Thoughts on transferring to an online (asynch) college?

Transfer Students
1

I apologize in advance if my wording or structure is off. I’m just dumping all of my thoughts on here.

So I (21) am a sophomore that’s currently a full time (in-person) student at a school that has, in my opinion, very little to offer. The coursework lacks substance, the professors are extremely unhelpful, and most of my social circle is through my team, and I haven’t really built close friendships outside of it yet. What I do know is that I’m very passionate about what I study and the degree that I’m pursuing, and I love the city that I’m located in.

I have a good amount of work experience in the field that I’m interested in, and I desperately want to continue working and networking in that field because 1. I love it so much and 2. I want to set myself up for success once I graduate.

One idea that I had was that I could find a strong online (asynchronous) program at an accredited institution that could provide me both the flexibility to work full time and a more in-depth learning experience.

I ended up finding a program that I really like, and the classes seem super in-depth and interesting, even though it’s an online program. The people that go there love it, and the school has a lot of great connections for internships and work opportunities (at least for the people that live on campus).

Something that bothers me about this is that my mom thinks it’s a horrible idea. I have always looked up to my mom, and she has done really well for herself. She thinks that I won’t have any opportunities to meet professors, network, and/or build relationships outside of work. She also thinks I’m squashing the opportunity to build stronger relationships with the staff at the school that I currently attend, and that I’m making an unwise decision to leave all of it behind so that I can jump into finding my own apartment in the city and working full-time.

This all (mostly) boils down to me not wanting to make a decision that I’ll deeply regret later in life. But I do have confidence that I will be able to pivot and make a smart decision if it doesn’t work out the way that I wanted it to.

I’m sending this out because I’m curious if anybody has experienced anything similar, or if anybody has done an all online program and has any experience that they want to share or advice that they want to offer.

Thank you very much!

2

I’m with mom.

In essence you are talking about on line school. But some kids do a class or two asynchronously but are still involved in campus. Note - online and asynchronous are not necessarily the same. Online may have scheduled lectures/interactions.

It sounds like you are really talking about working full-time while going to school as well in a more convenient method. It’s fine but it’s a choice that you want to be fully employed vs living as a full-time student.

No one, mom included, knows what’s best for you. If you want to be a fully online or asynchronous student, then that’s what you should do.

And yes, you mom is likely correct in what you’ll lose. But you don’t feel like you are getting it now. Those things do require effort. And if they don’t matter to you, then it doesn’t seem a big deal.

If you believe the school is connected job wise, make sure they allow non in-person students to take part in careeer management activities.

Good luck

3

Your mother’s points are all well-taken and are things you need to consider carefully, but my daughter is a junior in the asynchronous online program at Arizona State and it has been a very good experience for her. My daughter also attended an online high school and realized that this format works well for her. She chose ASU because their online program is very well-established, as was her high school program. We could see how some brick and mortar schools struggled with online during COVID and realized that deep experience in educating online is key. I’m not trying to sell the ASU program, as it sounds as though you’ve already found a program that fits your interests, but I thought it might be helpful just to highlight a few things we’ve noted as pros and cons . . . One thing we liked about the ASU program is that the degree awarded to students in the online program is indistinguishable from any other ASU degree - there is no “online” distinction made. Students in the online program can apply for the Barrett honors program and are able to join study abroad programs. The student body itself is interesting, a combination of in-person students who are taking some online classes and people who are fully online. ASU has a program with Starbucks whereby Starbucks employees can get an online bachelor’s degree fully paid, so we were initially surprised to find so many baristas, but her classmates also include working people, military spouses, etc. The classes are mostly set up to encourage/require interaction among the students, and there are less formal chat groups as well, so it hasn’t been an isolating experience. The professors have been a mix of regular ASU faculty and adjunct faculty. My daughter is an art studies major, so some of the adjuncts are professional artists; some of them have been excellent, a few not so much. Some of the basic courses were a little formulaic, but the advanced classes have been challenging. If you have identified particular courses or professors at the school you are considering, I would suggest you check on Rate my Professor, Reddit, etc. We have found the commentary on Rate my Professor to be very helpful in understanding not only whether a particular professor is good and accessible but also how the course is run (if the syllabus is posted, this is also worth looking at). If you will be seeking financial aid, you may need to take a full course load, but in my daughter’s case, she has gone back and forth between taking a full load and a half load, depending on her other demands. The program also makes a lot of support available to online students, and they have been very responsive when she’s had questions or needed assistance.

1 Like
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Thank you for your thoughtful response! If you don’t mind me asking, does your daughter work as well? If so, how has she been able to balance school and work, and how much time out of the day would you estimate she spends working on her courses? Thanks again!

5

She’s graduated. She would never have done what you suggested. Just one class a semester asynchronous. She would never have given up her college life.

But she is not you. If you would rather work full time and have school be secondary, there’s nothing wrong with that.

As long as you can afford to do so, then if it works for you, that’s all that matters.

6

She does freelance design and composition work. Both as to her school and her work, she has a lot of flexibility, but many of her classmates do work at jobs with more fixed time requirements.