Empire State College, State University of New York - Business, Management and Economics, Concentration in Business Administration

A good program

By: czubad (In Progress) on October 3, 2007

Materials:		Teachers:
Institution:		Support:
Value:		Technology:

Review:

SUNY at Empire State College (ESC) is run by its Center for Distance Learning in Saratoga Springs, NY. SUNY, founded in 1784, has dozens of schools in its system. Empire State's charter came in 1971.

As a requirement, you must take a 2 credit Degree Planning course which helps pull prior credit together into your program. Even with an assigned mentor, that initial experience could be overwhelming for first-time online students. My advice: READ the undergraduate catalog.

This was not my first online learning experience. That prize goes to University of Phoenix Online. In August 2004, I took one class with UoP, which was delivered through MS Outlook Newsgroups. It wasn't user-friendly, and the discussion threads were kludgy. ESC delivers its content through its ANGEL portal, which can be user-modified. In fact, I've been through a transition from the Student Learning Network to ANGEL. Although SLN had its deficiencies similar to the thread problem, ANGEL is still slow and sometimes buggy. But their tech support is sharp. The format is the same for all courses, but the content is controlled by the instructor.

I would say the ESC courses are rigorous. The texts are top-shelf: Paul Krugman for Economics, Twomey & Jennings for Business Law, Peter Stearns for History. The professors are average. You have, of course, a choice of teacher when you register for class. Use RateYourProfessors.com to see which instructors are duds. On the whole, I've had responsive teachers, which is what counts in this environment.

You will do well if you complete writing assignments on time. Since you can never complete the readings (unless you speed-read), always go to the assignments first, then read what you must to answer the questions.

Multiple choice testing is sometimes performed at the end of each module. You could do the tests at any time, but stick with the program.

You have support through your mentor, your Student Government Association, fellow students, and teachers: so ask questions! Raise your hand! The financial Aid office is very responsive. The bookstore is fast, and you can defer payment in favor of pending grants or aid, but you can always get books cheaper through Half.com, Barnes & Noble, Amazon or The College Store. When your student aid refund comes, pay yourself back.

I intend on continuing my education through an online MBA program. When doing so, you apply to several schools, of course. My research was going along well, then I came across this website. I was applying to Grantham, but saw its review and decided "No thanks!" So this feedback is very useful. If you have high standards, these reviews will help you cull out the obviously poor choices. If you choose ESC, please rate your experience here. Good luck!