Northcentral University

Classic Bait and Switch. The sales staff promise you the world. The operations staff fail to deliver. So.... Northcentral University apparently got sick of me badmouthing their school and my continuous public requests for an 8 year old refund for my first doctorate course that I never began because my dad became very ill suddenly. They have blocked me from posting on their FB advertisements. But apparently, by sharing their advertisement onto my FB page I can continue to make disparaging comments about the money grubbing, diploma mill that is Northcentral University. This seems like yet another viable venue to warn the masses that NCU is unethical and reprehensible in their business dealings. Beward! Hey NCU - consider this a pseudo petition for a very past due refund!

Concept paper evaluation is not left to the student's dissertation committee. Even though a student's dissertation committee approves her or his concept paper, an anonymous university committee evaluates every concept paper. Upon submission of required changes to the anonymous university committee, additional redundant changes back to original content may be suggested. This means the anonymous university committee is not attentive to changes it requires in order to meet criteria for concept paper approval. Note: my GPA at Northcentral University (includes Comps) was 3.92 on a 4 scale.

I have taken four courses. I have a BS, MS, MBA, and my Doctorate is close to complete. You need to understand that this is NOT an online school. I completed my MBA at another online school. It is a correspondence school where the only difference is that items are exchanged virtually instead of through the US Mail. You will basically work completely on your own with no lectures, no discussion, no group work, no tests, and just hand in papers at your own pace. Really, it is a joke. I would never tell someone to use their own money for this. If your company will pay and you want to do this just for fun, not advancement, etc. - it is ccol - otherwise you are wasting your time.

I am working on a second doctorate at NCU. Interaction with mentors is minimal. Mentor expertise is variable, which is no different than what one encounters in the brick and mortar environment. University documents, handbooks, templates, teleconferences and PowerPoint presentations are great sources of information. Overall, a sound learning experience. And, to dispell the darkness, NCU is a regionally accredited institution of higher learning.

I shopped around at several major brick and mortar universities and all of them would have forced me to quit my job and become a full time student with nearly no income to support my family. I then looked at the various on-line universities, and found several of them to be very attractive, but none of them offered the accreditation and value that NCU offered. As a retiremed military veteran, NCU offered an excellent tuition rate, and once I began my DBA program, discovered that the education process was significantly better than my expectations. I have taken a few computer based course offered by the Government, and nearly all of them left a lot to be desired, which I feared would also be the case at NCU or any other on-line university. I was pleasantly surprised at the smooth function of NCU's online system, the positive feedback from instructors for work submitted, and the vibrant forums to communicate with instructors and other students at NCU. I already feel more connected with my classmates at NCU than I did at any of the more traditional universities I have attended, as I am conversing with students from all areas of specialization and not just my immediate classmates. I have had in depth discussions with fellow student in Psychology, Education and other Business specializations, which never would have occured in my previous education programs. I heartily recommend NCU as a choice for pursuing a graduate program. One word of advice, it is not an easy program either, as you will spend a significant amount of time on each class. It is possible to move quickly through the program, but it will demand much of your time and efforts to do so. I have only had one off weekend in last six months, and I do not expect many more for the remainder of my program. It is a price I am willing to pay, but that may not be so in your case. If not, then look elsewhere for your program, as this one will demand such an effort.

I've taken 3 courses now in my doctoral studies towards my DBA in Management. I must say, in all honesty, that I have very mixed feelings about the school. Other reviewers comment that the staff is frequently unavailable, and I have to agree. When I have questions over an assignment, they frequently go unanswered for days. Also, I find that the mentors are more preoccupied with the format of the research papers rather than the content. I'm critisized at length because, this or that, is not properly formatted and has to be re-submitted, thus wasting a lot of time. This is total rubbish to me. The assignments themselves are often either confusing, or, overwhelming (too much reading and writing). My thoughts going into the program was that this would allow me to be more flexible about family and job. The reality is that it is not. I am having to spend far more time away from job and family to complete some of these inane assignments than I feel comfortable doing. My GPA is not the best (nor the worst), but I feel that all of my assignments were subjectively graded based on no real set of guidelines. The library is a joke. The research material itself is fine but the search engine is horrible (try to re-find an article you found the day before, you'll see what I mean). I think this could be a great school if they hired professional instructors, not the "leading professionals in their respective fields". These leading professionals in their field may be wonderful...in their field. But that doesn't necessarily make them good instructors. Also, fix the damn library search engine.