University of Phoenix UOP)

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by SSpitler, Dec 27, 2003.

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  1. SSpitler

    SSpitler New Member

    University of Phoenix (UOP)

    Hi all:

    I'm brand new to this forum and I would like to hear what everyone has to say regarding the UOP (first hand, second hand, information, etc), however please don't speculate. Thank you in advance.


    SSpitler
     
  2. dis.funk.sh.null

    dis.funk.sh.null New Member

    well...

    I have tried to find out from a few people regarding the studies and quality of education of UofP but still without any luck, so I won't speculate on that.

    However, what I have observed here on this forum is that UofP's image has been marred by their "over-marketting". A lot of people have commented on this issue and I suppose you can do a search of the forum and go through the posts to make your decision.

    I can quote Tom Nixon on this one actually (Tom is a very active member of the forum and has written books on distance/online education and universities):

    When you look at program growth, accessibility to a greater clientele, and convenience, UOP provides a reasonably good alternative. Perhaps not the best academically, but also not the worst.

    and

    Legitimate, yes. Worth the time and/or money? An entirely different issue. Personally, I don't know with all of the choices that we have today for MBA programs, why someone would choose UOP.
     
  3. melrog

    melrog New Member

    Welcome to the board, I am sure you will find more than enough to set you on your way to meeting your educational goals.

    The opinions on the University of Phoenix are quite vaired depending on who you ask, the particular degree program, etc. I earned my MBA through them quite a few years back in one of their early online classes and about the only complaint I had at the time was the cost issue. At the time, there were not many other online degree programs available. As for the educational quality, I learned quite a bit and in some topic areas I learned more than my friends going to some of the upper tier schools on campus. This was quite evident in the depth of topics in finance to include studying real world examples and the amound of discussion that took place among the peers in my class.

    At a minimum, I would recommend doing a search of the archives on this site and I am sure you will find several hundred opinions that cover the whole range of feelings on the University of Phoenix.
     
  4. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    The UOP is regionally accredited, but it is one of the most expensive schools that you can enroll in. As an alternative, many people on this forum highly recommend one of the following schools:
    • Thomas Edison State College
    • Charter Oak State College
    • Excelsior College (extremely popular)
     
  5. Ike

    Ike New Member

    UOP is accredited but pricey. The schools that Mr. me again suggested are cheaper and better alternatives.

    Ike Okonkwo, PhD
     
  6. seekinghelp

    seekinghelp New Member

    I checked into UP to complete a bachelor's in nursing (i'm already a nurse), it would cost about 26,000 to complete the degree which would garner me 12.60 more per week at the hospital I work at. I'll never live long enough to make that worth it. If their other programs are as convoluted as the BSN, I wouldn't waste my time. There are so many other programs out there, I guess it depends on what degree you want but I found AIU and UP to be outrageous in price. Seems to me they should advertise less and pass the savings on to their students, or pay their recruitors less. And once they get hold of you, they won't quit with the calls and emails.:mad:
     
  7. dis.funk.sh.null

    dis.funk.sh.null New Member

    Options...

    If regional accreditation is an issue you hold *extremely* important, and if you are a US citizen/resident with your previous studies/credentials from US institutions, try looking at Amberton University. Its MBA proram is quite cost effective:

    - http://www.amberton.edu

    However, if you feel that RA is not an issue, and you are OK with a school with DETC accreditation, then you should also try to look at Aspen University, Andrew Jackson University or Columbia Southern University. All three have some sort of grant or tuition relaxation for qualified applicants. If you receive an institutional grant, your tuition from Andrew Jackson and Aspen can go below the 5K (USD) mark. Even down to 4,200 in the case of Aspen for a graduate degree. Have a look at the sites:

    - http://www.aspen.edu
    - http://www.aju.edu
    - http://www.colsouth.edu

    regards...
     
  8. NittanyLeon

    NittanyLeon New Member

    I recently left the UoPhx program...

    I recently left the program at UoPhx for a number of issues.

    First, the course content was pretty weak. I was in the BSBM program. The text books had little to no valuable information and the instructors seemed to rarely check on the classes or participate. There was one instructor, out of three, who was excellent. The rest were collecting a check to read 10-15 1000 word papers a week and to count how many messages you wrote.

    Second, the school has a large focus on team learning. This is fine from some subjects and if you have college qualified people attempting college quality work as a team. The people in the class were largely incapable of producing the results I expect from a $1300 college course that utilizes team learning as 30 to 50% of the experience.

