Many students may desire an online degree because of the greater flexibility it allows for working while pursuing higher education. With medical fields more than other fields like business or mathematics, hands-on experience is a necessary part of the degree; thus, internships or other tools may be required.
Students typically opt for distance learning programs because they are cheaper and have fewer added-on costs like expensive textbooks and commuting costs.
Distance education programs for medical fields fail to give students the interpersonal interaction necessary to succeed in the medical field. Online students must take care to seek out internships or paying positions that teach how to interact in medical fields.
Students must determine whether a given program is accredited even if they intend to take only a few classes before transferring to an on-site school. A popular accreditation agency is the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools.
Many good colleges offer online health studies, including Stony Brook University, University of Colorado, University of California Santa Cruz, Ohio State University and Marquette University. These programs offer a broad focus that allow students to specialize later in their career.