Thursday, October 31, 2013
Do Life Experience Degrees Really Exist?
You may have heard about life experience degrees. It may sound too good to earn a degree based on your life experience and you wonder whether they really exist?The answer is YES, but there are NO legitimate degrees that can be earned entirely through life experience. You may have seen advertisements such as get a degree entirely from your life experience or earn a degree with zero effort or without any coursework; it most probably be a scam than a legitimate degree program. You should avoid yourself from getting a degree in this way, because it will not help in your future career. Most reputable colleges and universities do allow life experience to be counted for credit so that you may waive some subjects to save cost and time in completing a degree program, but you definitely won't be able to earn a legitimate degree solely based on life experience.Colleges or universities award credits based on various factors. Although most credits are awarded through examination, there is always a specific limit of alternative credit that you may earn through your portfolio or life experience. The university or college will review and evaluate your life experience, certification from professional training and qualification that may qualify you for credit count. For example, if you are business owner, you may be able to get management credit through your life experience in managing your own business; if you have worked for years as HR manager before you signup for a degree course, then you may be able to earn some credits from your working experience as HR manager.The credit awards are really depending on the schools, you should check with your selected school on credit transfer and life experience credit awards before you sign up with the degree program. Be aware that all life experience credit programs are not created equally and they are varied among schools and degree programs. If you think that your life experience should receive credit, then takes into consideration when selecting a degree program.As there are too many diploma mills in the market which award credits and allow you to earn a degree solely based on your life experience, one important consideration that you must take in order to avoid yourself from becoming a victim of diploma mill is be sure that you only review degree programs offered by colleges and universities that get proper accreditation from accrediting agencies recognized by Department of Education. You will notice that although the degree programs offered by those legitimate colleges and universities award credit to life experience, the life experience credit is just small portion of the total credits that you need to earn in order to complete the entire degree program.SummaryLife experience degrees do exist as some colleges and universities do award credits based on related life experience to your selected degree program, but you definitely won't be able to earn your degree entirely based on your life experience.
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Education