I am so tired of saying this, and life goes on, so I won't fight this forever.
It ALL DEPENDS ON THE PROGRAM...............
100:1 IF the B&M program that is offering online options for degree completion is issuing the same degree as what's on campus, YES. Tests will be proctored. I can tell you from taking courses at two HIGHLY RESPECTED UNIVERSITIES.
The writing intensive stuff, listen, if you are using someone else to do your work, it's set up so eventually you WILL GET CAUGHT. Academic honesty and integrity is vital. You sign your life away like you do when you getting a freaking mortgage when you do these kinds of programs. If you haven't, then you took courses from some shoddy or off-the-wall or under-the-radar programs--not excellent ones.
There's a lot more reasons I could talk about, but seriously, why should I do other people's research when I have things to do?
If you are NOT considering doing anything this route, OK then. It would seem you wouldn't want to spend the time to do indepth research. Alright then. So be it. But then you have to keep your lips together or limit your finger movement on the keyboard, b/c if you don't do this work and due diligence, here's the things some just won't like, but it has to be said, you are making hasty generalizations and drawing conclusions and, well, speaking out of ignorance.
And that is how BIAS forms--OUT OF SHEER IGNORANCE. Doesn't make anyone stupid necessarily, it just shows that have not done the diligence needed to truly make an educated opinion on this issue.
And this has little to do with going through the application process by way of a small pool of experiences. The application process is what it is, and it is a separate matter.
To get to an interview, you are basically looking at MCAT scores and good GPA from a reputable program. When the REPUTABLE PROGRAM offers the same degree as what has been offered fully on campus, it doesn't matter. It is the same damn degree. Mind you, it will probably involve activities, courses, and other such things that are NOT done online. So really the idea of obtaining such degrees fully online is a misnomer.
I keep forgetting that the pre-med syndrome mentality will pop up often here at SDN. I guess I just expected it more from youngsterz (18, 19, 20, 21 y.os) and not NTs. I expect NTs to have learned to be more openminded, to limit unfair commentary without doing the due diligence, and to just to be more progressive-minded in terms of thinking outside the box and assembly line mentality.
I am sorry, but it really disturbs me that people insist on perpetuating myths w/o doing due diligence.
I could, again, go to a TOTALLY B&M school like "South Hampton Institute of Technology." If it is not reputable, does not have good oversight w/ strong faculty and program development, and sound regional and professional accreditation, IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT IT IS AN ONLY B&M SCHOOL.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Guess what? Same thing with the programs that are degree completion that use a good amount of online work for program delivery.
When you are talking B&M on campus or B&M online delivery or even considering something not part of a reputable B&M program, YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. People ideally do this when shopping for a car, a house, decently made shoes and clothes. WHY IN THE WORLD SHOULDN'T THEY OR WOULDN'T THEY DO WITH THEIR EDUCATION!!!!!!!!
The argument about cheating is misleading b/c CHEATING CAN OCCUR IN ANY VENUE, AND IT DOES--on campus--on exams--on whatever. Sad thing about human beings. They can lie and cheat.
No one is showing at all that those that achieve degrees from reputable B&M's with sound online delivery sytems are more prone to cheating. Trust me. If they are going to confer a degree to you from their instution, they are going to do their due diligence with you too if it a strong school with a good reputation to tarnish. Schools' reputations are THEIR MEAT AND POTATOS. Schools should and do have loftier ideals in terms of their mission and purpose, but the bottom line is that they are still businesses, and they want to make money. Also, if they receive gov't funds, they want to keep that funding rolling in. They will take very serious measures in protecting this.
Also, again, the sheer volumn and pickiness of writing intensive work for these makes it hard for students to pay others to do the work for them. Your style and approach or variants to it will be picked up eventually. And unless you pay someone A TOTAL BOAT LOAD of money, they are NOT GOING TO DO ALL THIS WORK FOR YOU--plus worry about the problems with interaction during practicums, office time w/ profs, variations in email correspondence, on line and RL discussions, or the like. It is so voluminous, eventually such a cheater will get caught and DISMISSED. The amount of folks that would slip through this would be virtually the same as the amount that would slip through with fully on-campush students. The reputable B&M, well established schools that set these programs up take great things to mix things up and make cheating very tough--and it is b/c they are conferring the SAME DEGREE as the all on-campus counterpart. You think they want their regional accreditaion or professional accreditations ripped away? They are a pain in the azz for a reason.
How many folks out there are cheating on their dissertation work? It's a similar thing with the B&M's reputable online programs. MUch of that work is highly autonomous. Yes you have to meet with your advisors, professors and such regularly, etc. The good programs I speak of expect this in their programs as well.
People cheat in every venue or delivery system. Once more, some of us are NOT talking about mills or shoddy programs. In fact, I wouldn't attend a program that was truly 100% online and didn't come out of a highly reputable B&M schools with the same amount of oversight and the same professors and program/curriculum requirements. I NEVER have supported doing that.
But again, sadly, cheating happens everywhere. In reality, it catches up with the cheater, thus the old adage from teachers when we were in grammar school, "If you cheat, you are only hurting yourself " is quite true. I will share something else.
I knew a guy that was able to get another person to go in and take the ACT for him. This dude killed the ACT for the other person. Eventually, however, the other person's coursework had an overall and downward trend that didn't fit with his ACT score.
Just as people can break into "secure" systems--and some of them incredibly secure through the Internet,
so,people can find ways to cheat. Welcome to human nature and the real world.
You should NOT, however, draw generalizations and attempt to make them the rule by way of the few acceptions.
And I wonder that some folks are holding an unfair grudge b/c they actually believe people in reputable schools that use online delivery systems, that the students are NOT working as hard for their degree (or did not) as others. In the right and reputable B&M programs this is FAR from the truth. Time spend doing the work and the same, if not at times tougher work--b/c research-based writing intensive programs can be quite the bear is a lot of work. With research-based writing you are constantly reviewing, hopefully applying, and then documenting and citing over and over and re-writing, re-writing, and re-writing. It is a lot of work.
I teach and tutor people. One brilliant Math major that I tutored in English and writing courses couldn't believe how painstakingly involved and downright hard these courses were. One this is true. They are very time-consuming if you plan to do very well in them.
Please don't make unfair conclusions about things how have not done your due diligence on and then post them as if they are Gospel. When and if you do enough research, you will end up eating your words.
Otherwise, continue to think with whatever bias you prefer. Just don't keep posting this bias as if it were the unchangeable, eternal truth of the universe.
Actually Cook has a point, even though she didn't post it as delicately as possible. I think what she is referring to is the whole pre-med syndrome that apparently controls the thinking of those that are NT as well as those that aren't.
and this: 
