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How do I tell if a School
is Good. How to Identify a Diploma Mill School |
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These days it is very important that
you do your research and if you don’t there are plenty of
bad schools out there that are willing to take your money.
Just like anything the buyer should be aware of what they
are getting into prior to signing up and giving a school any
money. Below are things that I would look for when searching
for a new school.
- Look for who the accreditation is
from. Is the school accredited by a government agency or
from someplace you never heard of? Is it nationally or
regionally accreditation? Don’t feel like you are
bothering the school by asking them these questions.
Schools love to brag and tell you all about how and who
accredited them. If the school isn’t accredited I
personally would shy away from it. You might have a hard
time transferring credits at a later date.
- How long as the school been in
business? Not that all new schools are fake but a good
school probably has been in business for many years and
can document the fact that they have students and
graduates.
- Read forums. I love the internet
and think the best thing the internet has to offer is
honesty. Now people can go online and post anything that
they want and give you a nice review on their own
personal experience. If you have a question about a
school do a Google search for “school name + sucks” or
“school name + complaints”. This will allow you to read
all of the posts from other unhappy people to get the
truth. Do you think the school is going to tell you? I
think not.
- Request information from the
school and look at the literature. Do they have a
website with a physical address. Even online schools
will give you multiple ways to get in touch with them
and shouldn’t be any different than a live school. Do a
quick Google maps to make sure the address is real and
not an apartment complex.
- I personally would avoid anything
outside the US. I’m not a big fan of any international
schools and think that most of them are fake and will
only take your money. I’m sure tons of schools are out
there that are great but I personally would stay away
from anything outside the US. The US has tons of great
schools and you’ll find that transferring credits is
much easier later if you want another degree.
The above are just a few of the things
I would look for when evaluating a school. Spotting a fake
school or one that is a diploma mill is becoming harder and
harder. They are getting real good at covering their tracks.
Some words of advice are that if it sounds too good to be
true than it probably is. Do you really think you can get a
degree for $299 in less than a week without ever picking up
a pencil? The golden rule is that a real online school will
be set up just like a live school. You will have tests,
homework and even labs. You will need to get certain grades
and you have the ability to purchase 1 course at a time.
Avoid any school that makes you buy an entire year all at
once. I’ve recently heard that schools that use DHL are
commonly fake. After researching this I fully understand
why. I guess over the years DHL is used mainly outside the
US for shipments and isn’t as strict as FedEx or UPS. Most
degree mills will promise you a degree in anything for
usually under $500 with less than a week or two of training.
They will mail you the diploma via DHL and it will come from
outside the US to avoid any prosecution.
Best advice on how to find a good
school is to do your research. Request information and see
if you hear from the school. Do they offer financial aid
options (fake schools can’t do this). I’ve wrote about this
before but one of the key factors I see in spotting fake or
even shady schools is that if you call them do they promise
you a job and big money once you are done. These are schools
I would avoid as they are just working on your emotions and
dreams and you will be highly disappointed once you graduate
and can’t make the money that you were promised. |
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