What is the program of study like at Pacific Western University?

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by brandon, Jun 7, 2002.

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  1. brandon

    brandon New Member

    I'm familiar with the type of coursework involved in Cal Coast, but what about Pacific Western?. I'm only talking in terms of the California approved PWU office which offers a BS in Public Administration. I've requested the catalogs/brochures of CCU, Cal Pacific and PWU a few weeks ago but have not received them.
     
  2. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    From their web site:
    "Pacific Western University reserves the right to change curriculum content, text books, and tuition fees without informing students."

    Does this mean a student study using one curriculum with one set of text books, then be tested against an unknown curriculum, then be charge a higher tuition cost for failing??????
     
  3. Myoptimism

    Myoptimism New Member



    Ian, I suspect you are asking a rhetorical question, but I think I can answer it anyway.

    No, it doesn't mean that. :D

    Even without questioning their validity, they definitely are tuition driven. Unhappy students don't exactly mesh with that mindset. This is even true in RA institutions as discussed in another thread. Actually, my teacher at an NA school just "resigned", he had a BS and MBA from Pacific Western. Hmmm...............

    Tony
     
  4. adelheid

    adelheid New Member

    brandon:

    Do you mean PWU Hawaii or PWU CA?

    adelheid:)
     
  5. brandon

    brandon New Member

    PWU CA
     
  6. EllisZ

    EllisZ Member

    Re: Re: What is the program of study like at Pacific Western University?

    Why not?
    That happened twice at my RA grad school.
    (After much screaming and gnashing of teeth I still graduated with a 4.0 ... but I was still mad about it.)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 7, 2002
  7. EllisZ

    EllisZ Member

     
  8. Re: Re: What is the program of study like at Pacific Western University?

    Probably not. I'd guess that they're giving themselves some coverage in case a student is looking at an old catalog. (I remember one prospective student who was quite upset to find out that the current tuition was higher than stated in the three-year-old catalog she happened to have.)
     
  9. brandon

    brandon New Member

    Well I just want to know how the courses are run really. I want to make sure it isn't some kind of liberal bs like "design your own program of study" and "you decide when you've earned your degree". I'd like to have someone grading my work/exams to see if I am meeting grade requirements. It seems like a lot of "guru and self help types" attend Pacific Western and I don't want to pursue a course of study that's too flakey even for a Californian.
    On the bright side, it appears an awful lot of military officers have gotten their degree there, and I doubt they would have a high tolerance for any new age crap.
     
  10. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Re: Re: What is the program of study like at Pacific Western University?

    The way that the California State University (and many other schools) do it is by giving a student "catalog rights".

    That means that if you are admitted in 2002, the 2002 requirements remain in effect for you until you graduate (as long as you maintain continuous enrollment). That means that if they change course requirements or something right before you graduate, you don't have to meet the new requirement so long as you met the requirements that were in effect when you entered the program.

    But frankly, I've never heard of a school telling you what *textbooks* they will be using for every class for years down the line. That's ridiculous. We never knew exactly what texts were going to be required until we enrolled in a particular class and got the syllabus. While the catalog entries for an entire major remained rather stable, there were lots of variations within particular classes regarding precise topics, texts and assignments, depending on when a class was taught and on who was teaching it. Often course sections had subtitles specifying what was going to be emphasized.

    So while the catalog rights told you what overall set of courses you would have to take in order to complete a major and general ed requirements, there was no guarantee that the content of each individual class would remain the same from section to section.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 8, 2002
  11. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Yeah, you wouldn't want to attend Goddard College, Antioch University, The Fielding Graduate Institute, The Union Institute and University (now including Vermont College), and other accredited schools where the programs are learner-centered. Oh, and accredited.

    California is the most populous, wealthy, and diverse state in the nation. Its diversity makes typifying it very difficult. This hotbed of "flakiness" is also home to a great deal of right wing Republicanism. Or hadn't you heard of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan? And what could be more "flaky" than considering attending a non-residential, unaccredited school to "earn" a degree?

    Your willingness to stereotype groups is astounding. Why do you suppose that military officers have a low tolerance of "new age crap"? Maybe some do. And maybe some don't.

    (I'm a retired military officer from California, BTW.)
     
  12. brandon

    brandon New Member


    The California that produced Richard Nixon(who was no right winger but probably the best president of the 20th century in my opinion) and Ronald Reagan no longer exists. I would have been happy to attend those other universities Rich, except they are out of my price range currently.

    Well, I would assume this is because military men are trained to be no nonsense killing machines. They are taught not to think outside the box and get along by going along. I imagine there would be some out there who'd pursue a degree in yoga or metaphysical studies, but I just have a hard time picturing marines being intersted in that type of education. As i said though, I looked at military men attending the college as a positive influence in my interest in the school. There was nothing negative implied

    Besides, Celeste Yarnall graduated from Pacific Western, and she was pretty sexy in her day(still is) and that's good enough for me.

    Perhaps your being from a different area of California makes a difference. I'm from West Hollywood/Santa Monica. Being a conservative from there creates a sort of "bunker mentality" since you feel like an endangered species.

    Who knows, If the unaccredited schools never bother to get around to sending me their catalogs I just may attend an accredited school after all.
     
  13. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

     

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