Hello!
I was wondering about the credibility for WashU- University College. This part of the school is a program that is for “busy people” and offers night classes. Similar concept to Extension School, NYU SPS, Northwestern SPS, etc. When you search up these schools, usually there is a “bad stigma” involved in discussions and people do not rate them as highly.
My question is, have you heard of this school? And if so, what do you think about it? (They offer diploma that doesn’t have “extension” or any other distinction. They offer diploma under arts & sciences so it seems more credible)
My first consideration would be debt. How much debt would you accrue by attending college this way? I sometimes suspect that these programs have a greater emphasis on making money for the school than their other programs, which isn’t to say that you can’t also get a terrific education. The financial aid is less, I suspect.
Then I would consider how close the degree at the professional program is to that of the regular program. Harvard’s is somewhat divided from the regular program, which some chances of transfer in, but those seem limited. Columbia’s School of General Studies is virtually the same as Columbia College and for all intents and purposes, is the same from an employer’s perspective or graduate school. I think UPenn’s is similar. Different program, different payment streams from the school’s pov, but same professors and standards of education (I think.) Yale’s is integrated fully.
That doesn’t mean that some people esp on this forum will tell you that the degree is worth less (not worthless) and isn’t the same and isn’t as selective, blah blah blah, because the acceptance rates are much higher in one than the other–even though the education is virtually the same. You have to decide how much that factor matters to you. Harvard extension is nonetheless a Harvard degree and in a way, who’s more clever? The person who figures out how to get their Harvard degree with or without the admissions angst? Both are prob smart in different ways. The regular admits are probably great at focusing on dutifully jumping through explicit hoops set up by life. The other group probably has more street smarts, practical smarts, to figure out another path that has maybe its own hazards, but still, a different path. If you can get the degree without accumulating large amounts of debt, then I say go for it. Bottom line: will you get a great education? Can you do so without lots of debt? By taking some of your early classes at a community college, if you can transfer those credits, may help reduce debt.
Thank you for your detailed explanation!
I did some research on the school- University College. They offer scholarships (not as much as traditional undergrad), lower tuition costs ($1,950 - for 3 credit hours), and veteran friendly. If I were to attend this college, I would have reduced debt and I can transfer up to at least 80 credit hours.
For the degree program, from the most part are taught by WUSTL professors (a lot of them have WUSTL degrees, few from other schools) and few are taught by MA graduate students (mostly who graduated from WUSTL and working on their MA on campus). I am not sure if this shows how credible the school is in terms of education.
But, the things is when you search this program online, you hardly see anything about the comments people make for this school. For NYU SPS, Harvard Extension,etc you can find a forum very easily but not University College. Were you able to find out about this school at all? (This seems pretty interesting and questionable)