Neuroscience Degrees

Straits Times journalist from Singapore, Lim Yee Hung reported in anewspaper article that he received two university degrees last week. One is anassociate degree in Criminal Justice and the other is a bachelor’s degree inJournalism. It took him just one week to get both degrees. If universitydegrees are that easy to get, they are probably fake degrees.

He went on to say in the report that he got the associate criminal justicedegree from Belford University and the journalism degree from True Diplomaspaying a total of US$349 for the degrees excluding freight charges without anystudying on his part or examinations to take.

He called Belford University’s hotline before buying the degrees and wasassured that Belford University degrees are perfectly legal, properlyaccredited and accepted all over the world. In order for an applicant toqualify for a Belford online degree, the candidate must have sufficient ‘lifeexperience’ or an ‘online equivalency test’ which can be done under onehour.

True Diploma have no degrees of their own to offer for they sell replica andimitation degrees from about 115 genuine universities including Ivy Leagueuniversities such as Brown University and Cornell University. The degreesoffered by True Diploma are certainly fakes and they tell you upfront aboutit.

When Lim received The Belford University degree, he found that it was veryimpressive. Along with the degree package were also educational transcriptswith grades for each module. The university seal is embossed on the degree andlooks authentic. How could there be grades and transcripts if tests andexaminations are not taken?

The journalism degree though can be easily spotted as a fake. There areglaring misspelling and grammatical errors. For example, in his degree,December was spelt as Decemberf.

He reported that in the United States, fake degree scams are so rampant thatthe problem is seen as a national security threat. An audit in May 2004 showedthat a total of 463 employees in the federal government had fake academicdegrees. Some were even high ranking officials in sensitive positions with toplevel security clearance to boot.

According to fake degree mill expert John Bear, co-author of Degree Mills,fake degree mills are a billion dollar industry having sold thousands of fakeonline degrees and diplomas every week internationally.

Although some employers may check the qualifications of a prospectiveemployees directly by calling up the university which awarded the degrees, thisscreening may not be effective against some degree mills as some of thesedegree mills provide verification services. Employers who called are told thatthe job applicant is indeed a graduate from that particular university.

However, not all college and university online degree programs are frauds.There are some great universities such as Harvard University offer onlinedegrees.

So if you want to get an online degree, then it is prudent for you to do athorough due diligence and check with your local educational authorities forthe online university’s authenticity so that you will not end up with a fakedegree by a costly mistake.