University of the Incarnate Word

Is anyone familiar with University of the Incarnate Word (UIW)?

UIW Online | University of the Incarnate Word | 100% Online Degrees

They have a few online programs, but I'm wondering if anyone has taken their online option and can provide feedback.

 

Here's a DI/DD veteran with an MA from UIW; Administration with concentration in Communication Arts, 2005: Tracy Gies.

You might inquire directly, perhaps by PM at DD. It looks like he hasn't posted on DD, or here on DI where he lost his account password, for some years. His underlying email address might have changed.

 

My only familiarity with it is that it's an expensive school that no one outside of San Antonio has heard of.

Source: I live in the San Antonio area.

 

You're right, I never heard of it before but I don't think that's a big deal. I'm sure that there are a little bunch of schools in my area that are generally unknown to people in other parts of the country. They offer a medium sized set of programs with nothing too exotic on the menu. I didn't check the costs but if you say it's expensive I'll just believe you. I'm so price conscious that I don't know why someone might choose a more expensive alternative (maybe in this case it's the local and religious thing). I looked at the Masters degree program in Sports Psychology and it seemed just OK, nothing spectacular. To the best of my knowledge Sports Psychology is not a licensed profession and so there's probably no clear requirements for curriculum. Maybe someone else knows better about this. So, my summary is simply this. I have no direct experience with this school. My review of their website does not put up any red flags for me (although I don't like it when I can't see the faculty listings). I don't know why someone would pay more for a degree from this school but, hey, it's your money, whatever floats your boat.

 

I thought Trinity University wouldn't be known outside of San Antonio or Texas. Maybe it isn't, but I was surprised to learn that it was the number one ranked school in the regional west.

 

In the US News Rankings, a "regional university" is one that mostly offers undergraduate education, with some master's programs and few or no doctoral programs. Most such schools usually have only regional reputations (as the name implies). Other examples of "regional universities" in the West are Santa Clara U, Loyola Marymount, and Cal Poly (in California), or Portland U, Seattle U, and Gonzaga (in the Pacific Northwest). Trinity is currently top-ranked among schools in the "Regional Universities -- Western" category.

US News has a different ranking for major research universities, like Stanford, UCLA, Arizona, UT, Texas A&M, etc. Such schools are classified as "National Universities", and are ranked separately.

So Trinity's top ranking as a "Regional University" does not mean that it is regarded as the top university in the Western region. In general, "National Universities" have more academic recognition and prestige than "Regional Universities".

Basically the ranking means that Trinity is the top-ranked non-research university in the Western region. It doesn't mean that Trinity is ranked higher than (for example) UT, TAMU, SMU, etc. -- those schools are considered research universities, and they are ranked in a separate category, as "National" (rather than "Regional") schools.

 

Yes, I already know that. I don't know why you felt the need to type up that long explanation.

 

Well, a few months ago a poster shared a CV describing the US News #5 "Regional College–Midwest" as the "#5 School in" the Midwest. So this sort of category mistake does trip people up, though not present posting company.

 

People are frequently confused by the difference between "the number one ranked regional school in the west" and "the number one ranked school in the west region". Your post (which described Trinity as "the number one ranked school in the regional west") seemed close to the incorrect second interpretation. If you didn't mean it that way, then you don't need my explanation, but I suspect that it may still clarify things for other readers.

 

I didn't say it was the number one college in the West. I put regional because it's not a nationally ranked school.

Well, the explanation was directed at me, so I responded accordingly. He made an assumption and I corrected it.

 

fyi. I think this is probably a pretty good school. Aside the U.S. News and World Report ranking, an Incarnate Word's professor is one of ACBSP's big guns in accreditation.

 

UIW is a good school with a beautiful residential campus (I live in SA and Christmas time they really put on a show by lighting up the entire campus) but INSANELY expensive. Unless you get a free ride or love being in debt there are many, many, many, many (did I say many) other better options.