- S t u d e n t s R e v i e w -
University Analysis
The University of Phoenix
The University of Phoenix
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX – PHOENIX
CAMPUS
4635 E. ELWOOD STREET
PHOENIX, AZ
85040 – 1958
General info:(480) 966 – 7400
Financial aid office:(480) 966 – 7400
Admissions office:(480) 966 – 7400
pervision, Organizational Behavior Studies, Psychology Other, Public Administration and Services Oth., Purchasing Procurement & Contracts
Mgmt, Quality Control & Safety Technol./Tech.,
Secondary Teacher Education, Special Education
Other
University Makeup (2002 – 2003)
# of Undergrads: 4
# of Grad students: 3
Total Students: 7,586
46.0% Male, 54.0% Female
African – American: 5%
American Indian: 2%
Asian: 2%
Hispanic: 5%
Caucasian (non – hispan): 45%
Unknown: 41%
# Undergrad: 4,551
# Grad: 3,035
Male: 46.0% Female: 54.0%
Instate Tuition: $8,400
Out – of – State Tuition: $8,400
Room and Board: $0
Majors in
Accounting, Adult and Continuing Teacher Education, Bilingual/Bicultural Education, Business Administration & Mgmt.
Gen., Business General, Business Management & Admin. Serv. Oth., Business Marketing/Marketing
Management, Business Systems Networking and
Telecomm, Computer Programming, Computer
Science, Computer and Information Sciences
Gen., Counseling Psychology, Counselor Educ.
Counseling & Guid. Svc., Criminal Justice
and Corrections Other, Curriculum and Instruction, Educ. of the Specific Learning Disabled,
Education Admin. & Supervision Gen., Education of the Mentally Handicapped, Educational/Instructional Media Design, Elementary
Teacher Education, Enterprise Management &
Operation Gen., General Studies, Health System/Health Services Admin., Human Resources
Management, International Business, Logistics
and Materials Management, Management Science, Mental Health Services Other, Mgmt. Info.
Systems & Bus. Data Process, Nursing Administration Post – R.N., Nursing Family Practice
Post – R.N., Nursing Other, Nursing Science
Post – R.N., Operations Management and Su-
Similar Schools
Schools that other students considered similar to UP.
1. DeVry Institute of Technology Phoenix
2. University of Phoenix
3. ITT Technical Institute (Phoenix)
4. Phoenix College
5. American Intercontinental University
6. California State Polytechnic University – Pomona
7. DeVry Institute of Technology Pomona
8. University of California – Berkeley
9. University of California – Los Angeles
10. DeVry Institute of Technology Long Beach
11. Arizona Institute of Business and Technology (Phoenix
12. Arizona State University
13. DeVry Institute of Technology Chicago
14. Arizona State University West
15. DeVry Institute of Technology
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The University of Phoenix
Student Survey Results
Overall Education Quality:
C+
The overall education quality is not an absolute
number, but a function of the “kind” of students
who attend the school and possibly those who consider attending.
Figure 2: The proportion of students who, given
the chance, would return to UP.
Figure 1: This graph describes how well the education at UP meets the needs of students of
varying abilities.
About the surveyees:
Number of Student Surveys
Male
Female
Average Yrs. Completed
Average ACT
Average SAT
37
21
16
1.7
26.3
1,146.0
Education Quality
Individual Value
Collaboration/Competitive
Innovation
Useful Schoolwork
Friendliness
Faculty Accessibility
Social Life
Scholastic Success
Extracurricular Activities
University Resource Use
Perceived Campus Safety
Surrounding City
Campus Aesthetics
Campus Maintenance
5.6, C+
4.5, C
5.2, C+
5.4, C+
5.9, B –
6.7, B
5.2, C+
3.3, D+
5.7, C+
2.8, D+
6.3, B –
7.7, B+
5.3, C+
5.3, C+
6.2, B –
Student and Faculty Attitudes
These bar charts show how students felt about
fellow students’ and facultys’ attitudes towards
them. The majority of students list ”Friendly”
and ”Helpful” for both students and faculty at
most schools, so you want to keep an eye on the
more negative traits – ”Broken Spirit”, ”Arrogant”, ”Unhelpful”, as these indicate traits of
the school environment which may be more detrimental to learning.
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The University of Phoenix
Figure 3: This is how students described the attitudes of their fellow students and of their faculty.
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The University of Phoenix
Alumni Results
The alumni results are highly variable based
upon the number of surveys, and should not be
used as more than an indicator.
About the surveyees:
Number of Surveys
Starting Salary *
10 Year Salary *
15
$73,481
$80,008
* From our survey data, the average starting salary
of UP graduates, and the average salary of UP
graduates after 10 years.
60%
112%
60%
Are satisfied with their current job.
Said things are generally going well.
Are still in the field they majored in.
Said that UP contributed X%
0.00%
75-100% to their career success
6.67%
50-75% to their career success
46.67%
25-50% to their career success
46.67%
0-25% to their career success
X% Had the employment status
13.33%
Self Employed
0.00%
Top-management
53.33%
White-collar workers
0.00%
Pink-collar workers
6.67%
Blue-collar workers
0.00%
Minimum wage employees
26.67%
Unemployed
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The University of Phoenix
Student Comments
gree in field where you have experience, this
school is for you. UoP classes will add to
your knowlege and provide credentials for
you to get ahead in your field.
If you do not have experience, and want to
learn the basics, find another school. For the
Other - Male
IT program, UoP does provide any hands
First thing’s first, I noticed that some
on training in class, unless you provide your
accountant guy said that this university
own laptop. They also do not cover cover
is a ”diploma mill,” you need to do some
the basics, i.e. fundamelntals of digital techresearch and pull your head out of your
nology. I am just finishing the BSIT proa**. They are regionally accredited by the
tram. I had more than 23 years of electronnorth and central association of college
ics background, 14 of those years teaching
”University of Phoenix is accredited by
the subject. Although I did not have a difThe Higher Learning Commission and is a
ficult time, I would have been lost if I did
member of the North Central Association.
not have a foundation to work with . I met
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing and
some students who had not IT background
the Master of Science in Nursing degree
and had a very difficult time. But many
programs are accredited by the National
of them made it. . . However, they were not
League for Nursing Accrediting Commisvery confident in their knowlege of IT.
sion. The American Counseling Association
FACULTY: While most of the faculty was
accredits the Master of Counseling Program
good (some were great), there were several
for the Council for Accreditation of Couninstructors that were completely incompeseling and Related Educational Programs.”
tent. One instructor even told us that he
http://www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org/directory/index.php
was fired from his last job because they
Regional accrediation is recognized by the
said he was incompetent. Another instrucCHEA and the U.S. Department of Educator spoke English so poorly, nobody undertion, so do some research before you make
stood a word he said for the entire five –
slanderous comments.
week course.
