How to Choose an Online Psychology Program
Earning a psychology degree online has never been simpler, and the schedules bend around real life in a way campus programs rarely do. Plenty of prospective students gravitate toward this route, especially anyone juggling a full-time job, stuck with hours that clash with lecture times, or without reliable transportation to get to a physical campus. You study from your kitchen table if that's what works. The number of accredited universities adding online tracks keeps climbing, and psychology sits among the degrees now widely available this way.
The Instructional Technology Council, which speaks for close to 400 institutions running distance education courses across the United States, Canada, and beyond, polls its members every year on how online learning is faring. Its numbers showed distance education enrollments rising 6.52 percent between fall 2011 and fall 2012. Students keep asking for the flexibility, and colleges keep answering.
So the degree is within reach for nearly anyone. That said, before you commit to any online program, a psychology degree included, a few things deserve a hard look first.
The American Psychological Association studied what an online psychology degree actually ought to deliver. They settled on a handful of requirements: access to a learning community, genuine faculty and student support, accredited curriculum and instruction, and a way to evaluate whether the program is succeeding at what it sets out to do.
Online universities carry real advantages over the traditional kind. The reverse holds too; a classroom has its own benefits that a screen can't fully reproduce. If you're weighing one against the other for psychology, work through the questions below.
Start with your own goals. Where do you want your career to end up, and does that path call for a bachelor's or a master's? Check whether the online school even offers the level you're aiming for. Picture needing a master's while the university only grants a bachelor's: you'd finish the BA, then go hunting for a second school, and that means getting your transcripts in order all over again to apply. Look into the job prospects in your field and whether the school provides placement help or vocational counseling. Dig into internship requirements for each degree and how placements get arranged. A university that doesn't know your region may leave you short on options. Live somewhere rural, and the nearest approved internship site could sit more than 50 miles out, which stops being practical in a hurry.
Be honest about how you handle time. Can you hit deadlines on your own, with little prompting and nobody checking over your shoulder? Can you go long stretches with almost no contact and still deliver? Every online degree leans on that skill, psychology no exception, so take stock of it before you enroll. If you tend to do better with direct supervision and steady nudges, an online program probably isn't the right fit. If you start things and finish them without anyone standing over you, it likely is.
Once you've decided online study suits you, accreditation becomes the thing you can't skip. You want the degree to count. Credits from an accredited school also transfer to other universities, online or brick-and-mortar, should you decide to keep going. Research your prospective school carefully: confirm it holds valid accreditation and that you'll qualify for licensure once you've graduated. The United States Department of Education website is a solid place to verify that the accreditation is real.
Online degrees keep growing more ordinary, which is good news for anyone after a psychology credential on a schedule that classroom hours won't accommodate. One reminder stays non-negotiable: the degree has to come from an accredited program, or most organizations won't attach much career value to it. - Kim B.