Online Degrees

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|Chaz|

|Chaz|

Well-Known Member
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Can anyone here point me in the direction of a good online degree program? Something engineering related? Does such a thing exist?

Which reminds me, I haven't posted that I moved out finally and got my own place. Hence why it isn't really feasible for me to attend school full time and work full time because of rent.
 
Any advice of successfully making it through college, while working fulltime? Assuming I were to attend the traditional way?
 
Find a job on campus? I worked 30+ hours a week, but it was IN my engineering building- way easier that way.
 
Ok. Good suggestion. What about having a completely fucked college gpa at this point from when I was younger? Just retake those same classes?
 
Ditto with what Mike said. I would actually consider taking some loans too unless you get luckily enough to work related to your major. I worked at a grocery store and studied Biology. Got out and zero experience, so you know where that led to. Bottom of the food chain. With loans, you can have some free time to volunteer and work at labs and get to know you professors which will eventually get you a good letter of rec.

GPA wise, most colleges wont let you retake more than 2 courses. so choose very wisely on which ones you retake, preferably something that is a prereq. or heavily major related. on that note, to boost GPA, take a bunch of easily classes and focus on doing really well on your core classes. that way, prospectors will see you are doing well and you excel in classes that matter to them.

case in point, i f**ked JR year with an econ, physio and molecular bio class. i decided to eat the C- in econ and retook the physio and molecular courses because those were more major related. and in most grad apps or watever, they let you explain yourself if you had a bad streak of grades. helped me out in getting a job because i didnt have to mention my poor econ class, but pointed out my good grades in those classes. landed a lab job.

best of luck man. its tough but you can do it.
 
Take some transferable classes at a local community college, they are typically pretty easy and much cheaper. You should be able to keep a relatively high GPA. Transfer in after a few semesters, that's what I did to get my ME at VA tech and now I'm onto my PHD.

I don't know what your rent is like but I had an apt pretty much through college and bills ~$1000+ per month and was able to make it through just fine with a part time job at a bar + tutoring.

You'll figure it out. Trust me man, it's worth it to live like a bum for 3-4 years to get your degree. And it's manageable, you just have to apply yourself.
 
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dveit said:
Take some transferable classes at a local community college, they are typically pretty easy and much cheaper. You should be able to keep a relatively high GPA. Transfer in after a few semesters, that's what I did to get my ME at VA tech and now I'm onto my PHD.

I don't know what your rent is like but I had an apt pretty much through college and bills ~$1000+ per month and was able to make it through just fine with a part time job at a bar + tutoring.

You'll figure it out. Trust me man, it's worth it to live like a bum for 3-4 years to get your degree. And it's manageable, you just have to apply yourself.
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This ^

I too did the local community college for 2 years then transferred in. I also worked about 30 hours a week as a software developer (hours were very flexible) while getting my degree. Took me 7 years to do it that way, still had to take some loans to survive, but I made it with a shitload of experience in development to go with it and comparitivly low debt. I paid off all loans within 2 years of getting my first "real" out of school job.
 
Forgot to add, I don't think I would ever hire anyone with an online-only degree..
 
I think it depends on the niche. Some degrees are all reading/writing... not much for hands on. ie, English.

anything technical, like enginering is not one of them though and having labs, hands on equipment, hell, just buying AUTOCad will set you back a few grand.
 
If you're going to an ABET credited engineering school (I'm talking about after he transfers), they should provide any software you need for you. For example, VA Tech had a contract with Autodesk so all students got Inventor for free (albeit student editions).
 
You don't agree that an english degree obtained online would be just as competitive as a regular one? especially from a school that offers both traditional and online programs?
 
lol, B16, I will contact you via pm for more info. I am still a first Gen college student, with zero financial help from my parents. Have a one year lease with my gf, work a full time 630am-330pm job. I was home schooled never received any real helpful college guidance from peers, parents or teachers. My parents always just made it out like it was an easier route than its been. To top it off they got divorced the year I graduated high school so any money they had saved for me got tossed out the window.
 
If you want some advise you can PM me also. I got 0% tuition assistance from my folks as well. It's all about racking up those student loans. I know it sucks but in the long run it pays for itself. I've almost paid off $25,000 worth of student loans in about ~2.5 years. Good luck buddy.
 
B said:
You don't agree that an english degree obtained online would be just as competitive as a regular one? especially from a school that offers both traditional and online programs?
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I do not agree.
 
|Chaz| said:
lol, B16, I will contact you via pm for more info. I am still a first Gen college student, with zero financial help from my parents. Have a one year lease with my gf, work a full time 630am-330pm job. I was home schooled never received any real helpful college guidance from peers, parents or teachers. My parents always just made it out like it was an easier route than its been. To top it off they got divorced the year I graduated high school so any money they had saved for me got tossed out the window.
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I'd be happy to help where I can!
 
I'd suggest working hard in community college now so you can you transfer to the school you want. Then don't be hesistant to bet on yourself.

You're not the first person to work full time while going to school. I pretty much did it soph through senior year of college and helped support my disabled mom. I also took out way too much in student loans and truly am paying for it. I also drank. A lot. I didn't have serious steady work the first two years out of college and it really hurt my ability to pay things back. I also didn't have enough time to concentrate on school as much as I should have. Looking back I did a lot of things wrong. Now I have a great steady job that is opening doors to me and I'm digging myself out of a huge financial hell hole. I'll probably be going to get an MBA once the powers that be decide so and I can afford so easily.


I strongly encourage you to work hard and bet on yourself. Don't take out more than you need, but understand your job is only to fund your ability to get an education. Now's the time to sacrifice.

Also remember college isn't for everyone, but if you're going to do it, commit to it. I've met some of the smartest and dumbest people in college. Some because they couldn't work and went back to "get re-educated" and some were so smart they were regularly recruited while in school.



And yes pedigree matters. I always look at the school on job apps.
 
B said:
I think it depends on the niche. Some degrees are all reading/writing... not much for hands on. ie, English.

anything technical, like enginering is not one of them though and having labs, hands on equipment, hell, just buying AUTOCad will set you back a few grand.
Click to expand...

I'm a full time ME student and lab fees are the least of my concerns. The most I've paid for any class is $100 and that was for a 3d modeling course which came with a year of SolidWorks. Other than that, I've never bought any sort of program.
 
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