Did I make the right decision about what college I should attend?

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1

Hello, everyone. I have a bit of a problem that I have a hard time trying to find the solution to. I’m not sure if the online college I enrolled in was the right decision.

First,I studied in public grade school up until fourth grade, where I was taken out of public school to be homeschooled. I have been in homeschooled up until graduation.

After that, I enrolled in my first online college to pursue a computer degree. About a year into my program though, I wasn’t able to finish my education because of problems on the school’s end. I was sent a notice in the mail and on their website that my first college would no longer be in operation.

Of course I was disappointed because of what had just happened. When I was enrolled in my program of study I was committed to finishing it. I tried my best to submit my coursework on time and get good grades. Anybody would become upset if that happened.

However, I didn’t let that discourage me from pursing my education. I had around fifty credits from the school, and I began seeing if they could be transferred to other colleges. I had first tried a community college. When that didn’t work, I tried two universities, to see if the credits would transfer into an online degree similar to the one I pursued at . When that didn’t work, I applied for two other universities, one was online. If I was accepted into the other school, I would have to go on-campus to study in my program. Good news was, I got an envelope in the mail saying that I was accepted. The only problem was that this university didn’t accept my credits. This meant that I would be doing a whole bachelor’s degree program from the start and with increased tuition costs. With or without credits,the school’s tuition was still affordable for me though. I just wanted to save money and don’t want the transfer credits to go in vain if they don’t have to. When the orientation started, me and my family attended the university conference with all the future students. We got to walk in the dorms and
meet some of the faculty. Yet while on campus, I was very stressed and the people there weren’t very helpful. As I sat in the conference with the other students, I felt even more stressed and I stayed to myself. I couldn’t bring myself to socialize with any of the other kids there because of the pain I felt. The dorm rooms were very small and there was lots of walking we had to do. As I looked to see what the university had to offer, I began to wonder “was it really worth it?”. Why spend four years stressed out at an on-campus college when I could get the same type of degree at an online university from home?

After returning from the university orientation, I was concerned about the next step I wanted to take. Did I want to go on to attend the brick-and-mortar university or should I opt out and choose the other online university I had applied for before
orientation? I prayed about it and talked it over with my family, and that did help.

I opted out of the traditional college in favor of the online university. This university did accept my transfer credits and lessened my tuition costs significantly. The counselors were very helpful and responsive over the phone. Just last week, I finished my first course of my four year online bachelors degree program. That program focuses on a small aspect of the one I would’ve been pursuing at the traditional university but at a fraction of the cost.

Yet there was still a problem I had. Did I make the right decision? Was going to the online university the right path or was I wrong for opting out of the traditional university just because it was cheaper? If I continued on the traditional university route, I would be sure to land the career I wanted but at the expense of a rigid school schedule,possibly being an outcast among other students, and being stressed. With the online university route, I would be able to study at my own time and pace at a cheaper tuition cost, but at the expense of probably not landing quite the career I wanted. My counselor at the online university said that I have the option to opt out if I wanted to, but I’m not going to do that until I am 100% committed that that is what I want to do. I can’t continue to change my mind halfway during admissions because I’ll never progress towards graduating anywhere and I could cause friction with counselors. I don’t mean to cause any trouble; I was very courteous and friendly with everyone I came into contact with. I am just not sure which path to take in regards to my education, especially after what happened with my first school.

Which is the best route for me? Did I make the right decision?

2

No one can tell you if you made the right choice but I hope you are not at a for-profit school that has bad placement rates. Will your current school be helping you to find internships?

3

I’ll have to look more into the internship offerings. It is a for-profit school, but it is a christian college. There a mixed reviews about the school. Some students say they had bad experiences there. Others say that the curriculum and instructors were both accessible and that hey were able to graduate successfully.

4

For-profit universities, in general, do not have a very good reputation. They tend to be necessarily more focused on the bottom line than on actually providing a quality education to students. Opinions will vary depending on the student and why people used the university - but when it comes to employers, not very many have super positive impressions of for-profit universities or online universities. Combining the two…not necessarily a good recipe.

The fact that you were having a hard time finding a college that would accept ANY of your credits is a bad sign, for example. Most colleges will accept at least some credits from other regionally accredited institutions, regardless of their quality. If you’ve earned 50 credits but no other schools will even award you a few - even a community college - then that’s a good sign that the university you earned them from might be low-quality or unaccredited.

It seems like you have given yourself a false dichtomy though, which is the choice between the one university you visited and the online option. What about the possibility of visiting some more universities and colleges and finding one (either online or brick and mortar) that you like? It may be worth exploring what made you feel stressed when you visited?

