Will graduate schools in the United States and abroad accept an online college degree

[eLearner]

The thing to remember about grad school admissions is that your application is a package. It is unlikely that any ONE thing is going to keep you out. If you've got reasonable grades, recommendations, essays and good work experience, then what school you went to probably won't matter. However, if you have no experience, recommendations, etc... then you might need a great GPA from a good school to get you over the top.

In a less competitive situation, sure. But in a competitive enrollment situation like with Harvard Graduate School, one thing can make all the difference. If you're up against a bunch of people with Harvard degrees already (which you will be), or degrees from other top schools (which they'll have), and strong grades (which they'll have), but you show up with a degree from a low-tier school, you're highly unlikely to overtake the other applicants.

Harvard has a low acceptance rate. 3.2%, and that's down from it's previous 4%+ rate. I'm not saying give up hope, I'm just saying try not to get hopes up too high.

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It seems there is a premise where if someone goes to UMPI, WGU, etc., for their undergrad, they won't be able to get into Harvard, MIT, or any other IVY league school for their master's. That's not accurate. For example, a student graduated with a bachelor's from WGU, then got accepted and successfully completed an MBA at MIT. Another example is a student who earned a bachelor's at TESU and got accepted into Cornell Law School (T14 law school). Where you get your bachelor's is only part of the equation. How strong is your personal statement, resume, grades during your bachelor's, community, goals, etc? Anything is possible to a certain point; planning is essential.

I've known of similar stories. We just have to be careful not to allow rare cases to steer our view. Of the tiny single-digit percentage of students Harvard Graduate School even admits, I doubt any significant portion includes students from low-tier schools. Certainly not many from schools as low-tier as the ones we discuss here often.