Hello! We've all heard the horror stories about people taking courses online and getting ripped off. My question to you guys is whether or not there are any reputable ways to seek a degree in either mathematics or computer science online. I would appreciate any opinions and experiences you could share.

I believe the University of Chicago, Stanford, USC and Texas A&M offer a variety of computer science and mathematics degrees at the masters level that are fully accredited(I've heard friends mention a few others, but I cant recall the names), and which give you the same degree as if you'd attended in person. I have not particpated in any of them, but I have a coworker who got his MSc in CompSci from USC in this manner and he didnt have any complaints. In all these cases however, I believe the cost is the same as acctually attending in person, and you have to go though the same process as a reguluar graduate student applicant. I've never heard of any reputable university offering BS degrees online, but there may be some. I'd steer clear unless its a well known university however.

Thank you for the input! I have put in some time at a regular university going for a BS, but now I'd like to finish online or at least continue the degree online. The university which I attended does not offer such services themselves.

Just chiming in to say that if the alleged university does not have a physical campus, do not take classes there!

Your best bet is to talk to admissions department of real, physical universities like the ones listed by the above poster and talk about options for completing some (or all) courses online.

I definitely agree; the University of Minnesota is another reputable university that offers online courses. They mostly offer graduate-level courses, but some undergraduate courses are available online.

Regis University offers an online comp sci degree as well.

Thanks guys! I've sent for some information from Regis. Any and all additional suggestions are welcome and appreciated. ^_^

I'm a "distance learning" (their phrase for online) student at Florida State University. I'm going for my BSCS degree. I've been pretty happy with the program so far and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything (other than sitting through 8 am lectures =). The only thing is they don't offer some of the prerequisite math courses (such as calculus 1 and 2) online.

Edit: The website describes the online program as being software engineering, but they've since made the curriculum branch. You can now do either software engineering or the typical computer science degree.

My brother is taking online courses at Washington State University, which is about 300 miles away. His commute to school is from his bed to his desk at whatever time he wants. He likes it and thinks it's the way to go.

I personally, would never take an online course. I'm much more of a traditionalist where I want to sit in a classroom with fellow students & a professor, and talk to people instead of write on message boards. It's much easier to make friends and get to know people when you see them in person and interact with them. You also get a much better gauge for what kind of people they are. Last week I spontaneously went out for a burger with some fellow compsci students - my brother couldn't & wouldn't ever do that with his peers.

Someone taking online courses could ask: "Well, what's the value in making friends anyways? I've got plenty already." Friends can hook each other up with opportunities. A CS grad looking for work can ask their college friends if they know of any position openings in the industry they're looking to get into. Since friends already have a stamp of approval, the vetting process of interviewing unknown people is less risky because you know what you're getting.

Oh...and I would *never* take a mathematics course online. It's just inconceivable to use the Internet as a medium for teaching mathematics. The best solution I've seen is youtube video lectures on a math concept, but the cost of production vs. the benefit bestowed is so ridiculously inefficient compared to in-person lectures and the response time to get questions answered could be crippling.