Can a worthwhile masters degreebe obtained from an online college?

[briandestefano]

I graduated from a four year school last year with a BS in civil engineering and I am interested in obtaining a masters degree. I want to keep working during the days and do schoolwork at night. I don't live or work close enough to any colleges that offer any type of civil engineering education to commute a few times a week. So my question is: are there any worthwhile online degree programs that I could look into. I've done some research but I'm having some trouble finding unbiased information, as most of my information is coming from the online colleges themselves.

Any information from anyone who has done it or looked into it themselves would be very helpful. thanks

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Search on this site, there have been 2-3 discussions of the subject recently.

 

[nuche1973]

greenspruce,
where I work there are several people who graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and are working in the structural department. Both individuals have been with for several years, starting out as cad-techs. It is possible, you just have to accumulate the necessary amount of experience in that field.

 

[geostruct]

brian-

check out this thread:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=220317&page=2

There is a good link on that thread with a list of online grad programs. Personally, I think online schools are a good value as long as you put forth the effort and are able to take classes in that style. You will see my stance in that thread.

Best of Luck.

 

[YoungTurk]

You may be interested in this:

http://den.usc.edu/programs/degreeprograms.htm

This program offers a regular USC degree to online students. Classes are the same as classroom classes.

Certainly the old guard is wary of online degrees, but for those of us with few other options... well we have few other options. I believe the path is set and online degrees will become more accepted in the future - especially fully accredited degrees from traditional universities. In fact, for the DEN program linked above, the resume need not indicate in any way that it was an online program (though a sharp HR person will probably notice that you were working many miles away while earning your degree).

 

[RunSomewhere]

I think I'm going to take the plunge and do an online master's degree. There are three universities around me, all about 25 miles away. I've taken courses at two of them (U. of Akron, Cleveland State U.), the third offers courses mostly during the day (CWRU). I welcome not having to spend 45min in traffic during a blizzard trying to get to class on time. Heaven forbid there's an accident on the freeway. That's time I could be studying.

I have looked into a few online programs. Columbia university has distance learning engineering programs (Columbia Video Network). Penn State (World campus) offers a Systems Engineering program. USC is the other I've looked into. For me, USC seems to offer a solid Biomedical Eng. program. According to the '09 US News and World report, the Viterbi School of Engineering is ranked 8th in the nation.

 

[RunSomewhere]

...another advantage is having all the lectures archived and available to watch throughout the entire semester. In my previous courses, I've used a digital recorder to capture lectures. It was somewhat helpful if I missed something and wanted to review it again while studying. The idea of having video however, sounds great. It completes the package, with audio and any visuals (notes, overheads, drawings, etc.)