Liberty University "Street Cred"?

Greetings all,

I'm considering enrolling in a PhD program at Liberty. It's relatively cost-effective, I am eligible for the Emergency Personnel discount, and it has the program I am after. My question though is for graduates of Liberty - how have you found your degree received in the professional realm? Do you feel your hard work is getting the respect you deserve with having Liberty on your diploma?

I ask this because I spoke with a talent acquisition recruiter this morning and he said that he throws away resumes with Liberty on them "as fast as University of Phoenix." Now, my hunch is that he's discriminating on religious grounds, so he's just an A-hole. But it did garner the question, with the controversy Liberty has dealt with, as to how it is perceived as a whole.

Please share thoughts/comments/experiences. Thanks!

 

For Liberty, I think you need to do a followup on Liberty with this person. I am a graduate of Liberty. I did Liberty because it had a program that was of interest to me, and it was reasonably cost for Canadians. My religious belief was none of Liberty business because I was a non-believer in God. The education was my education to pay for, which I did. The students were great, customer service was great, liberty was a bit aggressive, it felt like forprofit. I quoted the bible like any other books in some courses. I am open-minded to faith, specifically Taoism, Jainism, and Buddhism. There are three great books of the Bible Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job, that have practical application to life. Ironically, Job shows how irrelevant is God. My point, Nemo, if you are open-minded, then get your education from where ever it is practical and do not pay too much attention especially to a single source.

 

Certainly, and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experiences. And really, that's what it's all about. I'm not taking working in practice on one person's, likely bigoted, thoughts, but it does prompt the question on people's experiences.

Have you found your degree from Liberty to be well received in the public/private sector? Have you ever felt that it was not as well received, or similarly, better received, than if you had graduated from, say, a State school?

Thanks again!

 

I really don't know if my Liberty degree is a positive or negative to me employment-wise. I rely mostly on my accounting designation for employment. I did the master of accounting, and it was good for my professional development credits, plus it reinforced what I studied in undergrad, and professionally. I make my decision based on, accreditation, cost and availability. If you are worried about pushback from employers, then wisely select a program from another university. Academia is fairly Liberal, and it is not in your control to change it, but it is in your control to select a university that will reduce any dissonance you may experience because of Liberty's reputation.

 

You raised an interesting question. I recently got accepted into the Ph.D. in Criminal Justice program. I, too, was approved for the ERP tuition discount (through 2023). The entire Ph.D. can be earned for about 26k excluding books and technology fees which is an additional estimated cost of 4k. I am usually against Liberty, Cumberlands, and similar conservative colleges because of the stance they have on certain topics. I always felt like my principles should never be compromised. However, I only started exploring Liberty after I was unable to attend the residency component of Saint Leo's D.CJ. program due to my recent transition to teaching. I feel that a fully online program would be my best option. Terminal degrees in criminal justices are not that many when it comes to online learning and I would only attend another for-profit college as a last resort. While some may liken Liberty Online Programs to for-profit colleges, they benefit from having a brick and mortar campus which includes a medical and a law school. They are also tier-2 nationally ranked (US News) and is classified as a doctoral research university (moderate). I am not too big on prestige because the pursuit of a Ph.D. is only a personal achievement for me. My professional goals do not require the attainment of a Ph.D. or another terminal degree. What are your career goal(s)? What field are you interested in pursuing at Liberty?

 

This is consistent with my ongoing concern about being an undergraduate degree holder from EC. Before I began my EC degree program, I knew that I would need to also obtain a masters degree. In a sense, the main purpose in completing an EC degree was not to earn an undergraduate degree per se but rather to get into a masters level program.

To put it another way, in my particular situation I wasn’t going to get a ton of benefit from a stand alone EC degree. In contrast, an undergraduate degree from a high tier institution can work well on a resume all by itself.

I will admit that part of my intent of completing masters level work is to stack degrees/schools on top of EC on my resume. If a conversation about my education history we’re to come up in a professional setting, EC would be overshadowed by more recent advanced work. That was my thought, anyways.

To be clear, EC was a great experience for me. I love everything about what EC provided for my career and life in general. I’m proud to be an EC Alumni and would recommend EC to just about anyone.

I am a realist though. I understand that EC could prompt some questions in an interview. I understand that there are thousands of excellent private colleges in the US that don’t have much in the way of name recognition that might require clarification to those unfamiliar. EC’s unique structure does potentially make an explanation a little more choppy. I don’t have the luxury of saying EC is a small NCAA D2 private school in upstate New York that has been in exsistence since 1890 with a sprawling campus. It’s a bit more involved of a conversation.

That being said, on paper a degree from Liberty more than covers everything.

Huge, real campus.
NCAA D1 sports
Student life traditions
A medical and law school
Huge endowment
Etc.

How is it possible that liberty could get lumped in with UoP? If Liberty could get pigeonholed, EC most certainly carries the same risk. If not more risk!

This is so unfortunate to hear.

 

You have a guy with a big opinion and a little brain- I'd delete his contact information as fast as someone from University of Phoenix.

 

Why do you assume that he's discriminating against Liberty on religious grounds? There are many religious schools with great reputations; Liberty is unique because of its involvement in politics. They also don't have a good reputation in the life sciences because they consider creationism to be a science. But, most of the bias against Liberty probably comes from its huge online presence. Western Governors University also faces this kind of bias, and it's a secular, non-profit school. He did compare the school to University of Phoenix, so I don't think religion has much, if anything, to do with his distaste for the school.