I have had a good experience at the school
FACILITIES: I have attended UoP at two
so far, as I am attending the northern
different on – ground campuses: South
virginia campus. It does cost a lot, and the
Coast (Costa Mesa) and La Mirada. The
classes do require a huge bulk of knowledge
South Coast Campus, which was moved
at once. After I get my B.S., I plan on
from Fountain Valley at the end of 2003,
attending George Mason to get my M.B.A,
is a very nice campus. However, the rooms
as I was recently accepted into the prodid not have enough power outlets for stugram, another reason why Mr. accountant’s
dents to use laptop computers. If you recomments were uninformed.
call, I mentioned that UoP does not proI would recommend the program to anyone
vide computers for hands – on training.
with the GI bill, tuition reimbursment (as I
Regarding the La Mirada Campus: STAY
have), or just plain alot of money, otherwise
AWAY FROM IT. The campus is located
you are going to be paying alot of loans
among a cluster of warehouses and recyback.
cling yards. The campus itself is in a bad
state of disrepair, the elevators lurch vio• Other - Male
lently when people are entering or leaving.
I have both positve and negative comments
Another irritant is the Southern – Pacific
on UoP. First, for those seeking an UnderRailroad tracks right behinde the building.
graduate Degree: If you are getting a de-
,= Positive /= Negative
= Advice
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The University of Phoenix
Online/Flexnet: The courses are good, but
UoP uses Outlook Express for course access. The use of Outlook Express exposes
students to an increased risk of virus and
hacker attacks. I received MANY virus infected messages through the UoP servers.
Other facility problems: UoP is very slow
to fix problems with classroom equipment.
I was in a classroom where the projector was
so dim, you could barely see the sreen with
all room lights off. I complained about this
for months with no results. I had to file
an Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
complaint to force UoP to respond.
BOOK SERVICES/LIBRARY: UoP recently tansistioned from hard – copy books
to online ONLY. This is totally unacceptable. Some of the books are in .pdf format,
and UoP only provides the sections covered
in class. This means that you usually do not
have access to the index or Table of Contents. This makes research difficult, to impossible. Other books are part of the ”Safari
Online Library”, while these provide a complete book, it is very inconvenient to study,
as you need a computer and net connection
to access the books.
TECHNOLOGY: As stated earlier, UoP
does not provide computers for hands – on
training. If you do not have access to computers and network equipment, you will only
have ”book knowlege”. UoP does use an
Computer – Based Training (CBT) system
called NETg. I have developed CBT and I
can definately say that NETg is the worst
system tha I ever saw. There are numerous problems with the software, too many to
list, however here is a small sample: Many
times it marks a response as incorrect when
you answered correctly. Many of hte NETg
courses are disjointed and confusing. The on
– screen font is approximatly 6.5 pitch, making it very difficult to view, the font is NOT
resizable. SOME OF THE INSTRUCTORS
USE YOUR NETg SCORE AS PART OF
YOUR GRADE One other problem is that
some of the courses are very outdated. We
were using C programming language, and a
very poorly designed compiler for programming classes. There was no reason that UoP
could not have used a mainstream development tool such as Microsoft Visual Studio.net
COMPLAINT PROCESS: At the end of
each course, UoP has a course evaluation
for the students to fill out. I do not think
they read them. UoP simply does not respond to complaints In one class, we had an
an very poor instructor. When we had the
same instructor scheduled for a future class.
We submitted a petition requesting a different instructor. The school’s response was
”UoP does not accept petitions.” At least
this time we had a response. Most times
the school simply ignored the complaints.
SUMMARY: Despite the negative points
listed, UoP is not a bad school. We did have
some outstanding instructors, and I did
learn a lot of information. The class format
is very relaxed, makig a comfortable learning environment. Some of my fellow students attended ”traditional” schools before
switching to UoP and said that they were
much more comfortable in UoP’s classes.
My only suggestion to UoP is start listening
to your students (customers).
/ Accounting - Male
The University of Phoenix is a degree mill.
I’ve spoken with ten professional recruiters
and asked them the question ”Does where a
person gets a degree matter on the resume
of a potential employee at your company.”
The response 70% of the time is, ”No, unless they went to a lower standard college
like University of Phoenix (where anybody
can go, even if they are a drug addict or
felony rapist). I usually toss those resumes
in the garbage and send the candidate a letter.” If one is honest with themself (and not
just looking to try and get a useless sheet
of paper because their boss tells them they
need it to advance in the company), they
know that the University of Phoenix is not a
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The University of Phoenix
respected institution in the college/business
world. Ofcourse, this would beg the question of ”well then why do companies pay
tuition reimbursement to go there? ”. . . and
anyone with half a brain can tell you the
answer to this question: Because UOP recruiters have convinced your company that
your degree from UOP will make you a better employee at the company YOU are currently with. . . . the trick is trying to use
your UOP degree to get hired by a different company in a different area of expertise..
NOT likely to happen. In other words, the
money your company is paying to put you
through the UOP is money well spent on
themselves, and they get to write it off in
taxes too If you are an older person looking to make a career change, and want some
advise on where to start, do NOT start at
the University of Phoenix (even though they
beg you to at every visited webpage).. trust
me, you’ll regret it. Oh, by the way, I am a
current student at UOP, but will be transferring to a more respected institution in the
fall of 2004. two years of the joke is long
enough.
/ Accounting - Female
This place feels like a diploma mill. I pay
900 dollars per class and I haven’t learned
anything. I have had instructors that were
very friendly and approachable, but, the latest one is a staircase short of a bell tower.
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Female
At my campus, faculty and advisors lied to
people to get them in the programs, and
couldn’t keep order of paperwork, or even
return phone calls. Schedules were changed
without notice, and teachers were from one
extreme to another. Some would take us out
to breakfast and tell us their personal lifes
and others literally said they enjoyed watching us squirm. While this is all lovely if one
doesn’t care about the quality of education
that is received in the process, i do because
i am paying for this 100%.
, Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
Before I bother trying to justify why I
choose to give this school positive feedback,
let me first start off by saying I am now
three classes shy of my Bachelor’s in Business Management. In addition, I have an
AA in general studies from Palomar Community College, which is a well known and
respected school in California. One of my
older brothers has graduated from Chico
State University a few years ago, and my
other brother has graduated from Pepperdine University. If you do not think that
qualifies me for reviewing this school, then
you are obviously determined to believe one
of the several ridiculous posts that have
been made here. Yes, like all schools, this
one has its flaws. First off, if you are planning on one day holding a top executive position or want to be a dean, you are looking into the wrong school. This school is
made for the working class adult. Out of
all of the adult schools available, this is the
most respected and well known by a large
pool of corporations. Anyone who tells you
this school is a joke is obviously an idiot,
and either couldn’t hack the work load or
didn’t like the fact that he was working with
ADULTS. This is not for the top 10% elite,
and it is not for snot nosed frat boys that
drink beer rather than actually make an attempt to learn anything. Also, if writing at
least four 1 – 2 page individual AND team
papers 4/5 weeks of class, reading 200+
pages per class, and being forced to participate on weekends and during the evening
is a degree mill, then I must have missed
something that most state universities offer. By the way, when taking all eighteen
classes of upper division into consideration,
that would place me at about 70+ individual papers ALONE. If you try and say those
who complete these assignments and read
the required text at UOP are a ”joke”, you
obviously do not know what the curriculum
holds. Bottom line, any school, including
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The University of Phoenix
state universities, will only give you what
you want out of them. Here is some information for you to chew on.
