What are the pros and cons of online college as opposed to on-campus college?

It all depends on the school you go to. There are some online schools that will offer a degree, but no one will really recognize it. Online classes can be as beneficially as taking classes on campus as long as people (meaning future employers) are going to recognize the work you did. I did an online RN-BSN program from the University of Delaware. My degree will just say BSN and nothing on it will say online. The only way anyone will know it was online would be to look at my transcripts and they would see that the classes were online. The teachers that teach the online courses also teach the on campus courses. If you decide you want to do an online program, just be sure to research the school you are choosing to go to before paying any money to them.

I’ve always felt the opportinity to interact with other students in the classroom and socially is as important a part of college as the book learnin’. A good education isn’t the only tool one needs in the big ol’ world. Anyway, that’s been my experience.

I have a BA and MA from campus schools, so I might be bias. Something I’ve noticed with with the guys with on line degrees is their lack of writing skills. When I went to school, every course had a significant amount of writing in it. I know some guys who are taking on line course and they ask me to edit their papers before turning them into their instructor. They are receiving As on papers that quite frankly, I would have graded as a C just to be charitable. When I give them suggestions on how to write a paper, they simple tell them their papers “don’t need to be that detailed”. My oldest goes to a college prep high school, and her papers are significantly better than these on line college papers.

On campus education not only provides a face to face relationship with the professor and classmates but allows you to participate in informal study groups. Online course require you to do all your learning on your own with little support from others. It is much more difficult to get the top marks when you are isolated from the full university environment. Studying with others enhances your understanding of the subtle details of a subject.

I go to college for the experience. I just moved in for my sophomore year two days ago and I’m still in love with my school. (: You make lifelong friends, learn so many different things (educational and non), eat so much dorm food that you’ll really appreciate it when you get real food again :P, and go to classes that you love and choose yourself. I’m biased because I’ve never take online classes and I love my school, but everyone is different. :]

Also, colleges are so active in making clubs and different active groups. You can play sports whenever, go to social awareness things, and plenty more. I’m sure it fits into applying for jobs, too, some bosses might have different views on online schools and on-campus schools? It would definitely help if you went to their alma-mater, though. ;]

Bottomline: on-college education is much more accepted in the business world, compared on an on-line college. why? its the personal experiences you receive just by being there. there is so much temptation to cheat with on-line colleges and the “hands-on” experience is just not there.

I’m 34 and started going back to school a few semesters ago and I like it way better than going to campus. Credit-wise, there is no distinction between taking the class online or on campus. What is extremely important is that you get your degree from a regionally accredited college, and not a nationally accredited one. It sounds counter intuitive, but regionally accredited colleges are the good ones, like state universities, Princeton, Stanford, etc… Nationally accredited colleges are ones like Devry, The Cleveland Institute of Electronics, Argosy, and many others.

Why am I making such a big deal about what appears to be an off-topic point? It is very easy to accidentally attend a nationally accredited college, pay a lot of money, invest a lot of time, and then zero of those credits will transfer to a regionally accredited college. So if you get a BS, then want to go to a good grad school, they will not recognize you have a degree. So watch out for that.

But as far as online vs campus in a “normal” school, it depends on your discipline and lifestyle. If you want to party, get laid, meet people, go to sporting events, like walking to classes and sitting in lectures for good portions of the day, campus classes are better. At this point in my life, I’m married with kid and am going to school purely to get good grades. It takes discipline to login and complete the coursework on time, but I find the time not spent driving to class and sitting there is better spent reading the textbook. The coursework is generally a bit harder, but everything is open book.

Think about it from an employer’s perspective. If you had to chose between two people for one job position and the only difference was that one had a fully on-campus degree and the other was a fully on-line degree, who would you chose and why?

If you can come up with better reasons for choosing the person with the on-line degree, then go with that, but keep in mind that interior design is competitive field, and an on-line degree most likely won’t give you the edge you need. The only reason I ever take an online class is for the convenience because I either have to work during the time the on-campus courses are being taught, or I have other on-campus classes that conflict, but I know there’s always going to be a trade-off of the quality of the education (unless you go to a college with really crappy teachers… then it wouldn’t really matter, imo).

If you really want to be good at interior design I would highly suggest on-campus classes vs. on-line. This is mainly because this kind of design is very hands on and when learning the basics and beyond it’s extremely important learning how to collaborate on projects.