Deciding to take your education online can often be a good choice. However and importantly, it is not without peril. Here are the two key statements:

1. It is harder to be an online student than a residential one; and
2. It takes more motivation to be an online student than it takes to be a residential one.

Unlike many things in life, these two key statements are hard and fast rules. If you go into your online journey believing that it will be easier than showing up on campus, you are in for a smack-down really fast.

Some things that you should know about yourself before you decide to earn a college degree online include:

• Are you capable of independent work? In most cases, you will not have a professor following after you to make sure that you complete assignments. This is where many students have their downfall.

• When you were a traditional student, did you do well in school? Being a good student is being a good student. While there are, absolutely, students who do better online than they would in a residential program, this is a smaller number.

• Do you prefer to work in groups or alone? While you will likely do both in whichever environment you choose, being able to work alone is a good skill for the online learner.

• Do you have reasonable technical skills? Starting an online program is not the time to learn how to use one of those computer "things." Learn that first and then decide if you could learn using it.

• Do you know what kind of learner you are? If you need to hear things to understand them, make sure you choose a program that uses audio, video, and such. If you need to see things to understand them, make sure that is part of the program.

Something to know: I am a distance learning advocate. The four books that I have written all relate to online learning in some way. I want you to succeed and you can, but you need to understand what it takes to be successful. If you have some of the above, you can make it. If you have none of the above, you may wish to wait until you are capable of some of those things.

For the sake of this hub, I am assuming that you are looking to earn a college degree. If you are considering earning a high school diploma online, then you may wish to read some of my other hubs.