This is a candid interview with Eliza who earned a Bachelor degree in Psychology from an online school and is now working on her Masters degree at Eastern Washington University.  Although many students have been very happy with their online degrees, Eliza is an example of a student that did not enjoy her online learning experience and who found it difficult for employers and other schools to take her online degree seriously.  When considering an online school, it’s important to research their reputation and prospective employer’s opinions of the school.

Editors Note: As you read the below interview, please keep in mind that the opinions expressed are of a single individual and are not necessarily shared by Online-Education-Resources.com or other students.

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

A: I’m not employed I’m a full time student working on my Master’s degree.

Q: What is a typical day like for you?

A: I get my kids off to school and then I go to school for the day.  Some days I’m in a class or two and other days I work on my clinical work.  Some days I get home from school to greet my kids, other days I get home later.

Q: How long have you been in this routine?

A: I’ve been doing this for over a year.

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

A: Sure.  I was a young mom and I worked a lot to support my youngest son.  After I got married I decided to work on a degree and become the first college graduate in my family.

Q: What is your online degree in?

A: Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

Q: What led you to seek an online degree?

A: I needed to be able to be flexible and be home for my children, and also work some to help the family.  My husband has a good job, but I couldn’t be a full time student when we first got married.

Q: What did you like most about the program?

A: The fact I could work on it after I got home from my part time job and work on it for an hour or two before the kids came home and then work on it for an hour or two after they went to bed.  The schedule for the class was what I wanted it to be.

Q: What did you dislike most about the program?

A: Nothing really, but when I applied for Master’s programs I had some difficulty.

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

A: No.  I’ve been working on my Master’s degree on an actual campus for awhile now.

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

A: I felt a lot more isolated and it was hard to get help at times, depending on the class. Now that I’m on campus I find it much easier to get help and talk with teachers and other students about problems or questions.  It is very different, particularly since I really like interacting with people.

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

A: Some were really positive, friendly, but most often busy.  They’d get back to you a day or two after you’d have a question which sometimes was too long a wait.  Though I’ve found that most teachers are like that, to be honest!  I’m going to try to not be like that when I’m working as a teaching assistant.

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

A: No. I felt really cut off because there was very little immediate response when I had questions or tried to participate in a class discussion.  It left me feeling kind of depressed at times with deadlines looming and me not having any idea what to do.

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

A: Campus based.  No question.

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

A: Extremely hard.  It was too easy to procrastinate and put classes and work off.  I got lower grades because I would often turn in work late.

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

A: No. Psychology is something I feel requires a lot more person to person interaction.

Q: Do employers respect your degree?

A: I doubt they would, because when trying to get into a graduate program I had a hard time since most schools wouldn’t take my degree as a full degree and wanted me to take additional classes.  That is not what someone wants to hear when they have already completed a degree! To be told your degree is not good enough to get into the program they want is so frustrating and depressing.  I had to work for months to finally find a Masters program that would work for me and my family in terms of where we could live and my husband could work.

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

A: Yes.  That it is far easier.  That the degree isn’t worth the paper it is printed on.  That you simply “paid” for your degree.  It didn’t make me feel good.  I did a lot of hard work for my degree but I found that that work was not respected because of where and how I got the degree.

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

A: Don’t!  Get a degree on a campus and take night classes if you can.  If you can’t, shop around and take into consideration what you want to do with the degree.  If you want to use the degree as a stepping stone to another degree make sure it is going to be from a school that is recognized by other schools as being good.  If you want the degree to get a job, call the companies you are thinking of working at and ask they if they hire people that have degrees from the schools you are considering.

If, after reading this article, you decide that you would like to research some campus-based programs, you can visit our related websites for California, Texas and Florida schools.