Complaint Review: University Of Phoenix

Maybe Jonid didn't complete more than three courses, but I did. In fact, I was halfway toward the completion of my M.S. in Information Systems when I quit. Why did I quit? Because I felt that it had become nothing but a glorified chat room. Having already graduated from college (a brick-and-mortar one, to boot!), I knew what university level classes should be like and this definitely wasn't it.

The Learning Groups are a joke. In at least three of my classes, the "group project" would have never been completed if I and a classmate hadn't jumped in and took over tasks that others should have done. If you didn't have slackers as teammates, then you had someone who had been doing for 20 years what you were trying to learn (but at least you could learn from them, although they usually didn't have a lot of patience) or was retired and had all the time in the world to do the work and couldn't understand why my being on-call and unavailable for a day had anything to do with being behind on a task (although I NEVER failed to get my work in on time).

Class discussion could be productive. I have to admit I learned a little from that, but with 20 people in the class, trying to come up with a "substantive" contribution could be difficult; I liken it to "beating a dead horse," especially when the instructor wants a 150-word contribution. Gotta admit, if nothing else my BSing skills were pushed to the max.

But I was willing to go on with the program, notwithstanding the fact that I felt like I wasn't really learning anything advanced, but the final straw was researching how employers really felt about a UOP degree...and it wasn't good. I decided to enroll in a graduate program at a local university. Sure, it's going to take longer, but it will be much less expensive and taken seriously by employers.

I've seen most people who are "pro-UOP" here say "you will only get what you put in." I'll quell that now; I ended my studies at UOP with a 3.93 GPA.

 

I couldn't agree with you more, this online business is a disgrace and the service now that they got my money shows their lack of integrity.  I just filed a report on this website against them.  I'm the one who only had one month left till graduation but during my student teacher experience I arrived every morning as the announcements began and the pledge of allegiance.  I stayed all day long till class was dismissed and the school called me telling me that I was not there "most of the time" and therefore terminated my seminar that I had just gotten my grade.  It counts for nothing and I don't get to walk on June 26, 2010.

I hope someone out there will get together with me and we sue the hell out of this group.  When they spoke to me, they were stone cold and wouldn't answer when I asked them why they were being dishonest about me.

They told me if I want this certification bad enough, I'll take the 12 week seminars and the 12 week student teaching portion all over again, including all the work I have completed and earned.

This institution needs to shut down, it's not a school nor is it prestigeous and lack integrity.

For all of you out there, please do yourself a favor, don't fall for their sheepish tactics when suckering you in.  They hire the nicest people on earth under tremendous pressure to sell this to you and all you're getting is liken to a Circle K diploma, it's not good if you do get it and they will try to mess you up when you're almost done to get more $ out of you. 

Take it from me, I went the nine yards and they stopped me cold my last month all because I wasn't waiting in the parking lot for my cooperating teacher for student teaching.  I arrived everyday for the pledge and announcements, that's pretty d**n on time since I took roll too.

These people are ruthless bastards, please go to a school with education and moral honesty.

Yeah that's a brilliant idea... Email this guy who only took 3 classes at UOP but is apparently an authority on the school because he is an honor student at some other college he dropped out of?

Potential students would be much better off talking to someone who actually completed the program at UOP or at the very least earned a degree somewhere.

By the way, I'll be moving soon, so my e-mail will be changed, otherwise I wouldn't risk this; but ANYONE WHO IS CONSIDERING ENROLLING IN UOP, GO AHEAD CHECK IT OUT WITH ME FIRST.  I will give you the truth as I see it. There are some people who UOP is good for, there are some whom it is not.

I'll tell you how group learning works. How those teams work out for the hard working and smart. Go ahead, drop me an e-mail. I promise, I'll be nice, and have absolutely no financial interest in if you decide to do UOP or not.

I just want people to know what UOP really consists of, and what it doesn't. There are people for whom a mere degree is a real benefit. But if it is knowledge you are after, well the standard brick and mortar university is bad enough, but UOP doesn't even come close.

Joni

I almost forgot how to sign on to rebut your tantrum. But I will gladly comply, since I did manage to get on-line.

First, your 'university' if it is UOP sucks. It is super expensive and doesn't have real professors or real entrance requirements. It is one thing to pay top dollar to hob knob at Yale, another entirely to pay top dollar to hob knob at UOP.

The professors aren't professors, with PhDs, but facilitators who probably have masters and are paid $1200 for 6 weeks of classes. They do UOP part time or do multiple classes, not quite the same as a normal university education, where professors are expected to publish and research at the same time as run classes. This is not to cast aspersion on the UOP teaching staff, most of whom are just stuck there, but to point out a significant difference.

And don't malign me dude, when you don't know the facts. Always been an honors student, always been a 4.0 or above if the grade scale allowed it. Had a 4.0 as a history major at a major California University, moved, so enrolled at UOP, was horrified, dropped out as a 4.0. As a matter of fact, I had a 4.0 for my AS, doing my econ degree in one year. I wasn't just a good student, I was the Honor Guard, the Honor Roll, the editor of the Honors Newsletter, etc.

