Need feedback to make decision between 2 online programs to complete BA part-time : Murray State's BIS program-Gen'l Studies v. Fort Hays Bachelor of Gen'l Studies-student determines concentration. Think costs on these two are similar and that both are RA. But.... Is reputation the same? Called Fort Hays. Was told everyone who applies is accepted. Is this a consideration or just the norm on undergraduate programs? Was also told that I would need to apply to univ. to get response on what units would be accepted. Is this correct procedure or should this be determined in advance of application? Feedback on above or on course delivery, faculty, how programs test? Do tell....thanx!
PJT, I took a couple of graduate classes with Fort Hays, one was good while the other was a nightmare, so bad in fact it scared me away for good! Taught in Blackboard format the "class" had 50+ students with an instructor "teaching" for the first time while using a graduate student on mainland China to grade the work. I guess the haughty bum was over worked and had to outsource...uhhh strike "outsource"....uhhh had to "offshore"! However the real clincher came when 50% of our work was graded in the last two weeks of class, and people were pissed! Needless to say I too hit the roof; Emailed everybody and their brother at Fort Hays, their response was to deny a such a student faculty ratio and close ranks around a clown that should have been tossed out on his head or at the very least tested on the undergrad level and with one course only! Apparently, not one single soul at Fort Hays will face off with such a flawed structure, on second thought anyone who does care at Fort Hays is probably by now consumed with so much apathy for a management policy, that can't, don't or simply won't listen. Sound advice, spend a dollar or two more on your classes and shop somewhere else...there are many good colleges and universities that do care and above all, have built-in internal securities that keep students from being buffaloed. best, Gavin
I have limited experience with both schools. If you are ok with the tuition of Murray State then you might also look at the following programs from the University of Alabama. Depending on where you live the reputation of any of these schools would get different mileage. (the Bama degree would at least be recognized by most folks) I believe Fort Hays is about the least expensive you will find. However, to echo Gavin, I had a horrible experience with the graduate department returing inquiries and in fact the department head left for some project and did not respond to me, nor did his replacement. I have no experience with the undergraduate side. I have had work related discussions with the Murray State professors and they seem like good folks. http://exd.ua.edu/ http://academicoutreach.ua.edu/business/ Tuition: http://academicoutreach.ua.edu/page.cfm?page=prospective_students&sub_page=5 Good luck, Kevin
Well it's the Murray State "Racers" against the Fort Hays "Tigers." I think that Buckwheats story is instructive. You can find bad teachers everywhere but it's the schools response to identified problems that tells the real story. There was a thread recently in which a similar program at the University of North Dakota was discussed. I spent a few minutes looking at that website and I'd suggest you do the same. It got good reviews. Good luck. Jack
It looks like you've got yourself a choice between two schools in middle-of-nowhere locations on the western parts of very rural states whose names begin with K. Both reasonably good schools, too, by the way.
I enrolled into FHSU and am taking 4 classes right now... all are delivered via blackboard. I, honestly, am impressed with the quality of the courses thus far.... about 18-20 students in each class and the work is demanding... last night I spent 3 hours studying for one course and I hit the books for few hours today on another... I wish it were a bit easier! I'm happy with FHSU and already registered for the fall session... My two cents worth
Murray I worked in the KY state university system at Eastern KY Univ., and Murray has a wonderful national reputation -- it is consistently ranked very highly in the US News & World Report annual rankings (currently #21 in the regional masters universities rankings). Fort Hays State is in the third of four tiers in its regional rankings. Having said that, the rankings are of course primarily oriented toward traditional students in on-ground programs. My only point is that in the world of higher ed, Murray has a very good reputation, and if you were going to apply to graduate schools, its reputation would be a plus in your two-school comparison group.
Fort Hays evidently had some teething problems with that Chinese-American program they have going. That would be my guess. They hire instructors from Kansas to teach business courses in China online. The instructors travel over to China once a semester to teach a class in person. My guess is that the TA in China was part of that program, and that they use grad students over there to work with profs over here in teaching U.S. online classes as some sort of exchange. In your case, it obviously went very wrong due to miscommunications between the faculty member and the TA. I talked with them myself about a FT online teaching position they had coming open to teach in the business department, but they expect you to be within a reasonable drive of the campus even though you're teaching online, and I'm on the other side of Kansas. They seem to be a good outfit over at Fort Hays, seem very committed to making online work and have plans to roll out an AACSB-accredited pure online MBA themselves in the near future. I wouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater; it sounds like they botched your situation good, but if you're going to blacklist a university for exhibiting a tendency to close ranks around an embattled professor, you might as well mark them all off your list.
Fauss, 1. The first time the instructor ever taught a class. 2. Over 50+ students in an online class. 3. The instructor was simultaneously teaching similar classes. 4. 50 % of the work was graded in the last 2 weeks of class! While after being alerted to the problems apparently none of the above even raised an eyebrow within the administration at Fort Hays. Fauss, as a general rule of thumb I dont cross professors off my list, I simply avoid ones that have a tendency to exibit such attributes! This is not about vainity in any shape or form, these events occured at Fort Hays and are not being embellished. However if you notice some of these problems transcend the instructor and delves into a structure that any MBA student could recognise as an inevitable train wreck. I'm saying that Fort Hays should have had the insight and ability to see what lay ahead instead of haphazardly bolstering student enrollment. Personally I have seen other schools that are better organized and have instructors who dont pull such stunts, and yes they all have enbattled professors but thats generally over something concerning political or academic freedom and not about having the puncutual attributes of a three toed sloth. Outside of offering the only major on earth or economic concerns over tuition, I find it hard that a student would want to get entangled with Fort Hays knowing before hand what I learned in hindsight. Semmingly, Fort Hays has become a bureaucratic nightmare in which a student with a problem has to confront a Dragon and whereupon by socking it in it's nose the student hopes that in six months or so, he or she get to see it's tail wiggle! Yes, for PJT there are better options. - Gavin