65% of UOP students graduate
Over 80% of companies that provide reimbursement cover UOP
The average age at UOP is 30+
To attend UOP, you have to meet the age
requirement
You cannot attend UOP unless you are a
working professional
UOP is fully accredited
I hope this clarifies some misconceptions
about this school.
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
Financial aid and Enrollment department
disorganized, unable to contact admin counselor, no return calls from anyone most of
the time. Online version – HUGE WASTE
OF MONEY .
• Business – Management and Administration - Male
Good environment for furthering adult education. As a veteran of the military for ten
years, I would not have fit into a traditional
campus scene. This program allows me to
work full – time and attend full – time. I
like that
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration (Alumni) - Male
I am 24 years old. I enrolled at UOP at
the age of 21 because I had started an e –
commerce company that had me busy all
day long with 12 employees and 70 hour
work weeks. The learning structure at UOP
worked fine for me, I could get my class work
done at midnight when I came home from
work, and the flexible schedule suited my
needs. I would have never been able to attend a traditional University full time while
operating my company.
That being said, trying to graduate from
UOP has been a nightmare. My field of
study required 120 units. I completed 122
units due to some classes that I transferred
in from the University I was attending previously. After finishing all of my classes, no
one ever contacted me and told me what to
do. I called my academic counselor only to
find out that I had a new academic counselor
(for the 6th time in two years). My new
academic counselor had no idea what my
previous academic counselor had done with
my transferred units and why they wouldn’t
show up on my transcript. In the mean
time, I was already getting notices in the
mail telling me that it was time to start re –
paying student loans because I had finished
school.
After mulling around, I called my academic
counselor a week later, only to find out that
I had a new academic counselor again (7th
time). And once again, this new academic
counselor had no idea what was going on
with my graduation or my transferred credits. I sat in limbo for months and months
and nobody would do anything about my
situation. I had to cancel job interviews because my transcript didn’t even show that
I had completed all of my classes, and thus
I was not eligible for jobs that required a
degree. It has been the biggest nightmare
of my life just trying to get that little piece
of paper that says that I finished my course
work. My counselors dont care, in fact they
seem to hate their jobs so much that they
frequently quit. UOP notified my lenders of
my graduate status, and they made me start
paying back my loans, but still no degree
Credits that I applied to transfer months
ago still dont show up on my transcript. Im
at a loss. I invested tons of money on my
education, I could have spent half as much
and gone to a local State University but it
would have required me to sell my company.
I dont recommend this school to anyone unless you are in a unique situation like I was
and you simply do not have time to spend
all day at your local University. When I
think back on it, I probably should have sold
my company and used the money to attend
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The University of Phoenix
a local University. I learned a lot of valuable things at UOP, but I feel that the quality of my education is being mocked by the
sheer lack of service provided by the school.
I had doubled up my classes to 18 units per
semester, and financial aid only covered half
of it, so I was paying to the tune of $2000 per
month out of my own pocket, striving hard
to finish school and when I finally do, I am
stuck in limbo for what seems to be like the
rest of my life. How frustrating to have completed school and have absolutely nothing to
show for it. To this day its been 7 months
since I finished my last class. Still no degree,
still no transcript even showing that I am
finished. My academic counselor still does
not want to talk to me. I worked so hard,
I pay my parents rent and bills, I pay for
my little sisters University, and I dumped
over $30,000 of my own cash and financed
an equal amount to complete my own education, and it feels like they have just abandoned me after I finished my classes.
• Business – Management and Administration - Female
I attended the UoP Dallas Campus, which
is stil a fairly new campus. It opened its
doors in mid 2001, which is when I started.
The educational experience was wonderful.
I learned a lot, and have already applied
many of the things I have learned to my professional life. The teaching staff is outstanding (would not have traded my facilitators
for the world ).
My problem came with the administrative
side of the ”going to school”. I had 8 or 9
different academic advisors during my two
and half years of attendance. My calls were
not always returned. My credits were not
applied correctly, and even as I have finished
and am waiting for graduation in Sept, I am
still having to wrestle with the University
about getting my credits applied correctly.
I have been asking for my degree completion
summary for about a month now.
I really enjoyed my classes, meeting new
people and making new friends (students
and instructors alike) and feel that my time
spent completing my degree was valuable. I
just think that the Dallas Campus of the
University of Phoenix, needs to be overhauled.
• Business – Management and Administration - Female
I have my BSB/M from UOP and also
worked as an admission counselor, which
completely changed my perspective. Where
you go and what you do with your degree is very individual. For me, this degree
has opened some doors, mostly for jobs in
sales which is disappointing but then again
I was naive in picking my major and listened too intently to my admission rep. For
those coming in with more work experience
than I did (military and catering) this may
be the way to go. Don’t expect a traditional graduation ceremony though. . . it is
one big unabashed promotion/commercial
for the school, not the individuals who are
picking up their diplomas. One not – so
– great bonus is the opportunity to shake
the hand of the snake who is now president
(Brian Mueller) at graduation. . . If students
were informed about his mandates for recruitment, they would run the other way.
It is arrogant and ironic that he hands the
diploma and shakes the hands of the students that pay him so much. . .
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
I have taken six classes at UoP and
had one instructor who was OUTSTANDING. . . several mediocre and the last one
gave us no lectures and participated less
than what was required for students. I am
getting a lot out of my classes because I
read all the material, do all the assignments
and do a lot of research. I WOULD NOT
recommend UoP however because the team
project is worth 30% or more of your grade
in each class. Although I plan on finishing
my degree at UoP I have just resigned my-
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The University of Phoenix
self to the fact that in order to get good
grades I have to look at the team project as
another individual project and put up with
the students who don’t do anything. This
is a shame. The University knows this is
a problem yet refuses to change it. I definitely plan to pursue my graduate degree
elsewhere.
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
I’m changing colleges, UOP is not a quality college and it’s not organized at all. I
thought that since they could pay for all of
those commericals that they could at least
have a nice online setup. You use Outlook
express for everything. I would add that
they are getting a bad rep.
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration (Alumni) - Male
Need to be aware that classes will not transfer. Need to know that the type of class
offerred can be change due to the demand
regardless of your need for meetting your
requirements for graduations. Make sure
everything said is in writing even a simple
email will suffice. Expect tuition to increase
3 times before you complete your degree.
Accredidation agency basically allows the
University to accredidate itself along with
a couple of other universities.
• Business – Management and Administration - Male
The best thing that I can say about UoP
Business Management program is the fact
that, because it is a business, it must deal
in the real world paradigm of supply and
demand. This means that it must make its
courses accessible by those who have previously been underrepresented in educational
institutions. In fact, were it not for UoP, I
would not be five courses away from earning my degree – and I will have earned it.
I have worked hard every step of the way,
and I’ve learned much that I could apply to
any commercial enterprise.