So I'm not quite a dumb a*s, as you would characterize me. But I don't do dumb a*s well, I'll admit that.

My purpose in warning students against UOP was not to get into a pissing match. It was to make sure you considered other options. If you are going to do on-line, consider Western Governors University, much less expensive, at least as respected if not more. More flexible too. Vastly less expensive. Consider courses with proctored exams, as opposed to those that are not proctored, for credibility. Do your research. Absolutely anyone on the planet can get a BA at UOP, all they have to do is pay me to do their work. So how much can the degree be worth? Think about it.
As a starving student, yeah, I used to write papers, don't know where they went, but I got paid.

And the reason I took three courses is because I never imagined that a federally sanctioned student loan program school could be such total BS. But the business community knows it. UOP grads learn less than grads from other schools, and with good reason, because while some of them can do the work, a whole lot of them can't.

Go ahead and insult me. But you can't prove me wrong.

Keep working hard, I'll work smart. You go dude. Your future is bright, as a UOP shill.

Joni

Sorry sir, but you have no idea what you are talking about.  You took 3 classes and dropped out.  Now you feel you have enough experience with the college to write a report at how mindless the entire program is?

First of all, the first class you take at UOP is an introductory class which I will agree is VERY easy.  The next two classes after that are also very easy because they are basically the introductory core classes for your concentration.  They are designed this way to ease you into the program.  They need to ease you in because most of the classes after the first few are VERY INTENSIVE.  They require LOTS of reading and you will be writing 3- 5 page essays on the information you learned EVERY WEEK.  Alongside this you are also required to interact with your peers in class by posting SUBSTANTIVE responses to posts concerning the current reading.  Alongside that there are also team projects that run concurrently that you need to complete every week.

I am currently on my 10th class and this is anything but EASY.  I have people in my classes that are complaining how hard it is to keep up.  I see people dropping out of classes on every class I take because they can't cut it.  I am sure you where one of them. 

Now if you would have taken more classes besides the basic core introductory ones then I would maybe give your argument some merit. If you would have actually completed a degree and THEN complained, then I might give your argument alot more merit.  But the fact is I AM a current student, and I will tell you not only are the classes difficult and time consuming (I am actually working on a project right now but happened to stumble on this report searching on the internet) but the classes are also full of useful information.  I am taking the BSIT System Analysis program.  I am currently taking a project management class and the information I have learned in the class will serve me well over the course of my career. 

There are slackers like you that try to get by posting junk in the forums to try to get points for participation.  Sure, I see it all the time.  These are people who obviously don't care to learn the material.  I have had people like this on my team in previous classes.  These are usually the people who end up dropping out of the program. Sound familiar?

I have never heard a complaint from someone who actually completed a degree from this college.  I only hear cry babies that drop out of the program who want their money back because they couldn't cut it.  I have a good friend that completed their MBA and works for the government in my state in a management position.  They plan on completing their doctorate at UOP and have nothing but good things to say about the program.  And yes it is expensive to take these classes.  Do you think she would actually consider spending even more money at the UOP to get her doctorate when she already works in the industry she wants to be in?  That's because it is WORTH IT.

If I sound upset about your complaint, you are correct.  That is because I WORK HARD at the UOP and so do most of the rest of my classmates and team members.  We don't need some chump like you who takes 3 basic courses and drops out knocking the degrees that we are working very hard for.

I attended UOP online for ten weeks, three classes, had some college so was in level 300 classes, BSIT/MV. 100% scores on everything. So no, it wasn't that I got in and found out how hard it was and just couldn't hack it intellectually. (Well, actually that isn't quite true, I couldn't hack it intellectually, felt like every time I signed on to go through the torture of responding to ridiculous posts that my brain was being sucked right out of my skull.) In any case, I got As and never even opened my e-book.

And yes, of course UOP tells you that you will be taking classes on-line and working in groups, but no one told me that as much as half my grade would rely upon group work, and always at least 30%. No one prepared me for the inanity of the discussion group "chat room" posts. Yes, we students were told that our discussion posts were supposed to be "substantial" but I must assume that my definition of substantial is a bit different than UOP's. No one could have prepared me for dealing with classes in which some students were clearly capable, but the majority were incompetent with extremely poor skills who couldn't access the material because their reading comprehension was simply too low.

I had two friends over for dinner yesterday, and they had done UOP classes in the past as well, and we sat around the table just cracking up at the garbage that was typically posted. Stuff like, in response to a question of what is ROI, "I think that companies that invest show their customers that they care, so they will get a return." Or try this one, "Sometimes when I think of the money and time it takes to go to UOP, and that I don't have time with my family I wonder if it is worth it. But then I KNOW that it will be 100%." Those aren't verbatim, but close enough. And this was in week five, AFTER we had covered ROI.

