<p>So I was wondering, I am going to Butler University and they are only regionally accredited (no PhD and few masters programs) what is really the difference between going there and a similar national institution? I am curious because I love Butler and it is ranked well but I am curious how it holds up. It is ranked number 2 for Midwestern regional universities, just so people know.</p>
<p>[Regional</a> accreditation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_accreditation]Regional”>Higher education accreditation in the United States - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Regional accreditation is the gold standard. A college or university that claims to have “national accreditation” is probably not a place you want to study at. Most of those are for-profit institutions. Some are plain and simple diploma mills.</p>
<p>Butler is a fine institution. Lots of institutions of its class do not have Ph.D. programs. Don’t worry about that.</p>
<p>I’m not so much worried about it, I know Butler is a great school and I love it; I mostly meant the “national universities” like how USNWR has them ranked.</p>
<p>Don’t even get me started on USNWR’s ranking system. That is a whole other issue! Butler is a fine educational institution that is not as well known outside of the Midwest as it deserves to be. If it were in California, Massachusets or New York state, everyone would know it.</p>
<p>What matters for your life is whether or not a degree from Butler will help you achieve your goals. If you have concerns about that, contact the Career Center at Butler to find out where their graduates end up.</p>
<p>Tcwest, you’re mixing up two unrelated things. As far as accreditation is concerned, Happymom is exactly right (as usual). Even Yale and Harvard are accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges–a regional association. Surely, nobody thinks Yale and Harvard are fly-by-night institutions.</p>
<p>As far as USNWR goes, somebody at USNWR decided what’s a national university and what’s regional. It’s a distinction that means as much as people are willing to let it mean, I guess, but it’s not a distinction that has any intrinsic value.</p>
<p>It’s true that Butler doesn’t have the kind of name recognition around the country that some other colleges have. It isn’t exactly fair, but there are just a couple of ways to have really good name recognition nationwide: be insanely well respected academically (e.g., Harvard and Yale), or play sports on television (e.g., Clemson and Oklahoma). And most colleges and universities that are well known are known because they play sports on TV, not because they’re academic stand-outs.</p>
<p>Alright, I wasn’t too worried because everyone I know that really knows about education is impressed I am going there and I loved it. I was just curious.</p>