Obtaining your Bachelor's degree should never be dismissed just because the thought of a four-year commitment almost feels like a life sentence! If you have decided that you need to return to school in order to be considered for your dream job, you should explore the four-year degree before any other level of higher education because you might be surprised to learn that you can earn this degree much faster than you had anticipated. If you are going to do it, you should do it right! Don't forget that the internet has changed the world of education immensely, and what was once considered unrealistic can now be your reality. First of all, and this cannot be stressed enough, make sure that any/all online degree plans that you are exploring are being offered by an institution that is accredited by either a recognized state or federal agency! They must also be current with accreditation, so if they try and tell you that their paperwork is in the mail, don't buy into it. Unfortunately, there are "diploma mills" out there that only want to take your money and will not provide you with a quality education. So now, you are ready to look at the various Bachelor's degree plans available for your area of interest. You should know that all Bachelor's degrees have similar structures in that the first two years are for basic academic fundamentals. Depending upon your major, some of these maybe related to your degree; however, most will be of similar nature. These will be classes in English Composition, history, math, and social science, just to name a few. However, despite your moans and groans, this is also where you can slice off a good portion of time towards fulfilling your degree requirements. When inquiring into an online program, find out if that institution has a "Credit for Life Experience Program" (CLEP) to determine your level of knowledge in a specific subject acquired outside of the classroom. You can actually test out of up to 30 credit hours of your fundamental academic classes. That could reduce your time frame by one whole year! It also reduces your overall tuition costs. Next, you should decide upon what type of online degree program would best suit your needs. You can choose an asynchronous form of study, in which the student has much more flexibility with no set schedule. Many times, these are listed under an accelerated degree program. It allows you to work at your own pace, whether it is faster or slower is up to you. However, you must be strong in self-discipline because it is easy to procrastinate to the point where you are in serious trouble of not finishing the course. If you would rather have a more structured curriculum, you should choose a synchronous program, which will have regularly scheduled online classroom time that you will be required to attend. Often, students decide on this type during their first semester in order to get a feel of the online scholastic experience and how it all works. Finally, a great way to finish faster is to go to school year round without any breaks between classes or the summer months. This will give you the equivalent of taking four semesters, instead of just two, which is factored into a four-year degree plan. So, you slice off another year! |
