An interview with Erica who works for the Social Security Administration company in Yakima, WA.

Q: Can you tell us who you are currently employed with?

A: I am currently employed with the branch of the Social Security Administration in Yakima, WA.

Q: What is a typical day like for you?

A: I work the morning shift so I get there about 7 in the morning.  I spend most of the day talking with people filling Social Security Insurance claims and taking notes.  I, ironically, ask them what a typical day for them is like so that we have information for judgment on their claim.

Q: How long have you been at this job?

A: I’ve been there now for around a year.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your background and school experience?

A: I already had a degree from Washington State University and moved near Yakima when my husband found work.  I wanted to work on my Master’s degree, but the local branch of WSU does not have my program so I eventually decided, since I couldn’t work on my masters and can’t work with just my bachelor’s in my original profession, to get another bachelor’s degree.

Q: What is your online degree in and what school did you get it from?

A: I got a bachelor’s degree in Human Development from Washington State University.

Q: What led you to seek an online degree?

A: Location.  Most of the other degrees I could work on locally were either Associate Degrees or four year degrees that aren’t that useful to getting work.  So my choices were either get a low paying job, wasting my already gained education, or get more education in hopes of finding a good job.

Q: What did you like most about the program?

A: Not having to travel!  I could work on the class stuff when I wanted to, mostly, and that I could complete it without having to relocate my family.

Q: What did you dislike most about the program?

A: Well … a lot of the work seemed really repetitive.  Read a bunch, post an opening post on message board at the beginning of the week, then reply to two other posts by other students later that week.  Repeat for 10 weeks, write a paper or two, or take a test or two.  Kind of repetitive.

Q: Have you only ever worked on an online degree?

A: No.  I have a bachelor’s in psychology that I got at Washington State University, before getting my online degree with them.

Q: How do online classes compare to being in a “brick & mortar” classroom setting?

A: Online lets you set your own schedule, which I really like!  But you don’t get a lot of interaction and it seems really impersonal, which is good and bad.  I mean heated discussions happen in both and at least online you don’t have to deal with the people.

Q: What were the teachers like?  What was the interaction with the teachers like?

A: Some were really friendly and were fun to learn from.  Others were like robots that sent out automated responses or had their Teaching Assistants do everything.  Just depended on the teacher.  I found most with TA’s did little and you never read a heard from them.

Q: Did you connect to the university or the other students?  Why?

A: Yes.  Since I worked on group projects in some classes with some it made it easy to talk with them or ask them questions in other classes since if you start one semester with a group you usually finish with many in that group.  Also I tried to be friendly and give constructive criticism which many did not do.

Q: Would you do another degree, or your next degree, online or would you choose a campus-based program?

A: Depends on where I am at in life.  Both have disadvantages and I feel burnt out on education so I would probably say … neither? But considering I’m working full time now I’d go online.

Q: Was it difficult to get motivated without a set class time?

A: No, not for me.  I just got it done when it needed to be done.

Q: Was your subject well-suited to an online program?  Why or why not?

A: Yes, because my human development degree is a degree with a lot of reading and papers so I just did all the reading and discussion at home instead of doing it half at home and the other part in class.

Q: Do employers respect your degree?

A: They seem to, but it helps that it is from WSU which is known for being a PAC 10 school to begin with.  It doesn’t say on it that it is an “online” degree.

Q: Have you encountered any stereotypes about having an online degree?  If you have what are they?

A: Nope.  Again, WSU is a known school.  Some people do ask how I did my degree and still lived away from Pullman [where the main campus is] but I explain it to them.

Q: What recommendations and advice would you give for those thinking about getting an online degree in this field?  With this school?

A: I’d go for it!  Education helps a lot and this degree seemed to be great for an online degree.  WSU also seemed to do a good job of setting up the classes, so I would say give them a try.  I’ve never tried taking classes from other online schools.