However, I cannot help but mention that,
perhaps because of the application – based
learning model, there are others who will
obtain degrees without having any fundamental understanding of the material they
were taught. This is somewhat discouraging, because in order for success to mean
anything, there should first be a real possibility of failure. Showing up should count
for something, but it should not count for
everything. When those who do not know
the difference between a run – on sentence
and a sentence fragment receive high marks,
it is a struggle to remember that I am attending for an education, not to compare
grades. I am receiving an education – but
that is partially because I am self – motivated. Those who do not care about the
quality of work they produce are not as self
– motivated – and that will be true regardless of the university they attend.
I’ve been to traditional college; I attended
Penn State for a year (while working full
– time) and earned every bit of my 3.667
average. I enjoyed going there, and the education was top – notch, but because of the
way I had to schedule classes, there was a lot
of wasted time in my life between classes. I
was always tired, because I rarely got more
than four hours of sleep per night. I don’t
have the same problem at UoP, because I
waste no time between classes. I go to my
class for four hours and schedule my time
appropriately to various tasks – including,
of course, work, family, and homework.
I also attended a state community college
(part time) for a couple of years, and the
instructors there were not any better than
those I have at UoP. In fact, most of them
were worse. I didn’t learn a whole lot at
community college, unfortunately. Additionally, because I decided to go part – time,
I never really felt like I was making progress.
At UoP, because every class is completed in
five weeks (for undergraduate work), I always know I’m moving.
I’ve had good and bad teachers at every col-
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The University of Phoenix
lege. The great thing about UoP is that
you’re done with nearly every teacher in five
short weeks. If you don’t like one. . . don’t
worry. . . you won’t have to deal with that
person in a few weeks.
The biggest gripe I have about UoP is the
structure of the learning teams. If it were
done differently, I feel they could weed out
the skaters who can get by based on the
work of other people. Forcing the rotation
of teams would be a good way to handle
this, because it will discourage familiarity
and complacency. At this time, though, if
you’re a hard – worker and don’t want to be
doing other peoples’ work, UoP might be a
frustrating experience.
However, if you commit yourself to get the
most out of it you possibly can, it can be
very rewarding.
I don’t know what other employers think of
a UoP degree, but if you’re just out to get
knowledge that will enable you to be a better businessman or person, and if you’re a
non – traditional student who doesn’t want
his time to be wasted idly, you could do
much worse than UoP.
, Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
The courses are very challenging. I am
still nervous of the schools reputation and
wonder how other potential employers will
perceive the quality of my education.
University of Phoenix’s learning model is
very effective and I recommend it to anyone
looking to complete their degree. Although,
I would not recommend this school to
students just out of high school. This
school is definitely for career – focused,
adult students. The class model requires
a certain level of maturity and discipline.
I first attended a state univ. and beleive
that the experiences at the traditional university help to develop the creativity and
independence needed in today’s workplace.
Business – Management and Admin-
istration (Alumni) - Male
The MBA in Human Resources CAN be
quite useful. The most important courses
for me were those unrelated to HR, so that
meeting with clients and targets I can now
read their annual reports with some understanding, discuss their marketing and improve my own, and financially/ statistically
analyze my past projects to direct my new
ones.
The HR courses generally repeat knowledge that you should have obtained when
achieving professional HR accreditations,
especially the CCP and SHRM (can’t
speak for Benefits, a chronic career weakness)certifications.
I recommend arguing the order which UOP
wants you to take the courses, and see if
you can obtain the Operations Management
course early in the program – and Accounting, Finance and Marketing as soon thereafter as possible. The knowledge you gain in
these courses will put the knowledge in the
HR, Statistics and other courses in proper
perspective.
One other recommendation: READ THE
TEXTS, you might be able to float through
the coursework by reading the lectures and
only some of the assignments, but then why
are you in a program where it is your reputation, not the school’s, which will sustain
you?
Finally, do a great job in school and build
up UOP’s reputation – you are benefiting
everyone who attends and has attended. All
the hours put in by single parents, working
marrieds and their sacrifices are made more
worthwhile by the small amount of extra effort to perform well.
, Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
The University of Phoenix is tailored for
working adults. Minimum age is 23 so there
is a lot of student who are there who want
to get to work, and not mess with the all
the additional activities as State run colleges
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The University of Phoenix
and Universities. This is the place for me.
The quality of education is great. I pay to
be educated and they do just that. I would
recommend this for any working adult who
also have jobs and a family to support.
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Female
This is an excellent opportunity for us who
want to finish our education but must work
full time. However, the team work is not
very fair becasue so many students get by
with so little work and let the rest pull the
load. Yet they get the same grade even
though they did not put in any effort. Another thing, is the grading is way too lax. I
feel shortchanged because I worked so hard,
seeking a higher level of achievement, yet
some students in my class received almost
the same grades as I did even though they
could not write a decent thesis sentence, let
alone a decent paper. I wanted so badly
to have my degree, it is sad to me that I
feel like I was just any one who could get in
this school for profit – academics appear to
be secondary.I just hope my degree is not a
joke and I can go on to get my Masters at
another institution.
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
This school is absoultely awful. My experience was a complete and total nightmare.
The coursework in laughable and completely
irrelevant. The financial aid staff is terrible
and nazi like. Academic advisors are terribly ditzy. Then, to top it all off, it took me
18 months of constant phone calls, emails
and letters to RECEIVE my degree after I’d
applied for graduation and met all requirements.
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
This was a huge waste of my money. When
I initially inquired about the Management
program, I was told that I would be finished
in 16 months. More than two years later, I
am still in class.
The ”coursework” is a joke. I have never
taken a single test, nor have I ever opened
a single book, yet I somehow manage to get
all A’s and B’s. I originally attended a state
university for my first two years, and was
constantly challenged, and had to work extremely hard to even pass, but this school
only cares about collecting your tuition, not
actually providing an education that will
help you advance your career.
DON’T WASTE $40,000 ON A WORTHLESS DEGREE (LIKE I DID).
/ Business – Management and Admin-
istration (Alumni) - Male
University of Phoenix was a waste of time.
I was in the ground MBA program. Of the
groups I had, only one was bad. My middle group and last group were the best. The
groups made the program, and I still keep
in touch with a number of them.
There was considerable busy work which did
not relate to the subject matter. Numerous
instructors were not good educators. I had
three which were great. I had the same instructor for economics, and my stats courses
and he was very knowledgable and a great
guy. Strategic management was a great instructor. Advanced finance was a complete
joke and a very easy grader. His spoken English was terrible. The case studies class was
really ”how to be a consultant 101” and a
complete waste of six weeks.
I started out as a MBA/TM major. At the
end of the core, we were told it was only
available online, which was the opposite of
what I was told when I started the program.
AVOID UoP
, Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
UofP is for working adults who want to learn
real world stuff from real world instructors.
It’s not for these young kids that need their
hands held and an acedemic councelor to
blow their noses. It is not a diploma mill
and is accreated just like any other major
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The University of Phoenix
college. It does have a team learning model
that can allow some people to slack off and
still get a grade but these folks usually don’t
last and a certain amount of peer presure
comes in to play on that account. Hey,
my old girlfriend graduated with a MS from
Stanford and she is dumber than a stick. If
your young and are trying to impress someone with a well known university, go elsewhere and have fun. You want to learn what
you need to get ahead now? , think about
UofP.
