Which Ivy League Schools Offer Online Learning Options?

A New Way to Breach the Ivy League

Students are turning to online schools in droves due to the ease of use, and lower cost to achieving a degree. Although a good many institutions of higher learning have begun offering distance education to prospective students, Ivy League colleges are still suspiciously absent for the most part.

Harvard

However, there are some exceptions to that rule. One place to begin checking out is Harvard’s Extension school, which offers a variety of classes, as well as certificate programs and part-time degree options online. (Note that their degrees are considered partial online, which means you would have some in-class time as well.)

Yale

Yale offers Open Yale Courses online. Access to these classes is free of charge and they are considered a bit of a hors d’œuvre with respect to the classes Yale holds on a regular basis. Unfortunately, at this point in time there is no actual course credit offered.

Dartmouth

Dartmouth offers online course access via a Blackboard function. Students are not yet permitted to complete their entire course work for a master’s degree or bachelor’s degree online, but there are some classes for which an instructor may set up online student access. This is a step in the right direction for a future distance learning program.

University of Pennsylvania

Although still not an online bachelor degree, the University of Pennsylvania offers college credit in a number of different venues; there are continuing dental education courses for dentists and hygienists, continuing medical education, continuing nursing education, ESL Certificate Courses, Wharton Executive Courses and finally Penn Advance, which offers online education credits toward a bachelor’s degree.

The latter requires official admission to the school and features live lectures as well as interactivity with voice over Internet. The course listing varies by semester, and even though as of yet students do not have the option of earning an online bachelor degree, they can get closer to the degree by taking these for-credit courses.

Cornell University

Distance learning at Cornell is a mix of individual classes for a partial online education, certificate courses for distance learning that builds on an already established degree, and finally the complete online master’s degree in systems engineering. This master’s online uses interactive web features, self paced study, and allows students to achieve a Cornell degree from anywhere in the country.

Columbia

Interactive e-courses by Columbia provide for-credit coursework in the form of stand-alone classes, certificate courses, and also entire degree programs. Columbia students may earn a Cardean MBA from the School of Business or a JTS online master’s degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Enjoy exploring these options and good luck in achieving that Ivy League education!