5

I just didn’t feel like I connected with any of the students I talked with at the student orientation. I felt really stressed in a crowd of kids I didn’t know, and I kept getting feelings that I wanted to leave. I kept pressuring myself to sit through the presentation but it was hard sometimes.

6

A for-profit degree is often considered as if it didn’t count. You found that out when none of your credits would transfer at a brick and mortar university. You’re investing all your money, and using up all your federal loan allocation, for a degree you won’t be able to use.
The reason is right in the same: a “for profit” is in it for the profit it makes off of you, not for the education it should offer you (it doesn’t).
My advice is to drop this program ASAP, and check that the university DOES drop you from its rolls (some online for-profits have been known to continue drawing your federal loans even after you officially withdrew.) Send a letter with acknowledgement of receipt.
Look for other universities.
If you like traditional Christian colleges, there are quite a few that are solid: Hope, Calvin, Pepperdine,Baylor, Eastern, Moravian, Samford… If you’re open to Catholic or mainstream Christian colleges, there are even more.
Of course you wanted to leave at the big university you saw: you’d never been in class with hundreds of others before. It’s foreign, uncomfortable for you. Perhaps you can look for a smaller school, such as a Liberal Arts College that has small class sizes, so that it won’t feel as intimidating for you. Also, consider this good practice for “real life”, when you will have to work with people some of the time at least. :slight_smile:

7

How does it feel to live in a dorm for a Christian college? How will I know if I am ready for the on-campus college experience? Are there things I should know before ever enrolling?

8

Depends on the Christian college…
Where are you applying?

9

Grand Canyon University

10

Grand canyon is a for-profit, not an educational institution. Its classes will not transfer.
Where do you live? Is there a smaller college you can commute to?
If you want to live on campus at a Christian college, what about Pepperdine, George Fox, Wheaton Illinois, Hope in Michigan, Samford in Alabama, Wofford in South Carolina, Elizabethtown or Messiah in Pennsylvania …?
If you want a single sex college, what about St John’s (men) or St Benedict (women) in Minnesota? They each have their own campus and dorms but are brother/sister schools so you get to meet both genders.
All these colleges are legit and recognized.

11

So, your previous online school was probably a for profit as well since other universities would not accept the credits. Your choices are to start over with a more standard educational institution (including schools in post 9 above) or to go to another for profit school like Grand Canyon. The problem is that employers may not be impressed with your for profit degree, either.

12

I was looking into Abilene Christian University. They have a program that I think would suite me well. If I were to attend, I would have to attend on-campus. I just don’t know if the stress will come back from socializing with others.

13

Don’t you have any school nearby that you can commute to?

14

Yes, I’ve tried Lamar University, but it doesn’t have the program I want to pursue. I’ve tried Lonestar and HCC but l couldn’t attend because of an error in the student application and not the right HS transcript. I’ve tried prairie view but after submitting my application they never responded to me after months of waiting.

15

Just curious. Do you have an active social life now outside your home? Do you attend church or other activities that require interacting with non-family members?

What do you plan to do with your college degree? Most jobs will require you to work outside your home and interact with people.

I think dealing with the stress that you feel when you’re in an unfamiliar environment would be your first priority.

Do you have any resources in your area to help you with that?

16

Not really. I go to work almost every day of the week, and it is there where I talk and interact with other people.

17

As others have pointed out, your for-profit credits won’t transfer. Check out your community college options - even if they don’t have the program you want, you will have general ed credits you need to take. Lots of people start at community college and then transfer after getting a year or two of general credits. Then if you transfer to another college that has your major, maybe you’ll be past the requirements to live on-campus.

Please get out of the for-profit system.

18

scmom12 & MYOS1634 your blanket statements that for profit school credits will not transfer anywhere are incorrect. Whether credits transfer or not are due to what regional or national accreditation the school has and the course and its applicability, not the financial structure of the institution.

In the case of Grand Canyon University, credits for both on-line and on- campus credits DO transfer to other institutions, including ASU and U of A. Marathon490 can look ahead of time and see a mapping of classes and what does or doesn’t count elsewhere before enrolling.

19

Would some credits from Grand Canyon University transfer over to a school like Abilene Christian University, for example?

20

To transfer credits, a school needs regional (not national) accreditation but also acknowledgement by the university you transfer to that their courses are roughly equivalent to theirs. Most for-profits simply don’t offer classes considered equivalent to courses at most selective, 4-year colleges.
(A degree from a for-profit is generally viewed as no degree, for instance.)

@Marathon490:
In order to know whether ACU would accept some credits from GCU, you’d have to email their transfer department.
Why not try to take some ASU online classes to start?