, Business – Management and Admin-
istration - Male
UoP online has been great so far. I have
completed over a year so far at UoP with
one left. The course work is based on real
world experience and is challenging. I have
tried other online colleges and found them
not to meet the challenge.
• Business – Management and Administration (Alumni) - Male
What you are looking for will dictate
whether this is the proper school setting for
you. I have experience with both campus
and online formats. With that understood,
we will delve into University of Phoenix
(UoP) and my experiences.
In reality, correspondence education has existed since the late 19th century. Some resistance has actually existed to this form of education since its conception. However, with
the advent of the Internet, a new form of
delivery was invented, not a new form of
education.
What appears to be one of the primary
problems is the propensity of society to be
resistance to this delivery method. As technology advances, so does the concept of
how information is delivered. Technology
can accomplish this through written lectures
(more archaic), streaming video or digitally
recorded lectures from teaching professionals. Schools can actually compound this
problem via poor teachers or poorly prepared materials. If the delivery method is
not fluid, the learning experience will be less
than fulfilling. Successful delivery translates into experience in education, both with
adults and younger students. Colleges that
have little or no experience with administering successful information transfer between
the student and the professor in a classroom
setting will likely have little or no success
doing so in a virtual environment.
UoP actually was a brink and mortar campus prior to their online excursion. UoP appears to be taking the brunt of the verbal
bashing because they are essentially the pioneers of this delivery format. While UoP
has made many mistakes, they have steadily
improved. It is also important to contemplate the numerous other schools that have
benefited by watching UoP make mistakes
and avoid those mistakes by makes adjustments before they encounter the same pitfalls. For all of the business and marketing
majors, this concept should sound very familiar.
It is likely that UoP’s two biggest mistakes
revolve around being a public company and
the aggressive sales tactics. First, let us focus on the public company portion of the
two – headed monster. Since UoP is public, profits are critical to the shareholders.
Shareholders do not care about how you get
the money; they simply want to see returns.
Second, let us review the aggressive sales
tactics problem. This directly relates to
profits. Because shareholders want money,
advisors are instructed to bring students
in and sell them on the service the school
is providing. While the school does have
guidelines, they are by no means stringent.
People who have the resources to attend the
school can likely meet these requirements.
In addition, the push to get students has
opened the door to serious issues about the
caliber of the students entering the school.
Like it or not UoP, the caliber of students
who leave your school is direct reflection on
the type of school you are. These problems have thus far not been addressed, so
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The University of Phoenix
they continue to compound. Like any public
business, when problems are not addressed,
revenues decline and shareholders get upset.
It is likely that only when shareholders demand a change will UoP address these critical issues.
The student typically provides technology
in most of these schools. UoP does have an
excellent online library system that makes it
conducive to sound research principles. The
online environment such as news boards and
lecture delivery has improved significantly,
but additions are necessary to help improve
the learning environment.
The instructors are not like a typical academic college. Most of these instructors are
”life experience” teachers with perhaps a
couple years of teaching experience, often
all online. This does not make these teachers bad, but it does veer away from what
most people expect from a teacher considering a true generation of virtual learners in
still about 10 years away. The good and bad
teacher ratio from my experience was not far
off from that of my campus experience.
UoP is clearly not alone, as many of you
know. Notre Dame offers an MBA online,
UMASS offers degrees online, Stanford offer’s CEU’s online, Harvard launched an exploratory committee, and UCLA, University of Wisconsin, several colleges in Florida
also offer degrees online. ALL of these
colleges are brick and mortar colleges and
would anyone question at MBA from Notre
Dame, online or not? These schools take
the adult learner seriously and realize that
the customer base is transforming from the
typical 18 25 year old to include the working adult. While these schools have a reputation, it also helps validate the delivery
method that is the Internet.
UoP was rewarding from the standpoint
that I improved my critical thinking capacity as well as my ability to ”listen” to others
and learn from other people’s experiences.
The education provided allowed me to build
a foundation in which I can improve upon
over my future endeavors.
Currently I am working on my MBA from
Regis University in Denver, CO. This is a
well – established Jesuit college founded in
1877. They are a brink and mortar Division II school and for the sports nuts, they
are the Regis Rangers. Here is the surprise,
they have a limited following via Internet
learning. I will add though, the teachers
are experienced professors and they have
digitally recorded lectures, video discussions
with working professionals, and streaming
video. These tools help enhance and assist
in facilitating the classroom learning. Regis
has a more stringent admissions process and
your academic advisor is an actual professor,
not service representatives. The experience
at Regis has been most rewarding, but challenging at the same time.
The target date to start a doctorate is the
fall of 2007. I will do this with the University of Maryland. While some of these
classes can be taken from a distance, I am
sad to say a legitimate doctorate cannot be
completed online. If you are looking for a
pure online doctorate, University of Maryland is not your school. As well, Maryland
requires essay’s and GMAT scores. Residencies and constant communication lines must
be kept open. While UoP does offer doctorial programs online and they do require
residencies, I would caution anyone who seriously considers this route. UoP does not
even require written essays as a part of the
admissions process. This is a serious issue
and degrades the value of the degree because
once again, while you may be smart, the
people to your left and to your right may
just be on cruise control and the buffoonery will cost you credibility in your degree.
To be taken seriously in the academic world,
a doctorate must come from an established
learning institution and a pure ”click” college cannot offer this.
In conclusion, online schools such as UoP,
Capella, and Walden are not bad choices for
undergraduate degrees. These choices may
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The University of Phoenix
even be suitable for graduate level work depending on your concentration and future
goals. None of these schools is adequate for
Ph.D. level work. Finally, any school that is
purely a ”click” college such as Jones University is a bad choice and you likely will
have very little if any credibility by other
educators or employers.
• Business – Management and Administration - Female
When there are team problems, UoP needs
to offer some counseling and guidance. Solving interpersonal problems is a learning experience but when it starts to interfere
with someones learning experience, something should be done about it from some
university official. Not just have the students deal with it themselves.
I do really worry that the degree will not be
worth as much to an employer. I’ve already
been told that it will not be sufficient for
me to attend a masters program at a state
university after getting the BS degree from
UoP. I will still be required to take a year
of stats, another economics class and a psychology class and then still my degree from
uop will have to be evaluated by the graduate school at the state university i was going
to try to go to.
There is some unfairness in grading. Some
of the students do not write very well and
still get the same grade.
I also think that if teamwork is so valued
and stressed at this university, there should
be more training in that area. If the team
works well together, you learn more. If the
team does not work well together it just
causes stress and really interferes with learning.
They have a nice concept but many improvements need to be made with how they
operate.
, Business – Management and Administration - Female
Wonderful school, couldn’t have got mey degree without it
• Computer Science - Male
The University of Phoenix works, if you
have a good study group. (I attended classes
on site, as this works best for me.) If you
have people who are willing to share their
skills and pull their own weight it is very rewarding. On the other hand, I am an executive where I work and I would not hire some
of the instructors we had. In several classes,
the students knew more than the teacher
and taught the class. In a Project Managmeent class the instructor left myself and
another student to teach, as we knew the
topic better. Glad I got my degree, think
that I earned it, but others don’t.
