Can you get into a Graduate Program with an Online Bachelor's Degree?

These days most people find that they need additional education beyond a bachelor's degree. This can present a problem for people who got their degree online, many worry that they may not be able to get into a master's program with it. In most cases with an online bachelor's degree you should be able to get into an online master's without too much difficulty. The bigger question however is whether you can get into a traditional master's program with an online degree.

As with most things the answer to this is that it depends. To be sure there are some graduate programs that you can get into with some online bachelor's degrees, on the other hand there will be some cases where you are going to have no chance. It is therefore important to know what your options realistically are if you are intending to do an online degree.

If you want to get into a graduate program with an online bachelor's degree it is important that you make sure that you get a degree that is regionally accredited, without this you are likely going to have no chance. The other big thing is that if you can it is best to stay away from the for profit online only schools that advertise themselves relentlessly, everybody knows these schools and in these cases it is not a good thing.

Realistically if you have an online degree you are not going to be getting into a graduate program at Harvard, you are going to have to set your sites a little bit lower. It should be possible to get into a graduate program at your local state university for example as long as you have a legitimate online degree but for the highly competitive graduate programs you are going to have a tough time getting admitted.

One thing to keep in mind is that there seems to be a big difference in how acceptable online degrees are from one graduate program to another. In particular programs that do not require a specific degree seem to be more willing to accept online graduates. For example if you want to enrol in a MBA program you will find it much easier than enrolling in a math or history master's program as they usually require a bachelor's in those subjects. In general programs that require specific degrees for entry are less likely to accept online degrees.

One of the things that you can do that will greatly increase your chances of getting into a master's program with an online bachelor's degree is to get your bachelor's from a school that offers graduate degrees. This is why your local state university is such a good idea if you want to do an online degree. They of course offer a full range of master's degrees both the traditional type and online and they are almost always willing to allow their own graduates to enrol in them.