National University

Overall, I am very satisfied with the academic quality of this program. For those who wonder if an online environment can be academically rigorous - yes, it can and it was. In fact, in many ways the online environment is more demanding. National University has the advantage of being only one of a few universities that has successfully developed an online graduate program in English and I am surprised there aren't more. There is a wide selection of courses and taught by a mostly outstanding faculty. Don't expect a free ride and be prepared to work very hard and write and write some more. The only down side is an often non-responsive administration that appears disorganized and not very efficient at times - however, I have recently noticed efforts to remedy this.

I completed my MA English degree at National a few months ago and I am very pleased with the entire program. The rigor, choice of courses, and the faculty were fantastic. I did not have a flaw in the program. I was worried about the thesis process, but the program has a very supportive process that put me at ease. However, be prepared to work very hard and do a lot of reading and writing. Since the program is accelerated, it can be overwhelming if one does not set enough time aside to be successful. I highly recommend the program.

The academic quality of National University is well above average, especially if you're lucky enough to find a program that's offered onground in a traditional classroom. Online education, though convenient and a strength of the university, tends to be less predictable in terms of instructor quality, and many instructors have not yet learned how to really engage with students online. Many of the instructors also teach at other top quality public and private universities, so provided they're comfortable with the accelerated 4-week class format, and versed in best practices for online education, the instruction here can be compared favorably with any other 4-year liberal arts or technical college. Where National University really suffers is in administration and financial aid. The university is understaffed and systems are woefully inadequate; thus many important matters related to records, financing and progress toward graduation may be overlooked through no fault of the student. Students receive minimal guidance since staff is overworked, and must be exceptionally self-reliant and pro-active to get the service they need; even then major blunders can occur. Be especially careful and attentive to financial aid; make sure that you understand the full cost of your program and any classes that you might be expected to fund on your own. The university seems to want to minimize overhead by inadequately training staff and paying them below market. In the long run this works against the university as students may leave their program with a bad taste from the administrative and financial problems they had overshadowing what was an above-average academic experience. In the end, one cannot be proud of a university where one had such shoddy experiences, and this is no way to think about one's alma mater.

This is my third course at NU and in case you're wondering this is REAL school. I have two B&M degrees and I have to work much harder in my NU program just to make the grade than I ever had to in my prior schools. Be prepared to do a lot of reading and a lot of writing. Discussions are either once or twice/week depending on a professor and you are required to give substantive feedback, respond to people who give you feedback and overall have quality interaction with the class, etc., in order to get optimum points for each discussion unit. A major paper is also required in every class and you have to think fast on a topic and getting research together on this this since NU courses are accelerated. My professors thus far have been pretty visible in the virtual class space, chats, group emails, etc. I have never had any problems getting prompt email responses from professors, advisers or administrators when I initiated contact. The one problem I've had with this school is the financial aid process which is sloooooow. I applied two months before enrolling which I thought would help speed up the process but apparently not. NU says allow for about 90 days and for me it worked out to about 70 days. Other than that so far so good with no complaints. I'm not going to make any excuses for being in online school. I like that is now possible to bypass the distractions and logistical challenges that are a part of traditional campus and focusing in on the pure subject matter. I like learning through this medium best and I wouldn't have it any other way.

An outstanding program. I expected a diploma mill, but was pleasently surprised to find the professors challenged me in every course. Brick-and-mortor and on-line classes available, I completed mine entirely on-line. Instruction was engaging and insightful. Thesis work was also challenging, however my advisor was very helpful throughout the process.