 

Regarding Liberty University "street cred"...

If somebody is thinking about any university for a PhD, attention should probably be paid to things like research productivity, research projects, collaborations and so on. I'm not sure how Liberty stacks up by those measures.

Liberty also has a couple of other things that make it distinctive.

One is the Baptist evangelical Christianity that it wears on its sleeve. I'm not a Christian myself, so that would probably be a deal-killer for me.

The other thing that makes Liberty distinctive is its political conservatism. That might be very welcome in some situations, but a lot less so in others. If your goal is to be hired as a faculty member by left-leaning universities, Liberty might generate a lot of prejudice (to the point of hatred). They will just throw your application away because you are a Liberty graduate. But if you anticipate applying for work in a more conservative environment, Liberty might be preferred.

 

Liberty University has a lot of "street cred" to the homeless, as is exemplified in this article:

http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=131423

That may not be the kind of "street cred" that you're looking for, but feeding the homeless is definitely credible.

 

Liberty University also helped to produce a movie called "The Trump Prophecy."



Article from LU:
https://www.liberty.edu/champion/2018/02/liberty-producing-feature-length-film-based-trump-prophecies-book/

 

I bet this one gets you all excited. Keep them coming!!

 

I will say this...I am a graduate of Liberty and I have only found it to be a hindrance for getting accepted into a secular college (Kent State) for a PhD in Political Science. Prior to officially submitting my application I spoke with the dean of the program several times, shared my GRE scores, graduate degree GPAs (3.92 for my MS in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati, though I did not mention my 3.96 for my MDiv from Liberty and 3.7 for my undergrad at Liberty in Religion), and he seemed very interested in my application. I work for the federal government as a law enforcement officer as well, which also caught his fancy. However, when I finally submitted all my transcripts for the final application...I got a denial about a week later. I called him and asked why I was denied acceptance and he stated, "we felt you would not be a good fit for our program." He strongly implied (though he could not say it) that he was basing this on my degrees from Liberty. I do not think this had anything to do with the merit of the academic pedigree of Liberty, but rather, that they are a staunchly conservative school, and you can determine that most people with more than one degree from them is probably fairly conservative as well (which I am). So, take that for what you will.

Now, having said that, I was later accepted into Nova Southeastern's PhD in Criminal Justice, which I have completed. I am very happy with the way it turned out. Now I almost feel as if my degrees from Liberty give me a leg up at conservative institutions (which I prefer), and have no bearing on the remainder of academic institutions. I think that the new program from Liberty looks very appealing. For most people it will be good due to the low admission standards. Most PhD admission requirements require the GRE and a writing sample at a minimum (like my program at NSU). This does not downplay the program, but makes it more appealing for a wider variety of applicants.

That's just my two cents.

 

I am happy it all worked out for you. Congrats on achieving your Ph.D.!

I think you also forgot to mention the lower cost of the Ph.D. at Liberty when compared to Nova and the other online options that are available. According to the course registration schedule in myLU, the first cohort of the Ph.D. in CJ began with 43 students (3 students over its capacity). Saint Leo's D.CJ. just started its first cohort with 50 students though its original target size when advertised was 18-22. It is clear that the need for online doctoral programs in criminal justice is great.

 

I think this is an excellent point and shouldn't be overlooked. If Liberty (or UC Berkeley for that matter - the polar opposite) aligns well with your belief, then it just does - there is just nothing to discuss. Religious people don't apologize for their religion, they either keep it private or wear it proudly- and adding a degree from Liberty to a resume says "I'm a very conservative Christian." It is a label, but if it's one that doesn't fit, then it feels inappropriate to pursue it and then worry / wonder if you'll fit in. Truth is that you're NOT going to fit into somewhere that ALSO takes a hard line on the other side. If I'm *not* making a political / religious statement with my degree, then I shouldn't attend one that carries that label loud and proud. There are probably fewer than 25 *very* religious or *very* liberal universities and people who attend them are doing it deliberately.

 

I've found that many employers don't even care where you've earned your degree. My current employer never once questioned how I earned my degree from an Indian university nor asked whether I studied online for my master's at Lamar and my bachelor's at Ashworth. I had similar experiences for my other positions and even in job interviews for faculty positions. I don't think my current employer will care whether Liberty is conservative or not when paying my partial tuition reimbursement. Of course, every individual has to decide how a Liberty degree or any degree for that matter will benefit or harm their future. I am neither a conservative Christian nor a Catholic but I decided to attend Liberty and teach at a Catholic high school. I, however, embrace the mission of both of these institutions.

 

Of course not. It doesn't matter unless it matters.

 

Same experience, no one has ever questioned my degrees. I love talking about my distance education in interviews. There are some key issues that I need to get across to potential employers such as continue professional development, time management, learning, being up-to-date, compentency etc. Distance education provides the means to achieve all those benefits for my employer; plus maintaining a quality personal life. I am already at the interview so they think i am qualified so i may as well talk about distance education, because it is something that makes me happy.

 

Here's someone who's not very impressed with Liberty

https://www.vox.com/2018/4/18/17252510/online-degree-jerry-falwell-jr-liberty-university-propublica-nytimes

 

I am not going to defend Liberty quality, that will be self serving on my part. Some courses were more challenging, some were less challenging, and some were average challenging . However I mentioned a few times how it felt like for profit, whatever that feels like. I took the master accounting program, so i know there was learning based on my experience as a professional accountant . I can’t speak for the other programs. The charge that the online learning is their cashcow, that is quite obvious and not a revelation.