Anyone have experiance with University of Phoenix?

I dropped out of the UoP program, but finished the class with an "A." I feel like I purchased the grade because I sure didn't do anything to deserve it.

I have a total of 190 credits from a total of 10 different colleges and universities (I'm a career student -- LOL) and I can say without measure that the University of Phoenix offered the worst class I've ever had. In fact, it was an academic scam. I posted my experience at the begining of this thread.

If a majority of people are saying something negative about the UoP, then there must be some merit to it.

Where there is smoke, there is fire.

 

There seems to be more disdain for UoP on this board than Columbia State University...the biggest sham of them all.

Christian

 

UOP GETS A "B+"

As far as UOP, I would rate that a strong B+ regarding their degree programs.


AS - TESC
BS - Univ of the State of NY / Regents
BSBA - UOP
MAOM - UOP
MBA - Univ of Redlands, CA
Ed.D. - Pepperdine Univ.


MM

 

Hello:

Now, what am I missing here. U of P is RA which is supposed to be the gold standard. However, I hear from more than one person in this thread that there is little work involved, no learning, and they log on everyday and get an "A". Sounds like "milliish" qualities to me. What happened to those great RA standards?

 

I have been a UoP student for over 2 years and I have never been to a class where participation and coursework are "optional" as some people have suggested here. True that most classes have no final examination, but there are weekly assignments and a final group project that could be considered a term paper or sometimes a working product (for example, the programming classes).

During my studies at UoP I have seen a lot of people that enroll and expect a "quick and easy" degree: they do not contribute and do not participate. I don't know what kind of grades they get, but I usually check the e-mail database a few months later and find that they no longer have an account. I assume they have withdrawn from the school and go somewhere else.

Overall, my experience has been positive. Academically speaking, I think they match any other "online university." Their customer service is very poor, at least for the cost of the classes I expect better administrative and technical support services. I do acknowledge that they rank below my community college with that regards.

My GPA with UoP is 3.86, compared to 3.54 at my community college. Is not that I am more "smarter" now, but taking one class at a time has helped me improve my grades. Had I received the same benefit at my community college to take one class every five weeks, I have no doubt my GPA would be higher.

The class contents are very up-to-date; most books in the IT program were published within one or two years. I was able to put into practice the concepts discussed in the classes and I earned a promotion at work due mostly to this.

So, I think you get out of the program what you put into it. If you don't put in any effort... you won't graduate. I doubt "me again" could fake his/her way through the entire program.

I have never attended a class in one of their "ground campuses," so I can't speak for what goes on there. My experience has been with the "Online Campus" only.

Alex Traxler
Student @ University of Phoenix
B.S. Information Technology
June 2002

 

For the sake of this discussion, let's pretend that RA is indeed a joke.

My question is: What does that say about schools that can't even achieve the "millish quality" of RA? Schools like....oh, let's say.....Kennedy-Western University?


Bruce

 

time?

@ atraxler:

could you tell me what the avarage amount of work time is that you spend each day/week for getting those admittably fine results in your exams?

thank your very much.

greets, trigger.

 

Or Colleen's alma mater, Century, which IMHO is several rungs below KW.

 

Yeah, them too!

They say the memory is the first thing to go, and they may be right. All these non-wonderful schools are starting to become a single entity to me.


Bruce

 

One important point to bear in mind is that regional accreditation ensures minimum quality standards and not maximum. Yes, UOP may be toward the bottom of the RA heap, but their standards are quantifiable. The same cannot be said for almost all unaccredited schools.


Tom Nixon

 

Bruce,

That is my point. What does RA really give you? My course work (as I have oulined in other threads), consisted of a great deal more than what I am hearing about here. I'll take my non Ra
Ph. D. degree any day over this program.

Colleen Harron-Horiates

Trenton State College (BA) 1986
Trenton State College (MS) 1987
Century University (PhD) 2001

 

What does RA really give you?



@ Dr. Colleen: take my case.

German authorities would not even ALLOW me to lead a degree from a non-accredited school in my country - not even on my CV or business card. For them, RA is the minimum standard of equivalency to an European Union degree (not "gold" standard, as it is often posted here in this forum. Gold would be RA + professional accreditation). So any non-at-least RA university will be seen as pure scam here in Europe, and would therefore be complete nonsense to pursue...

So UoP (online) _could_ be possibility for me to get my desired MBA degree with as little work effort as possible (or are there other possibilities? does anyone know?).

And that would be _exactly_ what I´m looking for.

- before people come again with the standard "you would not really learn anything there" - that is also exactly what I´m looking for. I already have the knowledge (because I already have roughly studied the same, but with a German degree, and I would want/need an additional "MBA" on my business card to move on in my career (at the moment, that would count a lot here in Europe - as long as it is (regionally) accredited), also do have the money, but am not convinced that my English language knowledge is sufficient to really PASS any of the "regular" programs...

