I know very few graduates of schools outside the "top few hundred" in the US who received thorough grounding in core skills unless they took the personal initia

I know very few graduates of schools outside the "top few hundred" in the US who received thorough grounding in core skills unless they took the personal initiative to fill those gaps through self study. That's hardly a rousing endorsement for that track, if the student has to later plug the holes that a poor school left in their education. I have no personal experience with WGU or Phoenix or other online unis. But I've met a few folks who graduated from lesser schools (outside the top 200) on traditional campuses. Unless those kids were preternaturally bright and took the initiative to teach themselves (fill the gaps), they often face an uphill battle to recover from the poor preparation that an undemanding and incomplete academic program can inflict on 1) their ability to compete in those skills on the open market and 2) their passion for learning. IMHO, that's a high price to pay. My advice: don't cheap out on your education.