Since the courses will be provided online, be on the lookout for any complaints about inconsistent availability or other persistent technical problems, as this can have a serious impact on your learning experience. Also, pay close attention to what other students have said about the accessibility of the online course materials and examinations, as a difficult navigation experience can greatly increase the inconvenience factor, and impact your ability to complete the program. If you are considering scheduled online lectures and discussions, be sure to look for positive or negative testimonials about the class interaction experience, as this will tell you what to expect from the instructors or moderators of the online psychology courses.

Once you have used the available reviews and testimonials to narrow down your list of potential online psychology schools, it is time to apply for your online psychology degree. Be sure to take note of deadlines and what materials are required for admission. A school may need transcripts, recommendations, resumes, essays, or other documents in order for your application to be considered, and providing all of these within deadlines will give you more options to choose from in selecting an online psychology degree program.

Also, if you are applying for financial aid, you may be required to submit tax documents, financial records, and other information within a certain deadline in order to qualify, so never be afraid to ask as many questions as you need to from admissions counselors and other school representatives. Once you have been accepted by one or more online psychology schools, you can choose whichever one is best suited to you, and begin your online psychology degree, opening the door to new possibilities for new jobs in psychology.

Some of the independent school review websites are a good source of word-of-mouth recommendations and student testimonials. These sites invite students to log in and submit positive or negative reviews about their experiences with different universities, and they can be a very useful tool in determining which online degree programs are worthwhile. Our Online Degree Reviews features reviews from nearly four hundred colleges, searchable by school or by subject. Other sites also have a great selection of reviews of web-based degree programs, including a number of online psychology programs, which you can look through to narrow down your prospective list of degree programs.

Online psychology schools themselves can also provide a useful source of student testimonials. Students who have enjoyed the experience of earning a degree from an institution are often encouraged to express in their own words what they liked about the program, so that the institution can post it on their website as a positive viewpoint. Schools such as Baker, University of Phoenix, and Kaplan all provide several reviews from students at different levels and in different programs, to give potential applicants a look at a cross-section of the learning experience. Naturally, a school isn’t likely to post a negative review, so the reviews provided about a school by that school should be read carefully. Even so, school-provided testimonials can tell you what the strengths are of a given institution, and can also give you an idea of what to expect by what isn’t said.

We recommend you check out our featured psychology schools as these are some of the largest and most established psychology degree programs.

• Is the tuition within my budget?
• If the courses are on a set schedule, is it compatible with my schedule?
• Am I comfortable with committing to the pace of this online psychology degree?
• Is the specific degree program something that will help me in my career, or help me get the job I am seeking?

A good way to approach this decision is to ask each of the questions above for all of the online psychology degree programs on your list, crossing off the ones that are not compatible with your budget, schedule, or overall goals. Then, take the remaining options and rearrange them in order of how compatible they are with what you are looking for.

Narrowing down and ordering this list according to which degree programs are best for you will give you several options to work with, and will help to clarify your goals, your price limits, and how flexible you can be regarding class schedules, assignment deadlines, and testing dates.

• Are you looking to add to your skill set or increase your prospects for promotion at your current job, or are you interested in launching a new career?
• If you want to head off in a new career development, does the prospect of doing research and instruction in an academic environment interest you, or would you like to work at a clinic, hospital or counseling office as a psychology professional?
• Do you want to obtain an advanced degree to have a richer depth of knowledge of the field, or will a bachelors degree provide you with the depth of knowledge that you are looking for?

If you are working in marketing, management, human relations, customer service, or another field that works with people on a regular basis, you may be able to advance your career goals through a psychology degree. Psychology courses can provide you with a better understanding of how people think, interact, and make decisions, which can be beneficial to a variety of career paths. Many schools such as Ashford University offer degrees that are designed to augment the skill sets of professionals in jobs that have a high degree of personal interaction.

An online psychology degree can also be a gateway to an entirely new psychology career. Do you like the thought of being a family counselor, helping parents and children get along better, or a school counselor, aiding students in making good life decisions, or an occupational therapist, who helps people to prosper in existing job situations or find more fulfilling employment? These and many other roles are available to individuals with degrees in psychology, and an online degree can put these careers within your reach. Examining the details of courses offered by institutions you are considering can help to determine if the programs offered can lead to the kind of new career you are thinking of.

If you are interested in a change of pace from the professional workplace, a psychology degree can also open the door to a rewarding academic career at a college or university. With a masters degree in psychology or a doctorate in psychology, you can embark on a new role as an instructor or professor at a college or university, helping interested and motivated students attain their own education in psychology. You might also enjoy working as a researcher in an academic setting, building on the wealth of knowledge in the field of psychology to uncover new insights into human cognition and behavior. Many opportunities for teaching, studying, and discovery are available at colleges and universities for hardworking individuals with degrees in psychology.

