Central University of Nicaragua Degree Scheme

In those cases, one could make the argument that there are so many varying opinions through other foreign credential evaluators that are just as relevant if not better than WES. In any case, it is possible that WES will be the only evaluation an employer would accept although I suspect it would be out of pure ignorance of other valid companies. I also think it would be very rare to run up on companies who are this picky of credential evaluations in terms of employment. Requiring WES or ECE as the only acceptable evaluator has been pretty common with many colleges for transfer and admissions though.

 

One could make that argument - but if the company /institution already has a "WES-or-the-Highway" mindset -one should be prepared to lose that argument - because that's what's gonna happen. Companies? Likely bigger, older ones run by an old-boy network. Google? Apple? Facebook / Meta? Likely not. And yes, more common with schools than employers - but you can run into it at both.

 

Yep - that's something, all right. Boneheaded nature is about the only thing I know that will stop a freight train.

 

This university offered me a scholarship.
I need to pay 5000$ for a double title:
1 master in psy from Azt and 1 doctorado from UCN (not a double degree with same title but 2 different titles requiring 2 different theses)
Have received until September 5 to decide.

Hellenic American University has offered me admission with a 30% discount into their Mpsy which would cost 10k$.

My top choice UI Kelley Business School is currently still reviewing my application/admission.
I had 3 recommendation letters which should also help I believe.

My only worry with Azt and UCN would be to get the degree recognized in a western 1st world country.
With HAU there wouldn't be that worry.
I pushed back to HAU with a counteroffer of enrollment at 8k$. Seems fair.

We shall see.
Kelley will get back to me Monday according to advisor.
If accepted at Kelley I wouldn't go for the other two.

UCN Azt sounds like a great price but there is that worry of recognition that you need to worry about, sadly.
In Belgium you need to undertake 600 hours of internship to get a degree in clin psy recognized. UCN and Azt don't foresee in internships.
That could result in rejection of the degree, sadly.

Let's wait what HAU and UI say.
Not discarding Azt and UCN yet. They have their merit too.
Dr. Saavedra sounded like an honest guy.

 

You have options which is great. Can you find out what the acceptance level is where you are in Europe. That might govern choices. Coleman had some issues with responsiveness and you will be studying over two degrees for a significant amount of time.

On the whole, I like the idea of your other options much better.

 

The other two would be accepted without question.
I'm 100% sure that I would get equivalency for the other two, within their specific fields.
The Azteca/UCN might get equivalency but might get rejected as well.
The fact that it's a regulated field and the program contains no internship concerns me.
In fact Belgium is difficult with their recognition if the degree was earned in what one would call a "development country".
I know plenty of South-American people who have doctorates but have to work manual labor jobs here because their degrees didn't get recognition.
UCN / AZT seems like great value for money but I don't know if I could take the chance of having to consistently worry what equivalencies will come back as.
Especially in regulated fields they are going to scrutinize the degree to a maximum extent, and that is what I'm worrying about.
I got equivalency for a titulo oficial from two other Mexican universities in the past but that is only because a Spanish university had a partnership with them.
While the other two are more expensive, I would at least have the mental rest of knowing that my degree is not going to be discredited.
I am currently prioritizing the other two options and keeping Azt/UCN as a back-up.
If Azt / UCN would be unresponsive for longer periods I would also have that worry.
It's the first thing I hear about them being unresponsive. That would concern me to be honest.

I'm going to call Naric and try to get an unofficial projection of what it would come back as.
It concerns me that WES won't even review them.

 

Is your goal to become a licensed clinician (whether Psychologist or otherwise)? In that case, most online degrees will not fit the bill. It might be helpful to figure out your ultimate job title or end position and then work backwards. There are PhD in General Psychology at places like Capella in the US that are very expensive (~$50K USD) and also not very useful.

 

I would rather use the clinical psychology degree to get higher up in the healthcare industry, tbh. Not so much for becoming a licensed mental health counselor.
The skills gathered in such a program could demonstrate suitability to become a project leader / project manager and that's what I'm working towards.
I know 3 managers at work who all 3 have a psych degree. The corporation I work in is very into 2 types of degrees: computer science and clinical psychology.
All managerial positions are filled with people from these areas. Even more so than MBAs because the director once mentioned that he finds MBAs too broad.

 

Dr. Saavedra may not have mentioned the additional fee for the UCN degree. The $5k is only for the Azteca degree. I would ask again about the UCN fees. Before the recent relationship change between Azteca and UCN, the additional fee was $1000.

Dr. Saavedra is responsive up until the money is collected. Then the response times become variable. I found it interesting that when I inquired about the Azteca/UCN dual-degree and entrance criteria, his initial response before responding to my email was to send a paypal request to my email address for the whole program "discounted" tuition.

 

Hi,
Have you enrolled in a Ph.D. program with them?
What was your experience?
Is the unresponsiveness a generally known issue with them or is it something that varies from person to person?

 

The sending of the full tuition request upon first contact before transcripts and application submission, the partial answers to my questions requiring extensive follow-up to get to the complete truth, the hard sell tactics of "the program is changing in a week, enroll now to be grandfathered into the UCN dual-degree" was just too much. The Azteca degree was useless to my needs without a NACES evaluation of RA equivalence here in the USA. Azteca was meant to be a conduit to the acceptable UCN doctorate, which has been evaluated as RA equivalent by some forward thinking NACES evaluators in the recent past. Based on an uncertain opportunity to get the UCN diploma due to the changing nature of the dual-degree relationship, I stopped short of enrolling.

