Archive for the ‘My Online Program of Study’ Category
I enrolled in the PhD program in Organization and Management at Capella University in 2000. I had been working in business/finance, but my bachelor’s degree was in communication and my master’s degree was in Human Resource Development.
One of the best parts of Capella is that all my master’s degree credits transfered in as electives, so I was required to complete only the core courses of the program to earn the degree. This certainly helped shorten the required timeframe for degree completion.
For a while, I was also working on a specialization in leadership, but I found that specialization added to the required timeframe for coursework, and in the end, I would still have a PhD, whether there was a specialization or not. So eventually, I dropped the specialization even though I had completed some of that coursework.
What I did find is that if I had an MBA rather than a MA, these PhD-level core courses would have been a lot easier to navigate. I had never taken an finance class, or a graduate-level marketing class. I found that compared to many of my classmates, I was way behind on the core business concepts. If I could go back, I don’t know if I would have done anything differently, but it is certainly something that I was aware of. I had to invest a lot more time in those courses and had to solicit help from experts in those courses to get up to speed swiftly.
I did think that my MA prepared me sufficiently for the PhD coursework. I do wish I’d have endeavored to write a Master’s Thesis, which was optional for my degree program, now that I’m working on the dissertation. That experience would serve me well at this point.
Posted by Jen Zeman on February 4th, 2009
As someone who is interested in researching facts and finding answers, I felt becoming a paralegal would be the perfect career path to follow. The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) offers a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies completely online, so this is the program I chose to complete. I had no previous experience in a law firm nor did I possess an associate’s degree in legal studies (I have an Associate of Arts in General Studies). Neither is required for this program. Your studies will begin with an Introduction to Law course and it builds from there. I completed courses such as Legal Writing, Techniques of Legal Research, Intellectual Property, Torts, and Advanced Legal Writing. You can select upper-level legal courses based on the area of law you would like to end up working in such as family law or contract law. A complete listing of the legal courses can be found here: http://www.umuc.edu/programs/undergrad/courses/lgstcat.shtml#lgst101
Program requirements for UMUC’s Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies can be found here: http://www.umuc.edu/programs/undergrad/lgst/
I found the courses to be challenging, but interesting. The curriculum overall involves a lot of research (naturally), and a lot of writing. The law is complex in any area, so a keen eye for detail and the ability to be thorough when conducting research is essential. Equally as important is the ability to write well since major functions of a paralegal’s job duties are writing legal memorandums and court documents. These documents need to be concise, clearly detailing the legal issue at hand and clearly explaining the client’s position. If you don’t like to write, legal studies may not be for you!
I also completed a minor in humanities which complemented my legal studies courses. The humanities minor delved mainly into philosophy courses. These courses assist in expanding critical thinking skills and enabled me to look at legal case studies from a different perspective and allowed me to see “the big picture”.
If your desire is to eventually enroll in law school, the B.S. in Legal Studies is a perfect foundation.
Posted by Jeff Davis on February 3rd, 2009
My online program of study was a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology curriculum which combined networking, communications, computer programming, and systems development and analysis. This particular program was focused on acquiring the theories and technical competencies that are typically associated with the information technology profession. The courses I took provided me with a fundamental knowledge and application in both the information systems function and in systems development.
My program basically covered 5 main content areas: Business Systems Development, Programming and Operating Systems, Database Management, Networks and Telecommunications, and Web Management. Each of these specific areas had multiple classes and are really too numerous for me to list all of them here.
Since I had already obtained an associate degree in prior years, I was able to transfer those credit hours and apply towards this degree. Therefore I only needed to complete half of the coursework that was required for this undergraduate degree. Upon successfully completing the program, graduating with this degree gave me the ability to successfully perform and obtain desired outcomes in a variety of information system and technology environments and to develop, maintain, and apply information technology skills to support the strategic goals and objectives of my current organization.
I feel that this program lived up to its ability to properly prepare me with the competencies, skills, and attitudes necessary for success in the workplace. It gave me a basis on which to work with while allowing for growth in my career, to continue learning as an IT professional, and to pursue a graduate degree in the future. Even if you are not working in the information technology field right now and have no prior computer experience, this program can help to pave the way for a career in computer information systems.
Tags: associate degree, bachelor degree, business systems, communications, computer information systems, computer programming, database management, information technology, IT, IT professional, networking, networks, online program, opearting systems, programming, systems analysis, telecommunications, University of Phoenix, web management
Categories: My Online Program of Study, Student Voices
Posted by Sharon Cece on February 2nd, 2009
I was a typical college student from 18 to 20. I lived at home with Mom and worked at a department store while I attended a community college. At that time I majored in Business Management. A year later I hopped in my rusty little Datsun with one box of clothes and a typewriter (really) and headed to FSU, where I segued to the more general Business Program.
Then, I became somewhat non-typical and left FSU without a degree and a bunch of credits flying about looking for a home. Years passed; I traveled around the country a bit, got married and had kids. When I returned to finish my degree I was dismayed to discover that the online program I was interested in didn’t have a Business Degree Program! What to do.
Enter the wonderful, flexible Interdisciplinary Degree. Here’s what happened: I still had all these credits still flying around and now they’re getting tired. I knew that after 14 years I’d be hard-pressed to find a program that would accept all these aging credits. The Florida State Undergraduate Program Online had four options:
- Computer Science (Um, no–The last computer course I studied was Fortran, which can be found under history close to “Mayan Civilization” and “Jurassic Life“)
- Nursing (Definitely not, don’t like sticking needles in people)
- Family Development and Family Resource Management (Interesting, but would have to start over)
- ISS, or Interdisciplinary Social Science (ISS, is that a degree for snakes?)
None of those seemed applicable to Business, so I figured I struck out.
Not so. Interdisciplinary Degrees are just that–composed of two or more disciplines. Upon further inquiry, it turned out that many of my business courses, as well as the many prerequisite and general elective courses required for a business degree, were applicable toward a Florida State ISS Social Science online degree. Jackpot! Of course it helped that some of these business courses were from FSU prior; even so, it worked out much better than I had hoped.
The great part of my online experience at Florida State is that the advisors are very dedicated to helping you to graduate. My advisor spent a lot of her time reviewing my former transcripts, fitting in what could into my ISS program and helping me organize what courses I still needed. My Interdisciplinary Social Science program was flexible when it came to qualifying courses for my grad check; for example, general Economics courses that I took at my community college in NJ were applicable to secondary concentration Economics courses that I needed in order to graduate at FSU. In this way, I was well on my way to finishing an online degree in Social Science by utilizing courses I obtained originally pursuing a completely different degree.
