Going virtual is advantageous in every way
Posted by Jen Zeman on March 26th, 2009
Living in a small, rural country town has many advantages. Having an easily accessible four-year college or university is not one of them. Accessibility became the main inspiration to pursuing an online university.
The University of Maryland University College (UMUC), while within my home state, was not local for me. Additionally, everything I needed for my educational experience was available to me online so it’s presence as an in-state institution did not prove to be either advantageous or disadvantageous. UMUC provided me everything I needed online: applications, course schedules, registration, book ordering, advising, library services, you name it. I didn’t have to step foot on the physical campus until commencement! Final exams couldn’t be taken online, but even that was convenient. I had the ability to take proctored exams at my local community college (which at the time I worked for them, making it that much more convenient). The ability to utilize the community college was an advantage. It was wonderful knowing I could achieve a bachelor’s degree (and now even master’s degree) without having to commute 45-75 miles to a physical campus. No wear and tear on my car, no extra money spent on gas, and no traffic! With all this said I consider myself very independent and enjoy learning from a distance and don’t mind conversing with students and faculty via email or online forums. If you crave face-to-face interaction at some point during the semester, an institution with a local presence may be more ideal for you.
However, if accessibility to a four-year institution is an issue for you, an online college or university is an ideal choice, whether they have a local presence or not. It will be a matter of getting accustomed to communicating completely online. It certainly beats the alternative – not getting a degree at all.
Read more of Jen Zeman's blog.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Local vs. National Online Programs, Student Voices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