There are several friends that completed the Azteca + UCN degrees. All talked about slow responses, but then again I experience the same with brick & mortar RA institutions here in the states. One friend doesn't list the Azteca U. doctorate on LinkedIn any more. All cite no issues with the degrees by their corporate employers. My educational institution accepts NACES evaluations, but there are a number of co-workers/co-instructors that laugh derisively. Everyone's situation is different and the utility of the diploma widely varies. Azteca U and UCN are legit schools in their countries. Again, utility is defined differently with each person and each program. Full stop.

 

I don't know how it is in other countries, but one of the ways the licensing issue is being addressed by some U.S. states and schools is with bridge programs. A number of schools here will take your accredited Master's or Doctorate in a mental health field and allow you to apply it toward a certificate that will put you in a position to obtain licensure in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. You usually have to finish a number of courses with that school and a clinical internship (unpaid). Normally takes a year or less and usually won't be cheap (SIGH)...

If I were going to do a Doctor of Psychology program using the route in this thread, I would skip the dual degree business and just apply to UCN directly for their PhD in Psychology to avoid any of the joint school confusion. UCN has gotten RA equivalent evaluations of their Doctoral programs, one was shown on this forum. An American can take that and apply to bridge programs and work toward licensure because the bridge program certificate will be the way in to the licensure circle, so as long as the school you apply to for the bridge accepts foreign credential evaluations (most do) and you choose an evaluator they accept, you'd be all set to go. I believe UCN also awards a Master's along the way as you succeed in the program so if one wanted to get started on the licensure route sooner that would be another way to do it (get the Master's about 1 to 1.5 years into the PhD program, apply to bridge programs, finish a bridge program, go for licensure).

 

I'm only going to receive the UCN degree which is what I paid for and will still receive the regionally accredited equivalent recognition from NACES evaluators who choose to evaluate them. I'm still waiting for documentation to come for me to finalize everything to make it official. Azteca's Propio degrees are evaluated by NACES evaluator IEE as a regional accredited institution / non-accredited program. They appended the non-accredited program message for all of their Propio programs. If you want the credentials and are doing this only for personal development or profile boost, go for their programs. Just be prepared for the documentation and process to take long and also be ready to work independently for the entire program. I would not recommend them if you are trying to compete on the level of other doctoral degree holders for careers requiring a doctoral degree with internship/professional development hours.

I may pursue additional graduate programs (possibly ENEB) and maybe another doctorate here in the US in the future. I'm currently in a career that a doctorate won't make much difference unless I re-enter academia in an administrative or full-time teaching capacity.

 

Someone here posted Azteca was around $5,000 plus an additional $1,000 for the UCN dual degree. I went to the UCN international page (run aus Deutschland). The PhD is $8,900. So, cheaper on the surface to go through Azteca.

Does anyone have experience with UCN itself vs UCN international and know what they charge for fees? A person posted here they tried to connect with UCN directly and had difficulty.

 

I filed an application for both.
Sent an application statement, why I believe I qualify for a scholarship etc.
What can you do with a Msc in sales management that you can't with an MBA if I may ask?

I find psychology a super interesting field.
I love everything that has to do with medicine or with medicine-adjacent fields.
For HAU they are slow with responding I have to say. I had to wait a week for a response. Now I'm waiting for another response, as I pushed back on the 10k$ and made a counteroffer of 8k$.
8k$ is what I believe is fair value for their Mpsy of 3 years.
Higher than 8k$ is not worth it to me because starting from 10k$ you have much better regionally accredited degrees to your availability with some universities.
HAU is a good school from everything I could find though.
So would love to get in.
Especially since their MPsy qualifies for licensure with the European Counseling Association and would be seen as very desireable in my own corporation on my way to a function as a project leader eventually.
I would still prefer the regionally accredited US degrees over the Latin-American Ph.Ds I think because with the Ph.Ds I have no guarantee of them being accepted for equivalency.

 

Would it be worthwile in your opinion if it was indeed 5000$ for both together?
Because that's indeed what they proposed me, checking and double-checking the document.

 

Would you personally say that they have the same standing as other doctoral programs or not?
Did you get support when you needed it?
How long did it take you in its entirety to finish the program?

 

For a UCN PhD (and Azteca). As far as degrees go and presuming UCN NACES equivalency, it is very inexpensive. Considering some distance learning for profits are running up to six figures and without a lot of utility (depending on what you are doing with it). I recall a guy who got a doctorate from a US for Profit University - University of Phoenix (not necessary for his job) and people joked about it.

I kind of like the exotic international nature of the UCN or Azteca degree (if only Azteca weren't Proprio).

 

I like their cheap tuition structure as well.
They also seem to have lots of experience with foreign students.

What makes me hesitate between this dual degree and the one from HAU is that HAU has very impressive faculty despite being a small university. They have members on their board of trustees who went to Wharton, London Imperial College etc.
HAU also lists that their master's is accepted by the European Association for Counseling.
The Azteca - UCN degrees carry the risk of being rejected since they don't come with an internship.
5k$ is inexpensive though for a doctorate.
But then again, will people in top corporations take a doctorate from a development country as serious as a doctorate from a 1st world country?
That would be my main worry.