Can You Get a Good Job with an Online Degree?

Over the last few years the number of people who are getting their degree online has increased dramatically. Most are doing it in order to improve their employment prospects. The problem is that in a lot of people’s eyes online degrees are not particularly reputable. So the question does have to be asked, is it worth getting an online degree and can it get you a good job?

The truth is it is hard to answer the question of whether or not you can get a good job with an online degree because there are so many factors at play, there are of course plenty of jobs that you can get that require no degree at all. Assuming however that you are studying in the hopes of getting a job that does require a degree there are a few factors that will go into determining how useful studying online will be.

The biggest thing if you want to get a job with your online degree is the school that you got it from. There are some schools that have really bad reputations and others that while not necessarily highly respected are at least recognized as being decent schools. Your best bet is to stick to state universities for your degree. Most of the issues with online degrees revolve around the private for profit schools, these are best avoided altogether as they are almost always overpriced and lead to a degree that is of questionable value.

The big advantage of a degree from a state university is not only will it be recognized as being a legitimate degree in many cases employers won’t even know that you earned it online.  You don’t want to lie about this if you are asked but in the majority of cases you will never be asked anyway.

The other big issue with online degrees is the type of job you are planning to get. In general if you are looking for a job in which a specific degree is not required and you just need to be able to check the box on the application saying that you graduated from college an online degree is usually acceptable. Rarely however will it be accepted for a job that requires specific training. For example there is little chance that you are going to become a lawyer or an engineer with an online degree.

Ultimately what can be said about online degrees and getting a job is that in some cases they can be beneficial and in others they are not. As a general rule the more education a job requires the less likely it is that you are going to be able to meet the requirements through distance learning. As always there are exceptions of course but for the most part this is the way things work.