Bears Guide to Earning College Degrees Nontraditionally (Paperback)

by Mariah P. Bear MA (Author), John B. Bear PhD (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Many people want or need a college degree but don't have the time or money to pursue traditional study paths: for this audience Bear describes all known approaches to obtaining degrees, from correspondence courses and on-line study from home to enrolling in unusual programs which earn you credit for outside activities. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Description
The essential reference to alternative education, this book covers it all: night and weekend colleges, foreign medical schools, degress by Internet and other e-mail avenues, and basically every other way of earning a Bachelor's, Master's, Doctorate, law, or medical degree through some unconventional method.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Pr; 12th edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962931233
• ISBN-13: 978-0962931239
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #820,892 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bear's Book a Standard for Advising Non-traditional Students, April 1, 2000

By	Barton L. Bond (Santa Fe, New Mexico; USA) - See all my reviews

First a bit of background - I have been involved in distance education for over 25 years and have been a university and community college faculty member for over 15 years. I have traditional bachelors and masters degrees (two of them in fact). My work in distance education includes the design, production, scheduling and delivery of "traditional" video telecourses as well as Web-based courses.

In my work with students over the past decade and a half, I have advised a significant number to explore completetion or advancement of their academic programs through non-traditional or distance programs.

In all that time, I have used Dr. Bear's books as my primary referrence about distance education. I believe I started with the second edition of his "Bear's Guide" and have acquired every update since. For a number of years, his was the only publication which presented a comprehensive collection of information about programs and schools.

I have always received positive feedback form my students who relied on the information Dr. Bear presented - their expereinces with specific schools most often mirrored the reviews in the "Guide".

Throughout the years and the progression of new additions I have noted a marked shift in the method of presentation, particularly regarding the level of Dr. Bear's crusaiding against those institutions that did not measure-up to his standards. The largest number of those outfits would be called degree mills, but he did assail a fair number of "real" schools for being non-responsive, pompus or disorganized.

I must confess I miss that level of "edge" in his last couple of editions. This is unfortuante, I beleive, given the growth of educaitonal coursework via the Internet and the fact that the majority of two and four-year schools in the U.S are offering some form of distance learing (with that number growing every day.

Nonetheless, I still find "Bear's Guide" to be the best single resource for distance and non-traditional post-secondary education.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I used John Bear's book to earn 3 college degrees., September 1, 1997

By	Paul Trejo (Los Altos, CA) - See all my reviews

In the mid-80's I had a high-school diploma and a decent job, yet I knew I had more information and reading/writing skills than most of my peers and many of those higher in the corporate ladder. I decided to read John Bear's GUIDE TO EARNING COLLEGE DEGREES NON-TRADITIONALLY. I read it, re-read it and studied it. I decided to act on his advice. In two years I obtained an AA degree from the University of the State of New York, while working at my regular job and never attending a college campus except for a few hours to take some monitored tests. In the next two years I obtained a BA degree from the same University, by passing only two more tests; both entrance exams. John Bear assured me that my degrees were fully accredited, but I wondered. I decided to apply for an MA degree from Cal State at Dominguez Hills; another one of John Bear's recommendations. I had never heard of the USNY before reading his book, but I surely had heard of Cal State, so I applied for their off-campus MA program. To my delight I was accepted on the weight of my BA degree from USNY, and in another two years I earned my MA degree while working at my regular job, without ever setting a foot on the CSDH campus. Since that time I have advanced my career to the level of a consultant, and my income is nearly triple my mid-80's income. I attribute at least part of my success to the self-confidence and prestige of having these sheep-skins on my resume and on my walls. Thank you, Dr. John Bear, for your invalubable book, which has greatly enriched my life. Best regards, --Paul Trej

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough,informative and fair, December 30, 1998

By A Customer

In the 1970's I launched a private correspondence institution named Lincoln University (Arizona). Most students were from Nigeria. I had a lot of problems from "yellow journalism" - newspapers such as Britain's Daily Telegraph which never approached me denounced me falsely as a bogus degree salesman. I was very grateful to Dr John Bear for giving Lincoln a fair assessment in his Guide recognising my work as a genuine attempt to make quality tertiary education available at a cheap rate for Africa. I have gone on to be a professor in residential African and Asian universities whose standards certainly don't match those I set for "unaccredited" LIncoln.

I feel John Bear's research on real and imagined universities is very thorough, informative and fair.

Dr Bernard Leeman [e-mail]