Figuring out how much time you have each day or each week to dedicate to an online degree is another important step in choosing between online psychology degree programs. Different institutions offer classes and instructional programs at different paces, so knowing how much room you have in your schedule for online classes will let you know whether a fast-paced course will work for you, or if a more gradual degree program will better suit your needs. You should also look at your daily schedule to figure out what times during the day you can participate in online psychology courses. This will help you figure out if you can commit to attending live lectures and discussions broadcast over the internet, or whether you should choose a self-study program that allows you to work on your own time. These factors will help you determine what online learning format will be most helpful to you.

A third consideration that can be helpful in choosing an online degree in psychology is what kind of learning environment you most enjoy. Do you like listening to information presented in a lecture format and taking notes, or do you learn better from guided class discussions? Does it help to have a set class schedule so that you can incorporate your psychology degree into your routine, or will you learn better if you are able to work on course materials when you feel like it? Questions like these can help you figure out if you should look for scheduled lecture-based classes like the ones offered by the University of Maryland, or a self-guided online degree program. Choosing the learning format that suits you best will not only make your online learning experience more enjoyable, it will also aid you in learning and understanding the material.

• Evaluate your personal situation
• Set objectives for your training experience
• Evaluating based on cost, quality and time commitment
• Review feedback from others online
• Select the best fit psychology program for you

We’ll take a look at each of these steps to show you how best to choose an online psychology degree that will be enjoyable, rewarding, and compatible with your schedule and finances.

All of the above reasons are reasons you can give your boss for setting up employer-provided training, but there are benefits for you as well. Employer-provided training is generally funded mostly or completely by your company, potentially saving you the out-of-pocket expense for career development. A company providing online degrees to employees will also generally provide time in which to work on them, saving you from having to cram one more thing into your off-hours schedule.

Taking online courses along with your co-workers means you will have people around you to discuss the material with, to get a better understanding of what you are learning. And, of course, if the boss is providing it, you know that it will be put to use in your job, and may even lead to better promotion prospects down the road. Employer-provided training may come with a requirement that you stay with the company longer, which you will have to take into account when deciding whether to accept training from your company, but this is frequently an acceptable condition for psychology training provided by your workplace.

Online degrees from traditional universities also provide the student with the certification of a diploma recognized by the academic and professional communities, and the backing of the reputation of an accredited institution of learning. Universities with well-developed psychology degree programs offer a wide variety of online courses for students interested in a structured classroom-style approach to distance learning.

The University of Maryland is one example of a traditional “brick and mortar” university that has diversified into several modes of distance learning, including online psychology courses. The online psychology degree offered by this university includes both self-study elements and scheduled discussions, to give online students both the scheduling flexibility of online content, and the benefit of the real-time classroom environment.

The University of Massachusetts is another institution that combines the structure and reputation of a traditional university with the flexibility and convenience of an online degree. Offering the student both undergraduate and graduate degrees, this online program puts the quality education developed by this university within easy reach of people whose schedules or geographic location would otherwise make it impossible for them to attend.

Sports Psychology

The Masters of Science in Psychology with a Sports Psychology focus from Capella University is an excellent example of a specialized psychology curriculum available as an online program. This degree will prepare you for coaching, athletic performance counseling, recovery counseling, training program design, and many other exciting opportunities in the area of sports psychology. This program also helps to get you ready to take the licensing examinations which many states require for people wishing to obtain jobs in sports psychology.

Addictions Psychology

Breyer State University is another online psychology school offering a quality degree program in a specialized area in the field of psychology. The doctoral degree in Addictions Counseling Psychology offered by this school will help to prepare you for working with individuals and families suffering from addictions. Intervention planning, family counseling, rehabilitation, and coverage of theoretical background and ethical issues surrounding the topic of addiction are all part of this degree program, in an online classroom setting with one-on-one faculty mentoring. This and many other specialized courses are available to students with interests or goals involving in-depth understanding of a sub-field of psychology.

Self Study

Are you interested in the insight and prestige that come with a degree in psychology, but don’t have time during the hours in which daytime or evening courses are normally offered? Self-study online courses provide the student with a way to study course materials, take tests, submit assignments, and receive a degree without having to adhere to pre-set class schedules. Self study modules are designed to provide students with all of the information that would normally be contained in psychology courses, in the form of text, audio recordings, or video recordings. These modules also provide benchmarks and evaluation tools both for the convenience of the student, and so that the institution can verify that the information required for the degree has been properly learned.

If your schedule changes frequently, and you aren’t always able to schedule a regular time for online learning, programs like the one offered by California Coast University might be a good fit. This program is completely unstructured and self-paced, allowing you to start your degree program at any point during the year, without having to wait for the next semester. This bachelors degree provides you with an in-depth survey of psychology topics, including environmental psychology, health psychology, developmental psychology, and many others.

If you’re looking for an online graduate degree in psychology, schools such as Must University offer advanced degrees in counseling psychology, educational psychology, organizational psychology, clinical psychology, and general psychology on a self-determined schedule. This institution provides all course materials online, allowing students to sit down, log in to their online student area, and work on their courses from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.