NU Editorial Contributors
National University Editorial Contributors include writers, editors, and academic professionals who are experts in creating high-quality educational content that is timely, accurate, informative, and easy to understand. All contributors who develop content for National University follow strict guidelines to ensure they provide credible and authoritative information that is independent, free from advertiser influence, and aligns with the high standards our readers and students expect from National University.
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Articles by NU Editorial Contributors
December 16, 2025What to Know Before Starting Your Doctoral Degree
Starting a doctoral degree requires preparation across three interconnected areas: financial planning, supervisor selection, and mindset, because the experience differs fundamentally from undergraduate or master's education in ways that catch many students unprepared.
December 12, 2025Types of Engineering: What Are They? Everything Explained
Engineering is broadly divided into five core branches: civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, and industrial. Each branch applies science, math, and design to solve real-world problems, and each contains its own specialized subfields, from aerospace and biomedical to environmental, computer, and materials engineering.
December 9, 2025What is Data Science?
Data science is an interdisciplinary field combining computer science, mathematics, statistics, and domain expertise to extract actionable insights from raw, structured, and unstructured data, spanning the full data life cycle from collection and cleaning through modeling, interpretation, and visualization. The three core components are statistics and mathematics, which provide the foundation for predictive modeling through probability, calculus, and linear algebra; computer science and programming, with Python and R as the industry-standard languages for building algorithms and processing large datasets; and domain knowledge, the subject-matter expertise needed to frame relevant questions and interpret findings in context within a specific field such as healthcare, finance, or logistics.
December 9, 2025How to Become a Network Engineer: A Step-by-Step Guide
Becoming a network engineer typically begins with entry-level IT experience, in helpdesk or desktop support roles, followed by vendor-recognized certifications that validate network-specific knowledge and open the door to dedicated engineering positions. The foundational certification path runs from CompTIA Network+, which validates core networking concepts including protocols, devices, and troubleshooting, to the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), which is the industry standard for configuring and operating routed and switched networks, with most employers treating the CCNA as the minimum credential for a network engineering role.
December 3, 2025Can You Really Get a Good Job with an Online Degree?
Yes, employers today evaluate online degrees primarily on accreditation and demonstrated skills rather than delivery format, and a 2023 SHRM survey found that 79% of HR professionals view online degrees from accredited institutions as equal in quality to on-campus degrees.
- November 28, 2025
7 Conflict Resolution Tips for Couples [Updated 2026]
Effective conflict resolution in relationships depends less on avoiding disagreement and more on how disagreements are managed. Evidence-based approaches, including the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), emphasize active listening, emotional regulation, and collaborative problem-solving as the core skills that distinguish couples who grow closer through conflict from those whose bonds erode. The most consistently supported techniques include using "I" statements to express feelings without blame, validating a partner's perspective even when you disagree, and focusing on one issue at a time rather than raising accumulated grievances.
November 26, 2025What is Criminal Justice Administration?
Criminal justice administration is a leadership- and operations-focused discipline within the broader criminal justice field, applying management, policy, and organizational principles to the agencies and institutions that make up the justice system, including law enforcement, the courts, corrections, and rehabilitation programs. As defined by federal regulation and confirmed in NU's own program materials, the field encompasses the detection, apprehension, and detention of suspects; pretrial and adjudication processes; correctional supervision and rehabilitation; and the collection and management of criminal history information.
November 25, 2025Is Getting a Certificate Worth It? What the Data Says
A certificate is worth it when the credential is directly valued by employers in your target field, closes a specific skill gap, and offers a faster and more affordable path than a degree to the outcome you need, but the value varies significantly by industry and the specific issuing organization. Certificates deliver the strongest ROI in technology (AWS, Cisco, CompTIA, Google certifications), cybersecurity, healthcare (medical assistant, phlebotomy, HVAC), and project management (PMP), fields where employers actively require or prefer named credentials and where the certificate has a direct, verifiable mapping to a job role.
