Hello everyone! I’ve been considering enrolling in an online university for convenience sake. After high school I attended a community college for some time and had to work at the same time to pay for life’s expenses being on my own. Gradually my grades suffered and I continued to just work full time. I’ve been hearing more and more about these online degree programs and how convenient they are if you remain disciplined. What are the requirements to be accepted to a schools such as Arizona State University, Oregon State, Penn state, or UMASS or other undergrad online degree programs? Are the admission requirements the same for online undergrad as they are for regular admissions?
Online programs are convenient, but they are hideously difficult unless you are a very organized self starter. The lack of lectures in most programs means you will be reading 2-3 times as much material and will be expected to demonstrate master of it by interacting with the subject matter in a meaningful way in written assignments.
That’s been my experience anyway.
Good luck! It’s a lot of fun once you get used to the self-discipline aspect.
The acceptance criteria for these programs vary. There is not a lot of data on acceptance rates, and because many of them are designed to cater to working adults and degree-completers, their admissions decisions are often based on factors other than test scores and GPAs.
As a rule of thumb, though, if you have something in your recent life experience that demonstrates a readiness for college study (e.g. recent college-level GPA, a successful career, founding a non-profit, etc.) then you should be able to gain admission to a top regionally-accredited university’s online program.
The more difficult task, as @jfox41 indicated, is actually succeeding once you are in the program. Make sure you are prepared for the highly self-motivated and self-directed approach to learning.