Online Degree Programs - Compare Distance Degrees

When Maurice Rico, a senior process engineer in El Paso, TX, enrolled in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business online degree program, a top ranked distance learning MBA, he wasn’t sure he had picked the best online school—until he participated in a mandatory, one-week online residency before classes began.

Rico, 40, flew from Texas to Indiana for the one-week online residency, paying airfare out of his own pocket (the school paid for housing and meals for the campus residency). The “very intense” week of coursework, case studies, and networking allowed him to meet his teachers and fellow online students.

Rico now says the online campus residency requirement confirmed that the Kelley Direct distance degree program was the right online MBA program for him. “It made me feel a lot better about how well-structured and solid it was,” Rico says.

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Graduate schools often require students to take admission tests. The GRE (Graduate Record Exam) is the most commonly required test. The MAT (Miller Analogies Test) is another. Preparing for these tests can be time consuming—and expensive.

Fortunately, most accredited online master's degree programs do not require the GRE.

In fact, a 2010 national study by Get Educated revealed that among 1,300+ accredited online master's degree programs, the majority—932 programs—require no GRE exam. 

Graduate students who want to avoid the GRE or MAT should compare online master's programs carefully. It is possible to find a high quality distance learning program that does not require the GRE or a related admission test.

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Students love accelerated online degree programs.

Accelerated programs consist of short online classes. A traditional college course lasts 16 weeks, but an accelerated bachelor's program compresses courses into shorter five-, eight- or 10-week sessions.

You literally earn your degree faster by studying faster.

You take just as many courses to complete an accelerated bachelor's degree as a traditional degree. But you learn faster in an effort to accelerate degree completion.