From Online to On-Campus, Grad School Article

You're sitting at home working on a project, accessing information online and having lengthy discussions with faceless classmates. Everyone you interact with is a username or email address and your commitment to schedule time is waning. Initially you thought online credits would be a relatively easy way to fit classes into your schedule. Determined to complete your degree and with a handful of credits already under your belt, the appeal of a classroom setting is more of what you're looking for. Part of the experience of school is experiencing student life. Meeting with professors in person, sitting face to face with classmates and participating in campus activities are all aspects of post secondary education that you shouldn't miss out on. So if you're considering transferring from virtual campuses to real campuses or vice versa, take heart, this process is more common than you might think. While a two-year graduate degree might not seem like a long time, the truth is that things can change. With the advancements in technology and universities and colleges keeping pace, students have more options today than they did even a few years ago. If you're transferring credits from online to on campus in the same school the process should be relatively painless but if you're transferring credits from one school to the next the process gets a little more complicated. Different schools evaluate credits differently, and one school's evaluation should not be used as an indication of how other schools will evaluate that credit. Students transferring schools should make sure to include as much information as possible. Information like course descriptions, list of textbooks, number of hours and even projects may be required to determine if credits can be transferred. Students should ensure that records have an original stamp or seal of the issuing institution to verify authenticity. Any and all information you can provide to the admissions office to better help them evaluate the course being transferred is to your advantage. When the institution considers the course and credit, they will review such factors as program characteristics, academic records, strengths and quality of the institution and the programs and level and content of study. If the transferring credits come from an accredited institution and are equivalent, only then will transfer credits be accepted. If you do decide to transfer be advised that not all credits are guaranteed to be accepted. You may discover that one or two credits might not be allowed or only partial credit might be given. Students that only have partial degrees or credits from a few years ago before might find that the credits are out-of-date. The more time that has passed the less likely a school will accept the credit. Admissions offices suggest students contact the institution they wish to transfer to and find out what exactly are the requirements, what information needs to be provided and what the time frame is to transfer. And vice versa… So your home and work life has changed considerably and attending those 8am classes is more and more difficult to achieve. The ability to meet with other students in the course of a week never seems to happen and the commute to school has increased substantially since last year. If any of this sounds familiar you might be an excellent candidate to go from campus life to Internet life. There are many types of students that benefit from online courses. Providing you have the right equipment, Internet access, work ethic to schedule time to work on course work regularly and ability to work independently, online courses can be a successful alternative to completing that graduate degree. Attending regular hours of class can be difficult, especially when 24 hours still isn't enough time to fit everything in. Online courses can provide you with the flexibility that regular classrooms can't. And if you think that online courses are easier, think again. The same course material is covered online as it is in class and the same course objectives must be met. For most, if not all, educational institutions, the course content and objectives are the same for on-campus courses as online courses. So if you are struggling with the method through which you are taking your graduate studies but not