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Your career is not just about opening doors, and even if it was, there is always more than one way in. Your career is about functioning in the room beyond the door - functioning successfully within your chosen work environment. Waving paper - even thick Ivy League parchment - won't cool down a boardroom.

But, it is not just about the paper you receive with your degree. It is about the education.

Are on-line college degrees helpful to your career?

In short, yes.

A formally structured education that encompasses critical thinking skills, as most higher learning programs do, equips you with a reasoning process and interpretative skills that you will take with you, wherever you go. This is true, of most successfully completed degrees.

Just as an on-campus degree can help you in your career, an on-line college degree can also equip you with these tools. A good degree can provide you with this regardless of where you received it.

On-line degrees have the added benefit of developing time management and disciplinary skills above and beyond those required for many on-campus educations.

It could easily be countered that a degree received from a poorly-viewed, mass-churning on-line degree facility is worth less than the paper it is written on; that with such a degree on your CV, you may actually be viewed less favorably. This is not a poor argument, but it is flawed. It only takes into account the door to your career. It does not take into account that room beyond the door.

We learn from all experiences. We take different things out of it, but we become a better person for having absorbed the theoretical and life lessons we learn from an education, wherever we receive it.

Whether from Harvard, from books, from the Internet, or even from the wisdom of your grandmother's life experience - higher education is helpful to you. And anything that helps you expand as a person, in turn, helps your career.

Anything? So does an unaccredited education mean anything?

Yes. Of course. You do not need to receive a piece of paper to expand you mind.

Does a poor education count for anything?

Scarily, yes. Humans learn almost as many lessons from negative influence as from positive.

So am I saying that even a degree from that poorly-viewed, mass-churning on-line degree facility is worthwhile?

Not quite. Though you may pick up some valuable lessons from such a degree, it makes sense to choose a positive rather than a negative learning experience. Make the choice of a good on-line program. And you have a wealth of options. With more accredited institutions embracing the technological age, the availability of quality on-line learning experiences is expanding at a rapid rate.

In discussing the value of on-line degrees, another point to consider is the human element. Our lives are becoming busier. We require more flexibility. When we don't get it, we have a tendency to not waste time. It's the all-or-nothing factor.

If your life simply does not afford you the luxury of attending an on-campus institution, you may find yourself in a situation where the only way you can complete a degree is on-line. This does not automatically make you an inferior student, just as it does not necessarily make the degrees on offer inferior, but as you would with any on-campus program, you need to do your research.

Are on-line college degree programs helpful to your career?

The piece of paper you receive may not open all the same doors, but remember, there's always more than one way in. And with a good education under your belt, you'll find your way. You may get a few odd looks climbing through the window, but these will soon vanish when that fresh air hits and the boardroom cools down.

Learn more about this author, Danielle Dames.
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