Why Online School Is Right for Your Post-Undergrad Career

What are you going to do when you’re done with undergrad? Every college student has heard this question a countless number of times, and never once has it instilled a feeling of comfort or ease. The truth is almost no college student is certain what life will be like after they earn a bachelor’s degree, and almost all of them desperately want their world to stay the same.

Plenty of students pursue education beyond the bachelor’s level, eventually attaining higher-level degrees. However, unless you are interested in remaining in academia, not all master’s and doctorate programs are right for you. Instead, you should set your sights on an advanced degree program that provides the qualifications you need in your career while introducing you to the responsibilities of post-college life. In short, you should enroll in an online degree program.

Online Programs Are Practical

Not too long ago, nearly everyone associated online schools with diploma mills. Instead of enjoying several semesters of comprehensive education, you would pay a one-time fee and receive your degree in the mail. As a result, early degrees earned online were a joke, and no one truly interested in improving their employability bothered with web-based programs.

That has certainly changed. These days, an online MBA is an impressive and praiseworthy achievement – at least as commendable as earning the same degree in a traditional university environment. Employers no longer distinguish between online programs and on-campus ones, which means online school is swiftly becoming an ideal destination for those just leaving undergraduate programs.

Online education is more practical for graduate students for a number of reasons. First, the most common online programs include degree programs that are directly applicable to real-world employment opportunities. For example, nearly 90 percent of MBA-holders find appropriate jobs within three months of graduation. With such graduate programs, there is little question what you will do after you earn your degree; your career path is built into your education.

Additionally, online programs are often accelerated, helping you achieve your graduate degree dreams in less time. Thus, by attending online courses, you can earn your credentials and enter the workforce sooner, giving you more working years to amass wealth and prestige.

Online Programs Are Flexible

Which is more important to your career: education or experience? This debate has been fought for decades, with everyone from college professors to hiring managers to parents getting hotly involved. On one hand, education instills skills and knowledge of a trade that would otherwise require years upon years to accumulate organically. Yet, as education becomes more commonplace, many people believe that additional work experience is becoming more impressive. If you aren’t sure what to do, here’s some good news: You can do both.

Online programs rarely follow a strict class schedule. Unlike traditional universities, which must organize classes to avoid untenable overlap and classroom confusion, online schools allow professors to post information and activities and students to participate at their convenience. While major events like project submissions and exams might need to be completed by a certain date and time, students typically have a window of a few days to accomplish assignments and tests. Thus, you can easily fit your advanced online courses into an existing work schedule, allowing you to gain both experience and education at the same time.

Online Programs Are Affordable

Advanced education is an exceedingly powerful resource for accelerating your career and increasing your earning potential – but it comes at a cost. Graduate school tuition tends to be even more expensive than undergraduate tuition, which means those already suffering under extensive student debt are wary to begin another educational endeavor that requires tons of loans.

Fortunately, online programs enjoy fewer expenses than traditional university programs, which means they can afford to charge students less. Amongst schools that are entirely online, costs like land, property, and classroom management and maintenance do not exist. Therefore, online graduate programs typically charge between $100 and $400 per credit-hour – compared to on-campus courses which may cost upwards of $2,000 per credit-hour. Plus, you can still take advantage of traditional financial aid options, and you can stretch a scholarship farther with online courses.

There are plenty of advantages to earning a graduate degree online – especially if you are not interested in being a lifelong academic. However, as seems to always be the case, your decision to enroll in an online program requires you to answer the undying question: What are you going to do when you’re done with undergrad?