I've received the info packet from Cali. Coll. for Health Sciences and everything looks great, except for the fact that they do not accept financial aid (FAFSA). Why is that? ------------------ mea
I was a graduate student at California College for Health Sciences. I am very unhappy with my experience there and would not recommend CCHS to anyone unless they know what they are getting into. They offer Associate, Bachelor, and Master's Degrees. At the graduate level they offer 4 separate degree programs, one of which has 2 distinct concentrations. The last count they offered about 45 graduate courses. In their latest catalog they list 3 faculty, one with a Ph.D. and 2 with Masters. When I first attended they had only one full time and one part time faculty, both with masters. I never had contact with anyone with a doctorate in 10 graduate courses. For one course I was with one instructor and the other 9 with the other. They claim that there are many others involved in course preparation, but the bottom line is when I called and ask to speak with the instructor I got one of the two. The 45 courses are from various disciplines including: financial accounting, management information systems, healthcare economics, financial management strategies, healthcare finance, biostatistics, quantative methods, issues in death and dying, biology of aging, epidemiology, ethical considerations in healthcare, legal considerations in healthcare, psychological aspects of illness and disabilty, community health, health psychology, environmental & occupational health, health psychology, addictions, counseling & psychotherapy, nutrition, exercise & fitness, to name just a few. Can you imagine 3 instructors teaching 45 graduate courses as varried as these??? and when I attended there were 2 (one part time). The academic dean of CCHS is also listed as a dean with another Harcourt school. The faculty for the undergraduate programs is interesting and you should get this catalog and see for yourself. All your papers are sent to what I call "readers." They are people generally not listed in the catalog but they read and grade your paper. If you have a questions you must contact the instructor who then contacts the reader who gets back to the instructor, who gets back to you. I have heard from another student that she never really got an answer when she questioned a paper or grade and just stopped asking. One reader points out something in the first paper. You correct this flaw in the second which can go to another reader who finds some other type of flaw. You correct these two flaws for the third paper only to have a different reader who finds something different. It becomes very frustrating to have someone else beside the instructor grade your papers. In all the courses that I took, I never had the assigned instructor grade even one paper. The internship was a real trip and very confusing as to what was expected. The study guide that they sent me said one thing and what the instructor wanted was something different. And it kept changing every time you called for assistance. I spent last June, July, and August doing the internship investing 20 hours each week throughout the summer (instead of a vacation) and finally dropped out in frustration. Again, I don't recommend CCHS to anyone else unless they are sure of what they are getting into before enrolling.
Might be good idea to send John Bear a copy of this post. He has them listed as one of his top 100 favorite schools for DL. Doesn't sound to promising for his website or book/s does it? ------------------ mea
My wife was a student there. I cant argue with what Exit Quietly said, however, she was satisfied. It is true that many instructors teach or rather are listed as teachers. My wife did not feel the need to contact them...she took CCHS for what it is...a distance learning program that YOU must do all the work. If you dont get, thats too bad. As far as the internship (the last class they require), she did not have a problem because she worked in a health care facility and had plenty of ideas for what to do. For someone without this benefit, this would be more of a problem. Most of the courses are well written and if you really studied what they tell you to and are a good independent learner, you probably get close to what you would otherwise. However, I do think it would be possible for one to cut corners becuase it is DL. One thing for sure, it is not a diploma mill...I know that for a fact. I think one of the trade offs for the teacher situation is the low cost of the degree. I think everything cost her less than 5,000 dollars for her degree. Not right for all, but sure right for some. j nate
Thank you for your insight. I've made my decision, and it's NOT CCHS. I'm good at independent study, but I want my instructors to be available when I need them.