So, could you imagine UoP is a possibility for me?

Greetings and all the best. Trigger

 

What does R/A give you

Answer:

In my situation I cannot even receive one dime of tuition reimbursement unless the school is listed by the
American Council on Education . www.acenet.edu

Or listed in Barrons Guide to Distance Learning of which all
must have an R/A.

That is how I bounced into the mills as listed on my thread.

I have really been checking into schools thus my negative impression of UoP. High cost, low quality. I even think there is a professor on this thread giving a low rating to UoP.

Other non R/A is Barrington U. Catalog states they are in the process of R/A. I mailed and called. Could not get an answer on how far of a process they are into R/A nor the agency name.
Heck, they will not even return my calls now.

Good Day

Dave

 

trigger,

On the question of the average time I spend each day/week to get those "fine results," I would categorize the classes in three groups:

1. Classes I knew little about: 25 hours per week. I usually spent two hours a day and half-days on the weekends. On the weekends I would write the assignments, which are normally due on Wednesdays. Examples of these classes for me are "Ethics in Information Technology" and "Organizational Communications." I only had about 4 classes that fit into this category.

2. Classes in which I was familiar with the topic: 15-20 hours per week, again loading the weekend. Some of these classes are "Networks & Telecommunications" and "Decision Support Systems." 10 classes in this category.

3. Classes in which I considered myself an expert already: 5-10 hours per week. I do my assignments during my lunch hour and try to keep the weekends open. I am a Database Administrator and my area of concentration is in Database Management, so naturally I find classes like "Database Concepts" and "SQL for Business" very easy, as I have taught those subjects internally at work for years. I have taken 7 of these classes and have two more to go to complete the program.

In your response to Dr. Colleen you stated, "before people come again with the standard "you would not really learn anything there" - that is also exactly what I’m looking for." Well, that is exactly how I felt before I started the program. My employer reimbursed me for the classes, so it wasn't my money after all, and all I really wanted the "sheepskin" in order to advance in my career. My belief was that I already knew everything there was to know about databases and that I was not going to get anything out of the program. To my surprise, I was wrong and with all honesty I can say that I have learned quite a bit in this program. It has changed me in a very positive way.

The UoP BSIT program is very "writing intensive." Like yourself, I am a non-native English speaker and even though I have a good TOEFL score (653) I got tired of writing a weekly paper, daily messages, a weekly summary and a final paper. Most instructors in the technical classes do not pay much attention to grammar, but I had a few who were very anal about my writing. I would not be too concerned about this as your command of the English language is very good.

I hope this helps.


Alex Traxler
Student @ University of Phoenix
B.S. Information Technology
June 2002

 

Hi Alex.

Your TOEFL score is great (it´s exactly 10 % better than mine), so I have no doubt that the whole thing is a lot easier for you than it´d be for me (especially since this forum here is the only place where I can "practise" my English ).

2 hours a day seem pretty okay for me, so I guess the UoP MBA could be an alternative for me...

Thanks for (all of your) responses,

Greets, Trigger

 

@ Bruce: would the scenario circumstances change if the D.M. from UoP was not a D.M., but a DBA or a PhD in Business Admin.?

 

Bruce,

Does it sound like the folks that took classes at U of P in this thread believe their experience has given them respectability and credibility?

No thanks, I'll pass. This is probably not the norm for an RA school, but I'll take my less-than-wonderful over spending a bunch of money and feeling lousy in the end. 60 Minutes has been there once. Let's see what they find next time.

 

Dr. Colleen,

Does it sound like the folks that took classes at U of P in this thread believe their experience has given them respectability and credibility?
In my case, yes.

I'll take my less-than-wonderful over spending a bunch of money and feeling lousy in the end.
Oh, I don't feel lousy, I feel proud of my achievements... and I don't have to explain to anybody why I am earning a degree from a non-RA school.

60 Minutes has been there once. Let's see what they find next time.
Yes, 60 Minutes has been there before and what did they found? Was the whole thing exclusively about UoP? I suggest you watch the video at http://www.uoponline.com. Sorry, I know this is a "biased source," but I couldn't find this video (or a transcript) on the CBS website.


Alex Traxler
Student @ University of Phoenix
B.S. Information Technology
June 2002

 

The UoP person wins - without a doubt. Accreditors won't count the Century grad in figuring PhD percentages - it is as though they don't have the degree at all.

But here is another scenario. Faculty opening at an RA school. Two candidates, one with a DM from Phoenix, one with a PhD or DBA from any other RA school. Assume other resume details (work experience, prior teaching, etc. are equal).

Who gets the job?

Hint: Just had this scenario at my school. Guess what student didn't get considered!