From the beginning (Non-traditional education route)

[Cwikstarr]

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Hello everyone. I have a bit of a dilemma and I believe that this is one of the best places to seek sage advice on the matter. I'll make this as quick as I can with some background information. I'm currently serving in the Coast Guard. I have about four years left on my contract. I'll be attending the Coast Guard's health services technician A school in the near future which is a bit of a generalist health care career choice within the service. Among the very few civilian transferable skills/certs that I'll receive is EMT. Fortunately, there's a possibility of working with physical therapists which will fulfill volunteer hours.

My goal is to get out after my enlistment and go straight to school. I'll have the G.I bill and savings to use before I start running up debt. I'm not starting completely from scratch here as I am close to achieving an AA degree. The problem I'm having is trying to determine if finishing an online bachelors (I can't attend physical classes with my schedule, it's rather unpredictable to put it lightly!) in something very general such as health science is worth it. Either way, I'll have to finish all science prereqs that include labs at a proper four year university.

Now for the nagging questions I have in my mind... Is getting an online bachelors a waste of time? Will my health care military experience count favorably when the time comes for me to compete for DPT program seats? I appreciate any advice, and thank you in advance!

 

[Azimuthal]

I have the background you mentioned and everything worked out for me. I got my undergrad with a combination of online and traditional classes and then my masters traditionally. If you have to take courses online, I recommend finding a state school so that you can use tuition assistance from the CG. Also, when choosing your degree I recommend that you check a few things. 1) make sure the degree program offered online is equivalent to their brick and mortar counterpart. If the online degree is not offered through their regular program, something may be off there. 2) ensure the school's online program is within the same entity as the brick and mortar school. You would think they should be, but this isn't always the case. Though managed by the same institution, some schools will differentiate their online degrees on transcripts. For example, Joe-Schmoe University "Online" or Joe-Schmoe University "Online Campus" or Joe-Schmoe University "Worldwide Campus". The transcipts themselves may not state whether or not each individual course was taken online, but when the school's name has those examples above, it's a dead giveaway. You shouldn't have an issue with that at state schools.

Remember to verify regional accreditation as they are more widely accepted than nationally accredited ones. You may be tempted to tap into your GI-Bill when you begin your science prerequisites but I highly recommend that you save your GI-Bill for PT school. Chances are, it will cost a lot more. Plus, you'll be a well cared for grad student. Good luck.