Articles

How To Put Online MBAs On A Resume

2011-03-30

More people are now utilizing the internet to attend college or advance their current education. As more schools add online programs to their graduate and post-graduate curriculums, more students are earning their degrees online at their own pace. Many students that earn online MBAs are uncertain about how to post their academic record on their resume. Many students are unsure whether or not to specify an online degree versus a traditional degree. Some students fear that having an online MBA on resume will somehow look less valuable than a non-online degree. These are all legitimate questions, and while there is no simple solution, the following article will offer some simple tips and guidelines for placing an online MBA on a resume.

First and foremost, there is no rule that says that a student must designate an online degree on a resume. If the school is exclusively online and only grants online MBAs and other online degrees, then it is not necessary to specify an online degree, since the online portion is implicit in the school name. For other schools, some students may prefer to specify that the degree is online, if the school somehow differentiates between online and non-online degrees. Many elite schools with newly added online degree programs do not differentiate between online and non-online degrees on the diploma or at graduation. If the school, and your diploma, does not differentiate, then you certainly do not need to specify that you earned the degree online.

However, if the school does differentiate between online MBAs and non-online MBAs, either on the diploma or in transcripts, then you may wish to specify an online degree on a resume. Still, this is a judgment call. As long as your resume does not contain deliberately misleading information, then there is no need to go out of your way to specify an online degree. If you choose to omit that you earned your degree online, and a potential employer asks about the degree, simply reply honestly that you did indeed earn your degree online, and that you did not feel the need to specify this fact since an online degree designates the same degree of expertise as a non-online degree. Most employers will find this explanation most satisfactory. Truthfully, provided you actually earned the degree, most employers will not require any information at all.

A good resume is a brief resume. There is no need to include extraneous information. As such, there is no need to specify an online degree. Such an omission is not dishonest. Most schools view an online degree and a non-online degree equally. Why should an employer see things differently?