There are lots of online colleges today that offer education and courses to students that are unable to attend in-person classes on a daily or weekly basis. Most of these students have a busy daily life routine (such as a full time mom), or they have to pursue a full time job. This can make attending in-person classes difficult, if not impossible. Because of this, many students are deciding to enroll in an online college and continue their studies along with their other daily activities.

Have you wondered what’s involved in the admission process for an online college? Many times it is much quicker, and more streamlined, than the processes most of us went through 15-20 years ago to apply to college! Here we are going to describe the complete process to get admission to an online college:

Step 1: Decide on the online degree you want

The very first step to get admission in any online college is to decide what online degree you want to have. Research all of the different options available. From all of those, you have to decide what degree you exactly want to get and how will you manage the studies of that course. You also have to consider the difficulty of that degree because, in the end, you have to pass the exams, or write the thesis/dissertation to get that degree.

Step 2: Selecting the online college

The second step is to select the best online college for studies. It is important to ensure that the online college is accredited and has good reviews. It may help to search the college on social media, and ask questions of the students who currently attend.

Step 3: Submission of Application

The admission process for online courses is not complicated. In fact, it is usually quite simple, and should absolutely not be a reason why you procrastinate applying! The process is as follows:

• Fill out the personal information in the application
• Upload the passport sized photo and/or the scanned ID card (not always required at this stage)
• Fill out the details of previous academic qualification
• Upload the scanned copies of certifications (if required)
• Upload scanned copies of additional certificates/awards/etc
• Upload scanned copies of GREE, IELTS or TOEFL if required
• Write a short “Statement of Purpose” about the degree if the college requires this from you.

Provide all the above-described information on the form and submit this application.

Step 4: Waiting for Acceptance of Application

After submitting the application, you should wait for acceptance. The period of acceptance varies according to the degree and school in which you have applied. Some schools offer rolling admissions and start dates and could inform you of your acceptance in a week or less. For schools without rolling admissions, it could take several weeks or more.

Step 5: Getting Enrolled

The last step of the online college admission system is getting enrolled. You will receive an acceptance email or an offer letter for the admission to that degree. You have to accept that letter and confirm to complete the process. Then you will get an online portal on the college’s website where you will have to set username and password and start your classes by logging in to it.

I hope this article helped you get off the fence about applying to an online college! It really is typically a short process, and you could be started on your next degree in as little as a few weeks!