, Computer Science - Male
University of Phoenix is a great choice
for working adult professionals with industry experience (BSIT program specifically).
I’ve been working in IT for nearly 20 years
and feel the coursework provides an appropriate basis for understanding key concepts,
terms, and technologies. Just like any educational experience, be it university, workshops, self – learning, it’s all in what you
make of the material. Is it possible to
skate by with marginal grades and graduate? Probably, but you can find that in every single college and university in the country, UoPhx is no different. Aside from a few
team learning experiences that were suboptimal, this has been very rewarding.
One key differentiator in the program worth
mentioning is that most of the students are
working professionals, as are the instructors.
There is a huge advantage in this because
very often you learn just as much from peers
relaying their experiences as you do from the
material. Specifically – how to apply these
key learnings in Fortune 500 companies with
peers from companies like Boeing, Verizon,
Bellsouth, IBM and others. No traditional
university full of 19 year olds without a clue
has this advantage.
Lastly, you really should do some critical
self analysis before enrolling in Univ. of
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The University of Phoenix
Phoenix. If you are not a motivated learner
that is disciplined enough to focus on school
to derive the maximum value, seek a degree
elsewhere. Nobody is going to hold your
hand, not the staf, not the counselors, but
there certainly is a worthwhile program being offered if distance learning is an option.
If I can do it while holding down a very demanding fulltime job (with intermittent US
and international travel I might add), raising 3 kids with my wonderful wife, anybody
sufficiently motivated and intelligent can do
the same thing.
, Education (Alumni) - Male
I was amazed at how much I learn during my
time at UOP gaining a Masters of Education
in Curriculum and Technology. There was a
good deal of hard work involved and sometimes I wondered if I would ever get done or
survive, but I came away with a great educational experience.
If there is one piece of advice I could give
a new students, it would be to learn all you
can. Dig in with both hands and make the
best of your college experience. You dont
really get a chance to be this focused, to
dedicate yourself this completely to learning again, unless you go back for your Ph.D.,
which Im going back for in this summer.
Ive spent the last three years applying my
thesis to a classroom environment and it has
been wonderfully rewarding. I have also had
the added benefit of making more money.
The degree itself is worth something on the
pay scale as are the credits. Having a Masters also give you trump, the ability to have
people sit back and take your ideas seriously,
because youve done the work necessary to
know what youre talking about.
This is my 9th year as an educator and I
would recommend UOP to anyone seeking
to advance their professional ability, money
making capability or just to learn and have
an exciting stimulating educational experience. Pick your reason, this is a good way
to go.
, Criminal - Male
I got my AAS degree from a junior college
in the state of WA. 3 years later when I
was ready to transfer to WSU along with
my brother, I just happned to pick up a
pamphlet at the college fair and had serious questions about moving 6 hrs away from
home.
The education is very relevant and challenging because I am constantly comparing the
”syllabus” with my brother who is attending
Washington State University. The coursework is similar if not better and the retention level of that material is better due to
it being taught by a instructors who are
knowledgeable in the given field. This universit is however, not for people who are not
self – motivated. It is solely upon the individual to schedule and prioritize the events
in their lives. Noone will babysit you lol.
I am very happy with the faculty of UOP
in the Seattle area and could not ask for a
better education.
/ Criminal - Female
University of Phoenix online, is a fraud
Their faculty and staff have exhibited nothing but condescending attitudes.
The Financial Aid Dept has incompetent
staff that will not assist a 3 year student
in regards to ’not clearing’ them for class,
when student loan funds are to be disbursed
to them within 2 weeks of the start of a class.
I was 6 classes from obtaining my Bachelor’s when the Financial Aid Dept advised
me that until I sent them approximately
$400.00 I would not be able to attend class,
knowing fully well that a disbursement was
to be distributed to them.
I RECOMMEND IF YOU ARE WANTING
TO GO TO AN ONLINE COLLEGE, DO
NOT CHOOSE UOP ONLINE
/ Criminal - Male
What a complete waste of time and money.
The reason all classes are 3 credits instead
of 5 is because they don’t want you to transfer. Its not possible to transfer 90% of the
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The University of Phoenix
credits you recieve. The staff is pretty much
non – exsistent, don’t expect any help from
them other than here is your work see you
next week. WAY more expensive than a
state school. If you want to go to an online university check out your state colleges
first. They are much better and cheaper.
And you can transfer credits.
/ Other - Male
I am attending the UoP Baltimore Campus
BSIT program. I’ve been working in the
technology field for about 7 years now, and
felt that I had to go back to schooling reflect
my skills. I’m close to graduation and feel I
can adequately review the UoP program.
I’ll start off by saying that the Baltimore
Campus was a big selling point for me because of the proximity to my house and the
evening class hours. Looking back on it
now, I should have gone to the University
of Maryland instead.
First and foremost, I found that the quality of instruction bounced around. I had
some good, qualified instructors in some
classes and people who were just there for
the paycheck in others. As there are only
5 classroom sessions per course, getting the
quality lecture and Q&A time is important.
When the instructor doesn’t know what he
or she is talking about, the classroom time
is wasted.
The Baltimore Campus does not have classroom PCs available to students. You are
expected to bring a laptop if you choose to
follow your instruction.
Halfway through the BSIT program, it was
apparent that UoP had a relationship with
Microsoft as there was a little too much time
spent learning with those product licenses.
I also felt that the grading was a bit lax.
I busted my butt putting together good papers but had to watch as other students who
blatantly plagiarized got A grades. That is
the inherent weakness of the program. Some
of the idiots I will graduate with have no
business getting a BSIT degree.I’m embar-
rassed by how little some of my classmates
know, and we are just two classes from graduation. These same people will be touting
that degree on their resumes. When a company realizes how little they know, the degree will gain a bad reputation.
That said, I did learn some new things at
UoP. But the fundamentals that I wanted to
master, such as good Object Oriented Programming skills and solid network fundamentals, are not at the level that I expected
them to be. Perhaps I was expecting too
much. In my opinion, this school is good for
the IT person who wants to get their Bachelors on their spare time. It isn’t a good
fundamentals school and you shouldn’t go
to UoP if you are expecting to learn something new. Additionally, I found out that
many government agencies look for schools
with certifications that the UoP program
does not have.
Recommended
No
, Other (Alumni) - Male
I think the the University of Phoenix
Ground Campus was a great experience.
I hear some people who have actually attended it or just simply heard about it, call
it a degree mill, but they MUST be doing something right to be accredited by the
same accredited body that accredits Harvard. I think that while the university had
its respective flaws, it also had go points –
you had GREAT instructors and you had
a few bad ones, but the GREAT ones really made the experience worthwhile, and
guess what, ALL colleges have good and bad
instructors. . . HELLO? I got an undergrad
from Penn State, which is a ”GOOD” top
ten university, so I KNOW quality education, and the one recieved at the University
of Phoenix was DEFINITELY of quality –
some of the classes were down right difficult. I notice that most people that speak
ill of the university obtained a bad grade
or had a bad group. . . but I have news for
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The University of Phoenix
you, the substance of the curriculm is there.