November 22, 2025Best Degrees for Law Enforcement Careers
The most valuable degrees for law enforcement careers are criminal justice, criminology, psychology, sociology, computer science, and public administration, with criminal justice being the most direct pathway and computer science increasingly sought for specialized roles in cybersecurity and digital forensics. While a high school diploma remains the minimum requirement for most local and municipal departments, five of the 15 highest-paying criminal justice jobs in the United States require at least a bachelor's degree, and some federal law enforcement agencies now require at minimum a bachelor's degree for new hires.
November 20, 20255 Reasons to Earn a Doctorate Degree
A doctorate is the highest academic credential available, and the decision to pursue one is best driven by a clear understanding of what it delivers beyond the credential itself: higher earning potential, specialized professional authority, advanced transferable skills, a direct pathway to academia and research, and the opportunity to make an original, lasting contribution to a field.
November 17, 2025Ranking The Best College Degrees for Employment in 2026
A National University analysis of 74 college majors, evaluating unemployment rates, underemployment rates, and projected job growth through 2033, found that STEM and healthcare fields dominate the top rankings, with nursing placing first overall at a 1.42% unemployment rate, followed by mathematics, computer science, and engineering disciplines. STEM fields are projected to grow up to 28.4% through 2033, while business and finance degrees, particularly accounting and information systems, offer steady 6-7% job growth and low unemployment rates, with accounting placing among the top 15 at a 1.88% unemployment rate.
November 10, 2025What Are the Most Future-Proof Careers in Southern California?
Southern California's most future-proof careers are concentrated in healthcare, clean energy, biotechnology and bioscience, and emergency management, fields driven by demographic necessity, state climate mandates, and physical infrastructure demands that make them highly resistant to AI automation and economic downturns.
November 6, 2025Can Music Help You Study and Focus? [Updated 2026]
Music can help you study, but the effect is task-dependent and genre-dependent rather than universal. Research shows that background music increases task-focus states compared to silence on sustained-attention tasks, with on-task states linked to faster response times than off-task or mind-wandering states. Classical music and instrumental music have been shown in multiple studies to positively affect concentration and academic performance, while music with lyrics or complex rhythmic sequences can distract, particularly during reading and writing tasks that engage the same verbal processing channels as song lyrics.
November 4, 2025The Future of Healthcare: Integrating AI and VR in Professional Roles
The future of healthcare is shifting from reactive, hospital-centric treatment to a proactive, personalized, and digital-first model, driven by AI, genomics, continuous biometric monitoring, and decentralized care delivery that moves routine management out of clinics and into patients' homes and daily lives.
November 4, 2025Is National University Legit? Accreditation and Quality Explained
Yes, National University is a legitimate, regionally accredited private nonprofit university. NU holds accreditation from the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), the same regional accrediting body that oversees Stanford, UCLA, and other respected West Coast institutions, and has maintained continuous accreditation since 1977, meeting the same rigorous institutional standards as any regionally accredited university.
October 31, 2025Teaching Cybersecurity Ethically in a Digital Age
Teaching cybersecurity ethically means balancing technical capability with moral responsibility, digital citizenship, and legal compliance, instilling in students the understanding that consent, privacy, and responsible behavior are not constraints on security work but foundational principles of the profession.
October 28, 2025How To Pay For College: Financial Aid and Scholarship Tips
Paying for college with minimal debt requires a sequenced strategy: file the FAFSA as early as possible after it opens to secure priority federal and state funding, accept free money first (beginning with Federal Pell Grants before federal loans or work-study), and contact the financial aid office directly to request an aid adjustment if your financial situation has changed since filing.
October 21, 2025Certificate vs. Degree: Pros, Cons, and Career Outcomes
A degree provides broad, in-depth academic education taking two to four or more years, covering general electives, theory, and core subjects, and is typically required for long-term career mobility, management roles, and regulated professions such as law, medicine, healthcare, and engineering. A certificate provides fast, specialized, skills-based training completed in weeks to one to two years at lower cost, focused entirely on practical, job-ready skills for quick entry into a specific field or trade.