    Third, your grades are based largely on team work and participation. The above sited issues can make it difficult to maintain excellent grades. If you have graduate school aspirations, this can hurt you.

    Generally, anything traded on the NASDAQ has to run like a business and cater to whatever drives higher revenue and better profits. This isn't the model I want form people educating me. I want my school to pride itself on turning out educated people who have met their learning goals at the time, not an institution that is driven by making their quarterly number.

    I left the UoPhx program and went elsewhere. It wasn't suited to me, I am looking for a college education - not a degree to certify I can have a certain job or get a raise. It seemed that most of the students in my classes were just looking to move from line employee jobs into the next level of management, or to get a raise. It wasn't about education for them and the program works really well in their cases.

    Good Luck
     
  9. dmprantz

    dmprantz New Member

    A question on UoP seems to pop up every few months (if not weeks) and the opinions are very wide. UoP is a big part of the reason I decided to go back to school, but I'm glad I didn't go with them. I'll explain why in a minute. You didn't say what type of program you are looking at, and that has some import. Is it bachelors or masters level?

    Cost. It's just expensive. Last time I checked, UoP was about 300 USD per hour, which is almost 1,000 USD per course.

    Convoluted requirements. I think UoP does a very good job of telling potential students just enough to get them interested, but not enough to know what they really need. Eventually, I figured out that UoP is basically two schools: The first school is at the GenEd level which is an assessment school and allows you to transfer in any credit, from any RA/ACE source, not to mention portfolio. This is cheap and easy. The second school is the concentration level which acts closer to a grad school than anything else. All concentration courses are UL, cannot be satisfied by transfer or portfolio means, and even if you've previously taken one of the courses at another school, you cannot transfer it in. All it does is allow you to skip that course, but you need to take something else in it's place. That means that however you look at it, you end up needing to take 60 hours from UoP, and do the math to see how expensive that is.

    Bad Feeling. I really just didn't like talking to the sales rep I did from the school. It felt like I was talking to a car salesmen, and I really think they are the car dealership of American universities. They are a "university" and RA, and they are very proud of it, but they're purpose is to get you to pay them money, and I just didn't like it, so I passed on them.

    Reputation. When I talked to UoP two years ago, they had just started advertising locally on the radio, and no banner ads had appeared. Now several schools advertise on the radio and in banner ads, but I think that detracts from them. Every one knows who UoP is, and they kinda have a reputation as being "that school with annoying ads" and that caters to "easy" degrees. I'm not saying that the school is easy, but that's the reputation. The minute that Excelsior starts advertising on the radio or banner ads is the minute I look at getting a degree from some where else so I can take them off my resume.

    Those are my thoughts and opinions on the school, but not on the programs itself. HTH.

    Daniel
     
  10. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I took three classes from UoP. One was DL ( a writing classes for my AA) and two at their campus (from the BS-IT program). The DL class was very easy, one campus class was too basic and one was excellent. I think I took too few classes to give a true assessment of the school.
     
  11. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    Have you looked into the Excelsior BSN?
     
  12. grrlpilot

    grrlpilot New Member

    First hand experience

    I am currently enmeshed in the horror that is UOP. I did much research ahead of time, and thought I found a great school. They are offically accredited, that is where the greatness ends. Think of this, their marketing strategy says, "finish school in much less time than traditionally, most of our students graduate in 2 years." The truth is, the only people that can graduate in 2 years are people who only have one year (traditionally) left. Anyone who goes in with no college experience will take at least 6 years to graduate.

    That huge misleading piece of information is part of their commericals, how much more can you imagine is under the surface? I thought not much, but I was wrong.

    They state students can expect to spend 10 hours a week on homework. This might be true if you are cheating. (see below for cheating) Honest students can expect to spend 30+ hours a week doing homework. When the school is questioned what do they say? "Well, some students just take longer than others."

    School polices are just words on a piece of paper, actual events are much different.

    Learning teams are a complete joke. A few students are put together in every class to complete extra assignments. Just imagine the problems. Some students do nothing (but receive an A because someone else in the group did the work). Very good students like myself get points taken away because a teammate's work is inferior. Now, the school received so many complaints from students regarding this unfair practice, they officially changed the policy to allow instructors, in fact the instructors are supposed to, look at individual contributions and give grades based upon individual work. This is outlined very clearly in their policies. When I have complained to instructors about these problems, 100% of them admitted that they pay no attention whatsoever to individual work in the learning teams. They do not read anyones email, they do not do anything. This is a violation of school policy, and an admittance that the instructor's are not doing their job, they do not follow school policy but create their own rules as they go.

