If you are planning to go for online education, you must certainly do your homework well. There are a lot of online schools that will provide the degrees but not all of them are genuine and worth your time and money. In order to avoid falling for the wrong college, you must ensure you are looking at the right place.Check onlineAlthough this is a no-brainer, you shouldn’t be looking at the sites of online colleges. Instead you should look for a lot of those sites online which provide all the information that you need to know about various online universities. These sites are more like a database that will give you all the knowledge you want about which universities offer what online degrees. Some sites even include feedback from students about specific colleges. Comparing information from multiple online sites like these, you can arrive at some shortlisted universities that are reliable and can be considered for pursuing online education. Although there are other steps to get to the right online school or college, looking for the information on these sites, will help narrow your list down to a great extent.Talk to students from various online universitiesIf you are considering a few online schools, it is mandatory to talk to some of the students who are pursuing their online education with those universities. This also includes talking to students who are pursuing the same online degree as you are planning to do. This will give you an insight to the benefits of enrolling in that university as well as the problems faced by the students. This will help your decision making process while short listing the university of your choice.Talk to professors in the same fieldIf you are planning to pursue higher studies for an online degree, talking to the professors of the relevant field would be greatly insightful for two reasons. Firstly, the professors can always make out from the syllabus if the college indeed offers something of value. Secondly, most professors stay well informed about their subject and field and hence would surely be well informed about which online universities have a good course structure and which ones don’t.If you are employed, talk to your managersThose who have a job and planning to pursue higher education through an online college have a great advantage. They can talk to their managers and other seniors who will have a good idea about how a degree from certain online college is perceived in the company you are working for. Knowing about their feedback, you can take your decision about your career in more informed way. It will also help to understand what perspective most employers have about online degrees and online schools.Check Online Education Wing of Reputed Universities In terms of enrolling for a good college through online education this is your best bet. Many reputed universities also have an online education wing. You can certainly apply for such universities and hence benefit from their reputation and also from the advantages of online education.

There is an on-going debate in the Virtual Assistant community about potential clients asking for references. Some are offended; some don’t really care one way or the other. This is my spin on the issue.Virtual Assistance is still a new industry, though for those of us who have been at it a long time, it doesn’t really seem that way. However, most of the business world is just beginning to discover the benefits of partnering with a VA. And it is the job of all VA’s to educate potential clients about what we do.When you are interviewing a potential client, you cover all your bases by asking pointed questions about their work style, business plans, technology, etc. You ask the questions that get you the answers you need to determine if (a) you can work with this client and (b) if you have the skills to do what they need to have done.And the potential client is interviewing you as well. So don’t be surprised when they ask for “references”. They are simply following good business practices.Would you hire another VA for your team without checking with people she/he has worked for or with? Doubt it. And if you would, well don’t get me started.Many of those who argue against references (and I used to be one of them) say that because you are an entrepreneur, you should not be asked for references. They see it as demeaning. You wouldn’t ask your accountant or lawyer for references would you? Um, yes, I actually would.If I am going to trust ANY part of my business to another person, I want to know about their track record. I want to hear from people they have worked with/for to get a sense of whether they can do the job I’m asking them to do. I want to know about quirks. I want to know about results.I wouldn’t hire a [insert any job title here] without asking about their success stories or without speaking to some of her or his clients first.Testimonials are great, and many say that that is what you should give to people asking for references. While testimonials can help, they are static. They are never going to give you the same feedback and information that a phone call to an actual human being will give.And since most people find their Virtual Assistant via web searches, it makes sense that they are exercising a fair bit of caution. The web is notorious for fly-by-night schemes and shams, and those who are looking for a VA should be cautious in choosing one. That means they will ask for references. They will want to speak to your clients. They will do their due diligence.After all, wouldn’t you?