The true test is if you can complete the program. . . that is why it is open admission,
and a lot of schools these days are seeing
it this way. While, the university may turn
some folks off with their extensive marketing campaign, it does not take away from
the fact that they are innovators, and pioneers to the whole online genre. . . people
can say what they would like about University of Phoenix. . . but it’s a GREAT university in my eyes. . . it’s FULLY accredited,by
a national accrediting body. . . has been for
more than 20 years. . . so, when people speak
down on it, they are speaking down on other
schools that use that same commissioning
body. . . i.e. Harvard. . . while the school is no
Harvard. . . it is a school of substance, and it
is ACCEPTED in the workplace. . . the true
test is what you learned, and how you’re
able to apply what you’ve learned. While
I would say that if you are an undergrad
student, you should probably go to a more
conventional school. . . only because of all of
the classes you have to take at an accelerated pace, for graduate school it is the way
to go. . . most of the people who are there
are managers, VPs, supervisors. . . all quality folk. . . who know how to bow out if they
feel that they’re not getting a quality eduation. Some people make it so bad for
others. . . and the ONLY way that it would
be regarded as a degree mill. . . is if people who do not know what they’re talking
about. . . keep talking. . . people tend to try
to lessen the experience. . . but the university
keeps graduating thousands all over. . . so
while someone who speaks ill of the university may not hire someone with an ACCREDITED UOP degree, they have graduated from all over who likely will
It’s really a good school, and they have a
heck of a graduation. . . people from all walks
of life
School of Information - Male
I attend the University of Phoenix ON-
LINE, so my experience may be different of
those doing it the traditional way. Online is
so much more demanding. Everything you
learn has to actually be read, but your writing and typing skill definately improves. In
addition to the required reading and writing assignments, and lets not forget group
papers, you have to participate twice a day,
five days a week. That’s alot of work. If
you’re doing to campus deal you’ll probably
meet with the teacher once a week and attempt to meet with your group once a week
as well. A friend of mine does it on campus,
never reads the text books and always manages to pass with good grades.
In conclusion, if you do online it all falls on
you. If you don’t read the text and material, and if you don’t write and participate,
you’ll fail.
, School
of Information (Alumni) -
Male
I graduated from the University of Virginia
in 1990, and I did not think I would ever
go to school again. UVA was (and is) one
of the very top public schools in the nation,
and I got a great education there, but I was
totally burnt out. I found ”being a college
student” discouraging.
As time went on, sometimes I thought
maybe I would want to go on to grad school,
but soon I was getting married, starting a
family, and getting busier with my professional life. It just did not seem possible
for me to jump through the hoops of testing, applying and then (most of all) spending the time away from home and family
that would have been required for the ”traditional” graduate school experience.
When I heard about UOP and their online
program in Computer Information Systems,
I looked into it some, and I started looking
at some other programs, as well. I found
UOP to be comparable to other programs
in cost, although somewhat more expensive
than the others I inspected.
As I considered making the huge committ-
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The University of Phoenix
ment of money, time and effort, the online
program made the difference for me. Suddenly, what had seemed impossible all those
years began to seem possible. The idea of
going to class from my living room, being
near my family, and being able to complete
my degree within 2 years, helped me make
the decision. I started in June, 2003.
As for my experience in school, I found it
pretty good overall. The online program
was a huge amount of work. We had 5 –
week courses (or was it 6 – week? ) with one
week in between of ”downtime.” Students
were expected to be heavily involved in online discussions at least 5 days per week.
This meant not only responding to discussion topics in detail, but also reading all the
other students’ responses and follow – up
postings. We had a lively group that stayed
together (for the most part) for the whole
time in school, and many of my classmates
were happy to post 5, 7 or 10 messages per
day. To keep up, I had to read all or most of
these posts and then offer substantive commentary of my own. We were allowed to do
a minimum of ”2 substantive posts per day,”
and I made sure I did at least that much.
Whenever I had time, I would get more involved. Class discussions were a huge part
of the pleasure of the online program. We
had a good group of people, and it really
made a difference.
It also meant spending at least 2 – 3 hours
on coursework pretty much each and every
evening, and most of at least one day on
the weekend, too. DO NOT THINK THAT
THE CONVENIENCE OF THE ONLINE
PROGRAM WILL MEAN LESS WORK. I
worked much harder for my graduate degree
at UOP than I ever did at UVA.
Instructors were a mixed bag, but overall,
pretty good. All were professionals in their
field, and most were good. Some were awesome. All tried to convey their wisdom from
their experience, and most were pretty high
– level, either as technical gurus or executives. A few of our instructors were dis-
organized, would often disappear, and were
uneven in their assignments and grading. A
few had problems with English – thank God
I did not have to speak to them often, but it
also showed in their written communication
with us.
As I said, most of our group was awesome,
and a core of about 10 of us managed to
stick together through the entire program.
However, the quality of the students was
pretty uneven, and we had a few people
in our classes who definitely did not belong
in graduate school. We also had one classmate with us for part of the program whose
English was unacceptable, and this was not
supposed to happen. Working with this person in a learning team meant dividing 85%
of their workload amongst the rest of the
team.
Speaking of learning teams, our learning
team experience was not the best. I agree
that learning teams are a good way to simulate working on projects in the professional
world, complete with the problem of some
people not doing their share. However,
when your grade depends on one or two
slackers, it can be hard to take. Overall,
I found the learning teams to be a negative.
My hard work paid off in great grades, and I
know I earned them. However, others whose
work was obviously of lower quality also got
pretty good grades. ”Grade inflation” is a
problem that should be addressed better.
Aside from the discussion and learning team
work, the individual assignments were also
a lot of work. It was common for us to have
anywhere from 2 to 4 5 – 7 page papers for
a class, or possibly one 12 – 15 page paper along with other smaller assignments.
Some classes had a little less writing, but
not many. I remember one class where I
wrote a 35 page paper as an individual assignment, but normally about 20 pages was
the maximum. I am a good writer, and
UOP helped make my writing better.
The class format of 5 or 6 weeks was great,
because I would just be getting really sick of
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The University of Phoenix
a class, a less – than – excellent instructor,
or a learning team, and then the class would
be over The quick pace made the time seem
to pass more quickly.
We had some classes with the NETg simulations to help teach certain aspects of the
coursework. The NETg system sucks, and I
cannot put it more plainly than that. Fortunately, they seem to be de – emphasizing
it, at least in the CIS program. Our program focused on the management aspects of
information technology/computer information systems: for more technical subjects,
UOP needs a much better way of simulating
and doing interactive, multimedia instruction. The other course materials were usually pretty good and current.
The instructors (or facilitators, as some of
them called themselves) would put out a lecture each week. However, most of what we
got from the good ones came in the form
of their input to the class discussions. The
text books were adequate. I found the online library to be pretty dreadful, although
it seemed to be getting better towards the
end of my program. For research, I usually
just used Google.
Administration was mixed in terms of quality, but good when it counted. I had someone who was intensely interested in making
sure I was comfortable when first starting in
the online environment. My academic and
financial advisors changed several times over
the almost two years, but everything was
fine when I needed something. Nobody lied
to me, no classes were cancelled, and financial aid was as painless as humanly possible.
