparently a significant part of the formula is online ratings/opinions from (mostly disgruntled) students or ex-students. And the most highly rated online school I came across is AMU/APUS, which has almost 100% positive ratings from its students, wasn't even on the list. Innnteresting.

I've been having the online vs B&M school debate, and I'm leaning more towards going to the local state university and then transferring to an online B&M program later if my schedule gets in the way. If you can afford it, then the online version of a B&M university is a great option, but they tend to be way more expensive than places like WGU (less than $3K/6 months and you can take as many classes as you can cram in during that time, vs $250-400+ per credit hour and no certs). I just am not getting a great feeling from WGU - they have been emailing me NONSTOP (reminding me way too much of DeVry and their hard sell tactics), and they seem to not quite have their sh*t together when it comes to answering financial aid questions. I have been given two different answers about my eligibility for financial aid by them, and both were wrong and different from what the local university's financial aid department told me (which I've since verified with other sources as correct). I don't know - maybe they just need to get their act together in the admin. offices, but it doesn't bode too well when they can't even tell me how much financial aid I'd qualify for or what type of student I'd be so I could correctly complete my financial aid forms!

dynamik

I've said this before, but the thing that really irks me about WGU is that they don't have a GPA-style system. You pass the class whenever you meet the objectives (or however they phrase it). That just seems odd to me. I'm strongly considering Capella at the moment. I wish I could have the options that someone like Shednik does, but there aren't any good B&M (Honestly, who read that as S&M the first time they saw it? Talk about an easy 4.0...) infosec programs in my area. I have a fairly poor GPA because of family illnesses and other personal problems that have arisen over the years, so I don't have a lot of options at the moment.

The whole college system really rubs me the wrong way. I might be a bit bitter because things haven't gone great for me, but it seems to be flawed on a fundamental level. Why is the person who gets education paid for by his or her parents on the same plane as someone who works full-time while supporting a family? I can get into MENSA hung-over on less than five hours of sleep (true), but I fail intro economics and accounting courses (my wife was bed-ridden for four months out-of-the-blue, and I never even opened either book)? I don't mean to come off as whiny. I'm naturally muscular and could work bachelorette parties if it came down to it. I just wish there was more opportunities to be evaluated as an individual instead of being reduced to a number (GPA) or title (degree).

the_Grinch

I agree that the college system gets my goat sometimes. My suggestion for you, dynamic, is find a program that is geared toward adult learners. In my program it was geared toward working adults. All my courses, minuses a couple, were either online or on Saturdays. All of my professors held at least a Masters and have 7 to 10+ years in the field. As I stated before, colleges are finally seeing that untapped market of adults who want a degree, but don't have the time for a normal class schedule. One of the biggest mistakes colleges make is not advertising their alternative options (mainly due to the fact they get less money). It is first and foremost a business, maybe not so much at the state funded schools, but definitely at the private ones. But schools with a focus for adult learners are great because Professors understand where your coming from. Work has gotten in the way a few times and they've given me a break (not a pass, but a break).

As far as info sec is concerned you are correct that there are very few undergrad degrees offered overall, even fewer just online. My colleges program was just started a year ago. I was able to graduate just about on time mainly because I took the courses because I enjoyed them and the Professor who designed the security concentration was pretty sure it was going to happen. I think most people tend to go with a undergrad in IT, IS, or CS and then go for a Masters in InfoSec. One Masters program I am currently looking at can be completed online and is through a B&M school here in NJ (NJIT is the school). Slowly, but surely online degrees will become as respected as their B&M counter parts. But as it was put to me by a Professor of mine, it is the old boys club mentality that keeps the system the way it is.

msteinhilber

dynamik wrote:

Why is the person who gets education paid for by his or her parents on the same plane as someone who works full-time while supporting a family?

This is an unfortunate issue with higher education, and it's going to be even more of a problem for my little guy who's 15 months old now when he grows up and it likely gets to the point where you need a college degree to flip burgers (seems like there are a lot of fairly basic jobs really looking for degrees these days). Campuses geared towards adult leaners as the Grinch pointed out are nice because they are generally more flexible scheduling wise and more importantly are typically more flexible for work and life interruptions with your studies.

I still question each semester if I should continue forward (just recently obtained the associates degree, working forward towards the bachelors) as I didn't have any help available from my parents (and I hold no ill feelings towards them for that) and was basically forced into working full-time from the get go. Deciding to go to school later in my adult life after meeting my wife and purchasing our first home and a child on the way essentially meant my education would be 100% financed (which it is), a real deterrent towards continuing my education - but unfortunately at this point with the economy and my job situation I am probably going to have to stretch my education out a bit so I don't enter repayment on my loans which I wouldn't be able to afford currently. Ugh!

the_Grinch

Yeah loans suck big time! My suggestion for anyone is to go to a community college and finish that up quickly. If you take your time getting the BA/BS shouldn't matter because hopefully you'll have the IT job and will be getting the experience. Worst mistake I made was not just going to community college like I wanted to. Can't change it now and I am happy with the degree I am getting and the doors it has open to me. But yeah I can pretty much wipe my @$$ with the BS in about two years!

oldbarney

Wow, I found this post while searching something else on Google.

The OEDb rankings methodology is seriously flawed. It fails to account for pricing, accreditation, grad placement, student debt, and a host of other measures. Regional accreditation represents a recognized standard. OEDb neglects weighting membership in other accrediting agencies, such as B-School (AACSB, ACBSP), engineering (ABET), etc. Furthermore, there's this statement:

“The college, if campus-based, must offer at least 50% of its undergraduate degree-granting programs online.”

Less than 2% of California University of Pennsylvania degrees are offered online. It's a great school, but I'm just saying.

As eMeS alludes, this a web marketing ploy.

Kasor

I'm not a big fan for online college. Not really care about the online ranking. If you pay that much for a course, then it is better off to go to the classroom. CBT is good learning for specific area or technical need. However for general education, it is better to go to the classroom to get to know the people and professors.

ULWiz

I have done both online and going to class a devry for example. The students who are online have twice the work load of a student going to class.

Just FYI

oldbarney

Further thoughts about online college education.

I'll start by saying that in a remarkably short time, WGU appears to have gained a stellar reputation. Just last week, Time Magazine published a nice article on the school. For busy IT professionals without a degree, but already holding certs, WGU represents a very attractive option. Compared to other online schools, WGU tuition looks quite reasonable.

If you spend any time on the web, then you can see multiple levels of advertising. University of Phoenix, for example, spends over $170 million per year advertising on the web. I liken the strategy to an information warfare campaign financed by above-market student tuition rates.

Shop around. GetEducated.com is a good place to start. Comparatively speaking, serious "bargain hunters" can find great deals around the country. Online students find themselves in an advantageous position largely because they are unconstrained by time and place. Definitely consider community colleges and state universities for online degrees, especially brick-and-mortar schools in your state or one nearby. Many schools advertise tuition fees costing out-of-state residents the same amount of money as those living in-state.

MCPWannabe

Online Rankings for schools are pretty much crap. Don't trust them. In the end, most of the time the decision comes down to a couple of simple elements:

1. Is the price reasonable for your situation (factoring in your schedule, price compared to other schools, etc)?
2. Is the school accredited and recognized by the United States Department of Education as being eligible for United States based Financial aid?

Those two should be the basic tenets to start with. Then, there are several other factors to look at after that.

Strictly online schools will always be looked at as second rate by many, but that doesn't mean that one can't can an advantage by attending one.