Blog Archives

Is This Degree Program Legit?

10/28/2013

You’ve decided to go back to school, and you’re ready to evaluate potential programs, but are all college programs created equal? This discussion is about the importance of accreditation, what to ask colleges and universities about it, and most importantly, how it can limit how you can use college credits earned.

Accreditation 101

Accrediting bodies are tasked by the federal government to ensure that schools are abiding by strict guidelines that support the idea that they are offering a quality education and related support services to students. Toward this end, accrediting bodies assign reviewers (typically faculty or administrators from other schools that they have accredited) to evaluate colleges and universities regularly (typically every 5 – 10 years). Institutions report significant amounts of data about their teaching and administrative operations to accrediting bodies toward this review. In the U.S. there are national accrediting agencies, agencies associated with particular academic programs, and six regional accrediting bodies. While any accreditation connotes some professional review of a program, the six regional agencies are generally considered to represent the gold standard in accreditation in the U.S.

Why Should I Care: Transfer Credits

Accreditation matters because most regionally accredited schools will not accept transfer of courses from schools that are not also regionally accredited. If you complete credits at a college/university that is not regionally accredited then later want to transfer those credits to one that is, it is possible that none of the credits will transfer. In fact, if you complete a bachelor’s degree from a school that is not regionally accredited, the degree may not be recognized if you apply to a master’s program that is, and you may not be eligible for admission to that program.

How do I find out about a school’s accreditation?

You can usually find out from what agencies a school has obtained accreditation simply by asking most individuals among a school’s personnel. The best folks to ask are the Admissions staff, but most staff and faculty should be pretty well aware of this. This information is usually also noted on a school’s website.

Why would I want to attend a school that is not regionally accredited?

If the education that a school provides seems to you to be of good quality and you feel fairly secure that you will not ever attempt to transfer credits from those schools to a regionally accredited school, no problem. Also, if you feel the non-regionally accredited school adequately prepares you for a career and will not impair you from any future career goals, no problem.

The mission of accrediting bodies is to ensure that schools provide quality education and related services. As a great majority of colleges and universities in the U.S. are regionally accredited and these institutions generally stand together in allowing transfer of credits between them, many students opt to pursue higher education only at regionally accredited schools. As we have noted, however, there are compelling reasons to also pursue courses with college or universities that are not regionally accredited. The choice is yours.

If you have further questions, feel free to drop us a note or give us a call. We’re at [email protected] or (832)-4Career, and we are here to help.

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Career Success: More Likely for Men or Women?

10/17/2013

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In my last entry, I discussed differences in men’s and women’s career choices as I am asked about that issue quite a bit. As a follow-up, I am also asked whether men or women are more likely to achieve success in particular career fields. I offer some insight here.

The literature about likelihood for career success is largely wrapped around self-esteem and related support systems available to children. As we develop, we form opinions about ourselves related to careers based on feedback that we gain from outside sources. These may be based on affirmations from our parents or teachers that are themselves based on academic achievement. Several studies argue that men and women from families of higher socio-economic status are more likely to choose professions that require more formal education to enter than those from families of lower socio-economic status. In answer to the question of whether men or women are more likely to be successful in particular career fields, my answer is no and that it depends on level of support and past success with skills typically related to those careers.

While we all like the idea that we can pursue any career that we may wish, I am convinced that not all careers are particularly well suited to all individuals. That is, just because a child has all the support available to assist them in gaining entry and achieving success in a career field, they should not necessarily choose it. While we learn a great deal from education that prepares us for careers, there are a lot of innate abilities and talents that are difficult for us to tie together and neatly relate to a career choice. Happily, career assessments can help us to do much of this work. I would not argue that in career assessments we may find the key to all happiness for our lives, but they do help reconcile many of the struggles we deal with regularly in trying to relate our backgrounds to potential career satisfaction.

In sum, career choices require a great deal of self-reflection about one’s background and how it relates to the world of work. As life expectancy and estimates of our years of work continue to increase, understanding our strengths relative to an ever-changing workplace becomes increasingly important. I gained from the literature about career success that the more support that we gain in understanding careers and ourselves relative to them (whether men or women), the greater likelihood of career success.

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Gender and Age Differences in Career Choices

10/3/2013

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I am often asked about differences that I have seen from my career consulting practice in men’s and women’s career choices. Are men more likely than women to choose certain professions, for example? Since I wrote about this topic in my doctoral dissertation, I thought I would address this here. While my study revealed differences that I somewhat expected, I was intrigued by changes that I discovered in these differences as a function of age.

Gender Differences

My study revealed that men were more likely than women to choose professions that required much coursework in science and mathematics, such as engineering or medicine. Women, in contrast, were more likely than men to choose helping-related, or artistic careers such as teaching, psychology/counseling, nursing or the arts. The higher the socio-economic status of the woman’s family, the more likely she was to choose a traditionally male-dominated profession.

Age Differences

While these tendencies seemed somewhat expected from my experience helping people choose professions, what I found fascinating were the age differences. As I reviewed the population that I studied from youngest to oldest, I found that younger men and women were less likely to report interests in professions traditionally dominated by their gender. Put another way, the younger the man or woman, the less likely they were to choose professions typical of their gender.

The Implication

For me, this means that in recent decades, both men and women have grown increasingly open to pursuing a wider range of professions. I hope this information is helpful to those trying to make career choices. Specifically, I hope that this will help individuals feel that they may choose a profession based far more on the degree to which it excites them than upon the degree to which the profession is typical among those of their gender.

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Is This Degree Program Legit?

Career Success: More Likely for Men or Women?

Gender and Age Differences in Career Choices

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