Not all diplomas are legitimate.
Many professionals have personal experience that feels like the equivalent of having a master's degree in a particular subject. Various programs will give professionals these master's degrees even if they have not attended any courses. These programs are scams that create illegitimate degrees, or legitimate degrees from unaccredited degree mills that have no value on a resume. The only legitimate life experience programs are ones that offer only college credit, not an entire degree.
Relevant Experience
Life experience can come from half a decade of on-the-job experience, workshops and seminars that the professional had to attend as a work requirement, military training, participation in various organizations, lifestyle and hobbies, volunteer activities, national testing programs, community service and independent study.
Verification
Programs that offer life experience master's degrees claim to examine the applicant's experiences and verify these experiences to determine if the applicant is eligible for the master's degree. In reality, in many cases, students simply need to pay a fee. These programs promise to verify the master's degree when an employer wants to make sure that the master's degree on the resume is legitimate.
Degree Mills
Some universities are considered degree mills, which means that the universities that offer the degrees give out the degree to almost anyone who is willing to pay a large enough fee. However, employers often do not want to hire individuals who received degrees from these universities. Therefore, professionals should check the legitimacy of the university before paying for the life experience master's degree.
Tests
Some life experience master's degrees require that the applicants pass a test so that they can acquire the degree, to ensure that the applicant has not forged any of his credentials. The score they receive on the exam determines the student's GPA (grade point average). Most of these exams are frauds, designed to give the program the illusion of legitimacy.
Scams
While there are some legitimate live experience degree programs, many of these programs create fake degrees. These programs let applicants choose their own GPA's, dubious accreditation programs and forged documents that try to mimic the weight, signature and degree seal. These documents are illegal, and can also ruin the applicant's reputation. Almost all online life experience programs are frauds. Organizations that promise 24-hour approval, have applications that do not ask about previous schools, promise degrees in under two months and offer discounted prices are usually illegitimate programs. To make sure that a program is legitimate, students can see if a program is listed on the United States Department of Education list of regional and national accrediting services.
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