In my opinion, being motivated (”failure
is not an option”) is the only way to succeed in this type of program. I had to resolve to do whatever was necessary in terms
of time committment, rescheduling or even
cancelling vacations, etc. UOP (on the
ground or online) is not for everyone, and I
recommend you carefully consider your options. However, for the right person in the
right situation, I can sincerely recommend
UOP.
Since my undergraduate degree was in History, having a fully accredited degree in my
field is important for me. Since graduating,
I have started teaching information technology courses part – time as an Adjunct Faculty member for a local college.
I am now in line for promotions at my full
– time job I could not have gotten without
my graduate education. I also have more
confidence in my credentials, and a sense
of pride in my accomplishment. Finally, I
gained a large measure of redemption for my
undergraduate experience by proving to myself that I could excel in, and really enjoy,
going to school again.
I hope my detailed experience is helpful to
you.
/ School of Information (Alumni) - Female
It’s not the faculty or the student body that
make UoP a subpar university – it is the administration. I graduated with a BS in Information Systems, but had the displeasure
of having to break in a new academic counselor every 3 months. My financial aid was
handled by rude or disinterested people who
went as far as to blame me for their double
– billing fiascoes. Complaints are not heard,
so don’t expect a response to even certified
letters to the administration. I am now trying Capella for my MS. I just couldn’t take
UoP for another day. . .
School of Information - Male
The online learning environment is a joke.
The same education can be received with a
few subscriptions to trade magazines.
, School of Information - Male
The University of Phoenix is a wonderful
place to receive a quality education. I had a
very positive experience with the University
and value the education I received while attending classes ”on – campus”. The value
of a degree is not the piece of paper it is
printed on, but the character, integrity, and
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The University of Phoenix
dedication of the student that possesses it
School of Information - Female
While I would recommend UOP for Bachelor’s, I will be pursuing a Master’s degree
elsewhere. I chose the online option, even
though a UOP campus has recently opened
here. I am in my 8th course, and have
learned a lot, but usually not due in any
way to the instructor’s ”real world experience.” UOP touts all the credentials of its
faculty, but what good are credentials when
instructors merely facilitate the class, handing out assignments and deadlines? I have
to ask myself where the value is in that.
UOP can be EXPENSIVE, check out alternatives – many colleges are getting on
the distance learning bandwagon. I do feel
that my Bachelor’s degree will be accepted
by employers as a ”middle of the road” degree, but it is by no means a ”diploma mill”
degree. . . UOP is very hard work. I agree
with other posters that the grading system
is questionable. I am nearly a straight A
student (one A minus), but that is because
I killed myself to turn in quality work. I
had a recent classmate whose grammar and
spelling is downright atrocious and she is
three classes from graduating
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The University of Phoenix
How to ’Get In’
• Business - Management and Administration
Quite Bright - Female
• Other
Super Brilliant - Male
Getting in to UoP was very easy. I visited the campus and talked to an admissions
counselor, and I was in. Period.
I had the advantage of attending UoP as
a Disabled Veteran, undergoing Vocational
Rehabilitation. This meant that I did not
have to deal with any financial matters.
That made it very easy. However, I do not
recommend that students use this method
to enter the school. In order to qualify for
this program, you have to join the military
and be seriously injured in the line of duty If
you are already in that situation, GO FOR
IT. If not, keep your head down
• Other
Application, ”interview”, pay application
fee. Know that the interview is really just
RAMOPSR. That is the acronym for a process that asks you to reveal your motivation for attending college so that if you
shop other schools or decide not to attend,
they can find your ”pain” and heal it with
the promise of education, using your words
(saved in a database called galaxy) to manipulate you, thereby closing the sale. It’s a
competitive market. If you have a diploma
or ged and the application fee, you’re in.
Unfortuntately, not everyone takes their education as seriously as the professional that
returns to school and you’ll be required to
work in groups and not always able to pick
your team mates. You’ve officially been
warned.
• Business - Management and Administration
Bright - Male ( SAT: 1200)
I transferred in my associates degrees from
Northern VA community college, which
moved me directly into the upper – teir
classes.
Bright - Female
DONT ATTEND. . . GOTO ANOTHER
NON APOLLO GROUP AFFILIATED
UNIVERSITY OR SCHOOL. . . .
• Business - Management and Administration
• Accounting
Quite Bright - Male ( ACT: 23 )
Super Brilliant - Female
don’t go to the University of Pheonix. . . .go
anywhere else. . . but not here. . . .it has been
a nightmare
Entrance into UoP is TOO easy. . . If you
have the money, you’ll get in.
• Business - Management and Administration
Quite Bright - Female
• Accounting
Quite Bright - Male ( ACT: 24 )
You get into the University of Phoenix in
the same way you get into a ’lemon’ used
car at your local pushy used car dealership.
You get suckered into it, because they make
it sound so great and do all the work up
front so you can just sit back and get sucked
in. In other words, there are no academic
requirements. Even though they play the
requirements game, trust me, those are just
words and they will make whatever exception possible to get your money into their
bank.
I called after seeing a billboard (just to see if
I could afford it). Counsler called me back
and explained everything – I think Justin
spent over an hour on the phone with me.
I went to a seminar, and applied. The did
everything else. They walked me through
the financial aid process, and they requested
my transcripts.
• Business - Management and Administration
Quite Bright - Female
I got scammed, go somewhere else. . . .A lot
of ”real” colleges offer the same excelerated
programs with classes that make sense.
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22
The University of Phoenix
• Business - Management and Administration
• School of Information
Average - Male ( SAT: 1090)
Quite Bright - Female
I just contacted them with my number, and
an admissions counselor contacted me. I
would recommend some students get in –
if they are dedicated to learning.
Getting in is the easy part – no admissions
testing, and a straightforward application.
You only need to be of age, working, and
able to pay the hefty tuition bills that come
like clockwork every five weeks, if you do not
have financial aid.
• Business - Management and Administration
Bright - Female
It is easy to get in. Just fill out the appropriate paperwork. The proficiency tests
were a little difficult to get through but not
impossible.
• School of Information
Average - Male ( SAT: 850)
Just offer money. It is all they are interested
in.
• Business - Management and Administration
Super Brilliant - Male
Just pulled out my checkbook, and that was
enough credentials for them. . . .
• Business - Management and Administration
Quite Bright - Male
Nothing, it is an open University.
• Business - Management and Administration
Quite Bright - Female ( ACT: 32 SAT:
1600)
Nothing. All you have to do is be 23 and
make a telephone call.
• Computer Science
Quite Bright - Male
If your check clears, you are in.
• Criminal
Quite Bright - Male
All you have to do to get in is call them.
This is pretty sad considering some of the
people I had to take a class with. Most
didn’t know much and got lost pretty quick.
• Criminal
Bright - Male
I just transferred all my credits that were
going to be trasferred at WSU and started
my 300 level classes just like I would have
at WSU.
• Other
Average - Male
Getting in is easy. Thats how their scam
works. Suck you in and keep you there.
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23