I don't know if this the right advice for everyone, but for me these are things I thought of when choosing a school:
- Pick a school based on what learning management system they use. All your coursework is going to be done on these systems, so you should think about which one your prospective school uses. Canvas and Moodle seem to be well-liked, Blackboard is in the middle, D2L Brightspace sucks. At least, that seems to be the general consensus. [1] Other questions might revolve around whether your school actually keeps their solution up to date. I think that this is possibly important enough to be a deal breaker if your school's LMS solution sucks.
- If you are at all good with computers, do asynchronous classes online. Don't mess with in-person learning or virtual time scheduled lectures unless you're trying to do a prestigious program or something involving laboratory work. Online is going to be cheaper and the whole "fall asleep during lectures" model of learning sucks. You're probably still working so you want flexibility on your time.
- Closely inspect your prospective programs' curriculum. How many options do they have for electives and specializations? What are the course schedules like?
- Consider whether you actually want/need school for anything. My employer won't notice or care that I am getting my master's degree, and I'm going to guess yours won't, either. It's for my own knowledge and personal enjoyment.
- Obviously don't mess with unaccredited/poorly accredited programs and for-profit schools. For online schools I mostly considered long-established state schools that had a good history of running online programs. Other than that, I didn't really consider ranking or prestige.
- School is very easy for adults. It's all about showing up and putting in effort. I got terrible grades in undergraduate with all the distractions of young adulthood, the masters has been comparatively easy.
- !!! Very Important !!!: Along with the above, do you actually need or want school in the form of a full degree program? It's a commitment once you get into it and it's usually expensive. Lots of ways to learn these days.
- Pick a school based on what learning management system they use. All your coursework is going to be done on these systems, so you should think about which one your prospective school uses. Canvas and Moodle seem to be well-liked, Blackboard is in the middle, D2L Brightspace sucks. At least, that seems to be the general consensus. [1] Other questions might revolve around whether your school actually keeps their solution up to date. I think that this is possibly important enough to be a deal breaker if your school's LMS solution sucks.
- If you are at all good with computers, do asynchronous classes online. Don't mess with in-person learning or virtual time scheduled lectures unless you're trying to do a prestigious program or something involving laboratory work. Online is going to be cheaper and the whole "fall asleep during lectures" model of learning sucks. You're probably still working so you want flexibility on your time.
- Closely inspect your prospective programs' curriculum. How many options do they have for electives and specializations? What are the course schedules like?
- Consider whether you actually want/need school for anything. My employer won't notice or care that I am getting my master's degree, and I'm going to guess yours won't, either. It's for my own knowledge and personal enjoyment.
- Obviously don't mess with unaccredited/poorly accredited programs and for-profit schools. For online schools I mostly considered long-established state schools that had a good history of running online programs. Other than that, I didn't really consider ranking or prestige.
- School is very easy for adults. It's all about showing up and putting in effort. I got terrible grades in undergraduate with all the distractions of young adulthood, the masters has been comparatively easy.
- !!! Very Important !!!: Along with the above, do you actually need or want school in the form of a full degree program? It's a commitment once you get into it and it's usually expensive. Lots of ways to learn these days.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/ik76kq/whats_yo...