They are a very old and well-respected school. I was thinking about getting an MBA from there, and have spoken with their admissions people on several occasions. They are extremely helpful and knowledgeable.
Thanks. They certainly seem to be well respected. Just wanted to see if anyone had first hand experience with their online programs.
Schlumpity. (Okay, that was too obvious . . .) But I digress . . . When Norwich first started its online MBA, I had the impression that they were basically using a canned program. (I have not evaluated them in several years, especially since they added more master's programs, including a well-regarded master's in diplomacy studies.) Nonetheless, you're right about their reputation - it's hard to beat a B&M school that has actually been around since 1819. A little trivia for ya. . . Until a few years ago, Norwich owned Vermont College, which is now part of Union Institute & University. They had acquired VC in 1971, when both schools were on the way down the tubes (VC was then a women's two-year college and NU was solely a military college). It was the ultimate symbiotic marriage and both schools prospered - VC not only became a co-ed four-year college, they also acquired the highly regarded nontraditional programs of the financially strapped Goddard College (up the road in Plainfield). All was well until NU decided in the 90's to devote the VC campus exclusively to nontraditional programs, moving the traditional residental students at VC from its Montpelier campus to NU's main campus in Northfield, 12 miles up the road. This created an uproar, especially with the NU alumni - the notion that Northfield had been opened up to residential civilian (non-cadet) students who would be living on the formerly all-military campus. A few years later, Norwich had its chance to "do penance" - they dumped VC (despite the fact that VC's nontraditional programs were very successful), and the then-Union Institute stepped in and bought it. (There was some speculation at one point that Union itself would move to VC's Montpelier campus in light of its problems with Ohio OBR, discussed elsewhere on this board.) In other words, by dumping VC like a bastard child, Norwich got out of the business of nontraditional programs . . . then promptly started new nontraditional programs in the form of its online master's. By the way, the story of the NU-VC relationship (up to but not including the Union acquisition) is discussed in detail in a thesis called The Transformation of Norwich University 1971-1981, written by Peter Smith for his doctorate in education from Harvard. (Smith, a founder of Vermont Community College, later served as both the lt. governor and congressman from Vermont.) Copies are available through the NU and VC libraries. Bottom line: To me, Norwich's master's programs are rather canned when compared to the more flexible programs of VC, Goddard, Lesley, etc. But would I recommend Norwich? Based on reputation and history alone, yep - in a heartbeat. (Usual appropriate disclaimer - I earned my Norwich M.A. from VC before it was sold to Union, and my Ph.D. from Union before they acquired VC.)
