Name Recognition
Traditionally, in their brief history, online colleges have been used for technical fields, or for continuing education and those schools were not household names. However, college name recognition is ushering in a new wave of non-technical majors who are seeking to earn their degree online. In the recent past, the perception of online degrees has changed as top-ranked (major universities with an established history and name recognition) schools have started offering more distance education options and massive open online courses, known as MOOCs. Recently schools like MIT, Stanford, Duke and Johns Hopkins have begun to offer online education. This participation by big name traditional universities helps to elevate the concept of online education; just by their participation the category is lifted.
Mary Massad, division president of recruiting services for Insperity, a firm that provides recruiting services to more than 100,000 small and midsize businesses, says her clients have a variety of opinions on the degrees.
About 75 percent of her clients have embraced online credentials. As for the other 25 percent, she doesn’t count on changing their minds.
“There are people who are very resistant and very traditional in the way they perceive an online degree,” she says. “For some, it’s just deeply embedded in how they think.”
Although having an online bachelor’s degree isn’t a deal breaker for most of her clients, Massad says having an online degree from an unaccredited school is a sure way to get a resume discarded. Before you enroll in a program, make sure it is accredited, she says.
“You can go into this with eyes wide open – and you should,” she says.
To avoid having an online degree discounted, he recommends enrolling in a program that has brand recognition in the relevant field.
“In time, a person’s experience will outweigh their education on their resume,” he says. “But all things being equal, an employer will judge your education based on their own personal familiarity with the institution that provided the degree.”
Watered Down?
Some wonder about degrees offered at major/name brand universities with names that differ slightly from the actual campus. For example: USC offers online degrees via its college of education, USC Rossier School of Education. The addition of the name Rossier is concerning for students. The additional name makes it seem like it is a part of the USC campus, but separate; it appears to be less than USC. However, there is a good reason for this name discrepancy.
In 1998, alumni Barbara J. and Roger W. Rossier gave $20 million to the school, which was at the time the largest gift to any school of education in the world. In recognition of their generosity and the importance of their vision for the future of education, the school was renamed in their honor.
In 2009, Dean Karen Symms Gallagher joined up with USC philanthropist and technology innovator John Katzman and his company, 2U to create a new online Master of Arts in Teaching degree program, the MAT@USC. The program was a new initiative to prepare thousands of students to be teachers in high-need schools. The program has since expanded its degree offerings to include a Master of Education in Advanced Instruction degree and a Special Education Credential and Gifted Certificate. The combined program is known as USC Rossier Online.
So, while the name is a little different, the quality of the education is the same because it is USC...Rossier.
Just make sure to do your homework and carefully research the universities. Sometimes just a simple phone call to the institution can provide the relevant information, sometimes you have to dig deeper.
References
Traditionally, in their brief history, online colleges have been used for technical fields, or for continuing education and those schools were not household names. However, college name recognition is ushering in a new wave of non-technical majors who are seeking to earn their degree online. In the recent past, the perception of online degrees has changed as top-ranked (major universities with an established history and name recognition) schools have started offering more distance education options and massive open online courses, known as MOOCs. Recently schools like MIT, Stanford, Duke and Johns Hopkins have begun to offer online education. This participation by big name traditional universities helps to elevate the concept of online education; just by their participation the category is lifted.
Mary Massad, division president of recruiting services for Insperity, a firm that provides recruiting services to more than 100,000 small and midsize businesses, says her clients have a variety of opinions on the degrees.
About 75 percent of her clients have embraced online credentials. As for the other 25 percent, she doesn’t count on changing their minds.
“There are people who are very resistant and very traditional in the way they perceive an online degree,” she says. “For some, it’s just deeply embedded in how they think.”
Although having an online bachelor’s degree isn’t a deal breaker for most of her clients, Massad says having an online degree from an unaccredited school is a sure way to get a resume discarded. Before you enroll in a program, make sure it is accredited, she says.
“You can go into this with eyes wide open – and you should,” she says.
To avoid having an online degree discounted, he recommends enrolling in a program that has brand recognition in the relevant field.
“In time, a person’s experience will outweigh their education on their resume,” he says. “But all things being equal, an employer will judge your education based on their own personal familiarity with the institution that provided the degree.”
Watered Down?
Some wonder about degrees offered at major/name brand universities with names that differ slightly from the actual campus. For example: USC offers online degrees via its college of education, USC Rossier School of Education. The addition of the name Rossier is concerning for students. The additional name makes it seem like it is a part of the USC campus, but separate; it appears to be less than USC. However, there is a good reason for this name discrepancy.
In 1998, alumni Barbara J. and Roger W. Rossier gave $20 million to the school, which was at the time the largest gift to any school of education in the world. In recognition of their generosity and the importance of their vision for the future of education, the school was renamed in their honor.
In 2009, Dean Karen Symms Gallagher joined up with USC philanthropist and technology innovator John Katzman and his company, 2U to create a new online Master of Arts in Teaching degree program, the MAT@USC. The program was a new initiative to prepare thousands of students to be teachers in high-need schools. The program has since expanded its degree offerings to include a Master of Education in Advanced Instruction degree and a Special Education Credential and Gifted Certificate. The combined program is known as USC Rossier Online.
So, while the name is a little different, the quality of the education is the same because it is USC...Rossier.
Just make sure to do your homework and carefully research the universities. Sometimes just a simple phone call to the institution can provide the relevant information, sometimes you have to dig deeper.
References
- "Programs of Study".
- "The Mission of the USC Rossier School of Education".
- "About USC Rossier".
- "Chronicle" (PDF). Retrieved 1998-10-05. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
- "Chronicle" (PDF). Retrieved 1998-10-05. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
- "About USC Rossier".
- "USC News". Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- "Academics Overview". Retrieved 2012-11-08.