Then there was a Learning Team project on which my job for the week was to edit our paper. One of my team members submitted three lines that said we would run the financial department of a 50 million in earnings company on PDAs. I sure was going to learn a LOT from her.

It is just plain silly to pay $1500 for five weeks, to have people who don't know the subject material teach it to each other. It results in a sharing of ignorance.

I'm glad you had a good time in UOP and hope you find your degree worthwhile when you actually hit the job search trail. But I absolutely defend my opinion that this is a glorified, expensive and torturous chat room, that awards a brownie point degree at the end.

Oh yeah, one of my UOP friends had made a mistake in posting her final paper for her final class, posted the wrong thing just before midnight, and then the class closed. She was a bit stressed that she wouldn't pass the class. But behold when the grades came back, she got 100% on her final paper, that she had NOT EVEN TURNED IN. Now that is some academic rigor for you.

So sorry, it is a chat room. You can go ahead and read all the books and maybe learn something, or you don't have to and you'll probably get an A anyway. And that is why employers don't trust UOP degrees.

Joni

I am less than 3 months away from earning my MBA from the UoP online. I am wondering how long this person who filed this report went to the school and what degree they got?

Everyone who signs up for the online classes know how the format works; they are made aware of the criteria, the expectations, the outline of the program. Also, the classes are a lot more than 'chat' rooms; there are long, difficult assignments, reading, research, and other requirements to the programs. It is not a 'chat' room, it is an online classroom.

We do not respond arbitrarily to other posts. The posts that are there are responses to specific instructor course oriented questions that the class must respond to; kind of like a homework assignment. You have to take the concepts from the course & the program to respond to these questions and then you participate in discussions with other students about the topics; not just mindless chatter. The posts have to show knowledge, education, and value in the course concept and topic at hand. You do not just 'chat' away about anything that comes to mind; that is not how the UoP online works.

I have had to work very hard for the degree I have gotten. I have put in hours upon hours of studying, written thousands of words in research papers, read book upon book on business, accounting, management, maximization of shareholder wealth, etc.

I think those who are upset are the ones who thought the program would be 'an easy degree' who did not want to work for it. Once they found out that they really had to study and do homework and participate instead of just flying by and getting credit for doing nothing, that is when they got upset.

I have gotten a quality education to this point and I am hoping to continue with my education.

I am less than 3 months away from earning my MBA from the UoP online. I am wondering how long this person who filed this report went to the school and what degree they got?

Everyone who signs up for the online classes know how the format works; they are made aware of the criteria, the expectations, the outline of the program. Also, the classes are a lot more than 'chat' rooms; there are long, difficult assignments, reading, research, and other requirements to the programs. It is not a 'chat' room, it is an online classroom.

We do not respond arbitrarily to other posts. The posts that are there are responses to specific instructor course oriented questions that the class must respond to; kind of like a homework assignment. You have to take the concepts from the course & the program to respond to these questions and then you participate in discussions with other students about the topics; not just mindless chatter. The posts have to show knowledge, education, and value in the course concept and topic at hand. You do not just 'chat' away about anything that comes to mind; that is not how the UoP online works.

I have had to work very hard for the degree I have gotten. I have put in hours upon hours of studying, written thousands of words in research papers, read book upon book on business, accounting, management, maximization of shareholder wealth, etc.

I think those who are upset are the ones who thought the program would be 'an easy degree' who did not want to work for it. Once they found out that they really had to study and do homework and participate instead of just flying by and getting credit for doing nothing, that is when they got upset.

I have gotten a quality education to this point and I am hoping to continue with my education.

I am less than 3 months away from earning my MBA from the UoP online. I am wondering how long this person who filed this report went to the school and what degree they got?

Everyone who signs up for the online classes know how the format works; they are made aware of the criteria, the expectations, the outline of the program. Also, the classes are a lot more than 'chat' rooms; there are long, difficult assignments, reading, research, and other requirements to the programs. It is not a 'chat' room, it is an online classroom.

We do not respond arbitrarily to other posts. The posts that are there are responses to specific instructor course oriented questions that the class must respond to; kind of like a homework assignment. You have to take the concepts from the course & the program to respond to these questions and then you participate in discussions with other students about the topics; not just mindless chatter. The posts have to show knowledge, education, and value in the course concept and topic at hand. You do not just 'chat' away about anything that comes to mind; that is not how the UoP online works.

I have had to work very hard for the degree I have gotten. I have put in hours upon hours of studying, written thousands of words in research papers, read book upon book on business, accounting, management, maximization of shareholder wealth, etc.

I think those who are upset are the ones who thought the program would be 'an easy degree' who did not want to work for it. Once they found out that they really had to study and do homework and participate instead of just flying by and getting credit for doing nothing, that is when they got upset.

I have gotten a quality education to this point and I am hoping to continue with my education.