I was wondering, being a senior in high school graduating in June 02, if taking classes online are worth the money and what they are like... Because it isn''t exactly a class room i was just wondering how you learn, is it reading, video confrencing or what, what the diddly yo?!? Any one whos taken online classes, advice, comments anything welcome You can also email me redigjohn@yahoo.com http://www.gamerzparadise.com

I can''t speak to your question directly because I have no experience with online courses - however - I would think that it depends on the institution behind the courses - MIT online versus FlyByNight U online. Pricewise - you''ll probably find that it''s less expensive to live at home while attending a local jc and then transfer to a 4 year for the upper division courses and the actual degree. Life will look a whole lot different to you in two years - all that high school crap that used to seem so important won''t be and kids in high school will start too look to you like kids - rather than as your peers - the same can be said for college too. At 18 you''re old enough for the draft, at 21 old enough to drink. But you won''t really come into adulthood until you''re about a year into your first post college job - that is - unless you have children between now and then. Best of luck on your journey.

As the AP said, it really depends on the group offering the course online.

Things like gameinstitute.com are basically reading web pages and participating in IRC sessions. They''re good, but it''s really only a smallish step over reading a book yourself.

On the other hand, some schools (For example, the Univeristy of Massachusetts) offer remote classes by videotaping classroom lectures and having you mail in your assignments to be graded along side the regular classroom students. You can even get a regular degree in this manner.

Basically, if a school offers classroom _and_ online or remote courses, it''s probably a decent course. Be wary of companies that _only_ teach over the ''net and don''t have a face to face program as well.