Average Rating: 
Rating:  - It's not just more convenient...it's a superior approach.
"Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam, and admit that the waters around you have grown, And accept that soon you'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you is worth saving, Then you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone For the times, they are a-changin'." -- Bob DylanOkay, I'll admit it, I'm biased: I love nontraditional education. I was homeschooled K-12, completed a B.A. through Regents College, and am now an M.A. candidate in the (external) HUX program of California State University, Dominguez Hills. Now, that being said... This book is, simply put, the most accessible introduction you will find to the most accessible means of obtaining a college degree. This book, along with Thorson's Guide (which I also wholeheartedly recommend), permitted me to excel as a nontraditional student rather than treading water as a traditional student. I was able to take on the Regents B.A. and graduate very young, then go right for a Master's without missing a beat. If you want a marketable degree but can't put in 4+ years at your local university, or if you have 150 hours of credit but can't figure out what to do with it, or if you're well-schooled and wish you could just plain challenge every course on the books, or if you've taken a number of vocational courses and wish you could turn them into college credit, or if you want a Ph.D. but don't happen to have $30,000 lying around, or if you'd like a degree from the University of London without having to get in an airplane... Buy this book. If you'd like to take African studies from an African university, British history from a British university, and Japanese literature from a Japanese university, all without even crossing state lines, buy this book. If you'd like to have a Duke M.B.A. without going to Duke, a Cornell M.S. in Labor and Industrial Relations without going to Cornell, or a Stanford M.S.E.E., but you can't actually spend much time on campus at Duke, Cornell, or Stanford, buy this book. If you'd like to get a regionally accredited Bachelor's degree in less than a year and for less than $3,500, and you're sure that you really can challenge your way out of the entire curriculum, buy this book. If you want to know how _everyone_ will be earning their college degrees fifty years from now, buy this book. But, hey, if you really *want* to spend four years on a college campus, it wouldn't hurt to request a copy by interlibrary loan and skim it over. It's entertaining -- has little captioned illustrations, bad puns, the whole nine yards. It's really a very warm and human book, as educational directories go.
Rating: - The best distance education book on the market!
It's interesting to read a couple of the reviews here. If the reviewers have actually read the book, then my only conclusion can be that they are not particularly bright. This is one of those books that has changed the lives of countless readers. Note that this is the 13th edition! Dr. Bear provides information that has led to (at least) thousands of people continuing their educations. No, this book is not meant for everyone nor is it meant to be. No, the Ivy League isn't doing much in distance education (yet). However, Dr. Bear has taken a long, hard look at those programs out there and has given his opinion on them. Will his opinion disagree with U.S. News and World Report? Probably, because the USN&WR is looking primarily at on-campus programs. Based on this book and his other books, I'd trust Dr. Bear more than USN&WR any day of the week. I own an earlier edition of the book and will quite likely buy the next edition. If you want to get your degree, but can't or don't want to spend a lot of time on campus, this is the book for you!
Rating: - This is the BIBLE of non-traditional/distance learning!
Pardon the hyperbole, but no "nontraditional" (i.e. working adult) student should be without this book. John and Mariah succinctly and humorously break down the good, the bad, and the ugly in this guide to the world of nontraditional and distance learning.If you're a working adult considering your options for continuing your post-secondary education, you need this book. There are many ways to earn or complete a degree, and Bears' Guide attempts to show you the myriad paths and how best to select and pursue them. Last, but not least, there are many "institutions" in the US and abroad that would love to have your money. In fact, many of them would be perfectly willing to sell you a degree that would serve you better as toilet paper than as a credential. This book helps you tell the difference between institutions that deserve your money/time and those that deserve to see your backside. There are only a couple of high-quality general treatments of the topic of distance and nontraditional education, and this is one of them. The other is Marcie Thorson's Campus Free College Degrees. Peterson's guides get an honorable mention from me. In closing: I own it; I love it; I highly recommend it. Now go buy a dozen copies!
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