    Students are allowed to cheat. Instructors turn a blind eye to it, and do give them great grades for their "work". Anyone who says the school is wonderful I would hazard a guess that they are probably benefitting from the cheating themselves. I have seen it class after class, instructor after instructor. The sickening part is that I am enrolled in the Criminal Justice Program, where my instructors have doctorate degrees, and are employed as police officers, FBI special agents, etc. The catch all phrase, if a complaint is raised is, "well we had no idea, we will investigate that." With the thousands of disgrulntled students, the school is very aware, and refuses to honor their own policy, because that would result in a loss of revenue. For the instructors to not realize that people are cheating, they have to be incompetent fools.

    These examples are mere trifles to the huge problems that exist with the school. Please, find somewhere else to attend. Thant is what I am trying to do.
     
  13. NittanyLeon

    NittanyLeon New Member

    I had the same problems...

    I had 1 instructor that tried to do a fair job of ensuring credit was doled out to the people that earned it. I was so tired of carrying learning team mates, I had to quit.

    Having enrolled at PSU, I am taken back to days when I was enrolled as a full time student in my teens. The coursework is tough, the amount of reading and thinking is what one expects of a college program.

    UoP required 2-4 hours a week for homework, not 30. I could handle multiple classes and not break a sweat, that BS program was BS.
     
  14. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Re: First hand experience

    It is terrific that you've found a forum to air your concerns. But don't be surprised if some other posters have a different perspective.
     
  15. NittanyLeon

    NittanyLeon New Member

    Are you...

    employed, affiliated or otherwise compensated in any way, shape or form by the University of Phoenix, Mr. Douglas?
     
  16. seekinghelp

    seekinghelp New Member

    I suppose there are multiple reasons why a professor wants to use the team approach to college work. I also know there are reasons why this approach is suppose to help the student and enhance their learning. Having been a student in the last 10 years and having a son who is currently a college student I can say from our experience that team homework/projects always turn out to be a pain for those wanting the best grades and a boon for those who simply let others carry the load. I was involved in 5 team projects that I distinctly remember during my associates degree in several different classes where one or two people carried the group, and I mean carried the whole project.

    Besides cost, one of the things I have been researching in my quest for the right masters program is the small or hopefully absent reliance on the "team" approach. This is something that should cease around the 7th grade. Stand or fall on your own work, not someone else's, particularly if you are paying big dollars and the other person(s) are across country from you.

    Just my 2 cents.
     
  17. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I took one online class at UoP and two classes at the Jacksonville campus. The online class was really a joke. I needed to write an essay for ELM299 and I got a B.

    The two campus classes were different. One was pretty easy and COSC gave me 200 level credit and said I was lucky it was not 100 level credit for a 300 level UoP class.

    The other class I took was great. The instructor doubled the recommended coursework that was required because he said it was not enough. Required a lot of time and work to get an A-.

    It was like a coin toss...it depends on the instructor.
     
  18. dclaridge

    dclaridge New Member

    I have two degrees from the University of Phoenix. Both are in Business. I agree with most of the prior posts in that the effectiveness of the course differs by the level of competency displayed by the instructor. However, based on the fact that I had the same impression from Northern Arizona University (BS in Organic Chemistry 1992), I don't think that this problem is confined to UoP alone.

    As to the study groups, they are a pain in the A##, but do emulate the real business world. I am in a senior management position for an $8B computer company and deal with the same strengths and weaknesses within my own teams at work. I find the diversity of the teams to be of worth when applied to the business world.

    In retrospect however, I don't think that I did enough research regarding the DL options available for MBA's. I honestly don't think that having a MBA from UoP is any worse than the other options out there, but I don’t think that it's any better either.

    I have just applied to Walden for a PhD program so I guess I'm in a hell of a position to see if they are any different.
     
  19. picklehead

    picklehead New Member

    I completed a BSBA at UoP

    It took exactly 34 months. I had no previous college credit.

    I do not know of any student, and I know many, that took longer than 40 months to complete thier BS at UoP.

    6 years...no way!!!
     
  20. Ike

    Ike New Member

    Re: Are you...


    Isn't it better to just address him as Rich?

    Ike
     

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