The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division : Graphic Design Reviews
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Anonymous
(In Progress) on April 23, 2012
(email verified)
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AIOP Online Is A Great School
I’ve been at AIOP Online since the fall of 2009. I’m almost finished with my BS in Graphic Design. The school is a great university to study at. You cannot go in expecting it to be like a normal, on campus university, or you will be disappointed. The courses teach you all the things you need to know, and like others have said, you learn more than you would in most Graphic Design programs out there. I have experienced some courses where I could probably teach myself some of the things they are going over, or I’ve learned through assignments in previous courses, but everything is designed to better your skills. The academic staff at the university is wonderful, I have never had an issue on getting in touch with them or having not getting the answers I needed in a timely manner. But I also don’t expect them to jump as soon as I pick up the phone or email them, they deal with quite a lot of students on different students, probably more than most academic teams would. So if you are a person who is impatient and wants answers right then and there, don’t even enroll in an online school. Same goes with the instructors; they have all been amazing on answering questions and giving constructive feedback. The only complaint I have is financial aid, I do not like how every so many terms you get a new advisor, its confusing, and it messed me up a little. I had different people telling me different things and I had papers getting lost. But when things were worked out, all was well. People are going to have bad experiences at the school, but I think when enrolling at AIOP online you need to go in knowing that the amount of students is higher than most universities so your staff is dealing with more than normal, online learning is not an easy alternative to on-campus schools – you need patience and you need to be self sufficient.
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Anonymous
(In Progress) on April 10, 2012
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Sucks!
Ok, This has got to be the worse place to go! I started in July only because I was "convinced" it was the "best" choice. Which it wasn't, this school hardly takes any breaks for holidays not to mention as soon as I got out of high school I started there. That's school overload for you! Also I become very skeptically of them after away. They never wrote me back over emails they always tried to call me. I guess they didn't want a paper trail, I WARN YOU! get a paper trail, they won't screw you over if you do! I told them my phone was broke when it wasn't and then they were forced to email me. I was in the Media arts and animation program and it sucked, the credits won't transfer and they were a waste of a class, I passed all my classes with A's or B's but the teaching sucked, I was often getting back handed compliments, while other students that you can clearly tell work was worse than mine and turned their assignments in late got praised. It's not fair at all. All this place wants is your money, all the people in the office have to meet a quota for how many students they need to get a year. That's wrong! How can you manipulate people like that just to earn some money. Well I told them two months before my last class ended, that I was going to transfer to a college near me because it's too much debt that I can take which was 9,900, for one year! and The financial aid lady asks me very rudely "Well you didn't have to pay for anything out of pocket, so what your problem?" Excuse me, that pure rudeness right there. Well anyways when my last class ended I get an email that says thank you for enrolling in another class! What! I already told them I was transferring after this class not to mention there already took out 5,500 for that class! So of course I got mad like any normal person would, So I wrote the financial aid lady and she wouldn't write me back, come to find out she was ignoring me because she didn't like the tone of my email. So I finally called her and she was rude and saying how dare I use that tone in an email and how rude was I, so of course I got mad again and yelled at her " You know what I have emails that you and the academic counselor acknowledged that I was transferring, so I don't understand why you signed me up for another class and charged me" she told me that everything was automatic there so it's not their fault and well I rebutted with "Well you knew two months in advance so why didn't you just cancel it when I told you too." and all I got from here where some umms.... and frantic breathing, so then I implied " well if that money doesn't get put back, you'll get a law suit on your hands." Then she got nice and made sure she'll take care of everything. After I hung up five minutes later the money was put back and everything was were it should be. YOU NEED A PAPER TRAIL FROM THEM or they will try to screw you over. That school is not worth your time or effort and the teachings are not good at all, so save yourself and go somewhere else!
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Missxmachine
(In Progress) on January 26, 2012
(email verified)
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As unbiased of a review as possible.
I am a military spouse and change locations frequently. Therefore, I pursued an online university that was accredited and established. I originally enrolled as an interior design student and choose AIO because of its online program and accreditation through CIDA. I later changed my career path to graphic design, shortly before I left AI to transfer to a different liberal arts school.
My chief complaint is the cost of a 4 year degree with AIO. Generally, for an online bachelors degree at AIO, it is going to cost around 90k. Considering the salaries of most graduates in the liberal arts field with a 4 year degree, the ability to comfortably repay 90k in student loans is going to be incredibly difficult. Especially considering the max amount to borrow as an undergrad in federal loans is around 57k (as I understand). Difficulty repaying loans is a dilemma that many graduates are facing despite the college chosen. However, the education I received from AIO in exchange for 90k at AI is unacceptable, in my opinion.
Pleasantly, I felt that just about all of the instructors that I remember were very well qualified to teach. Generally, my teachers taught well with the exception of a few. I feel that this is common in most schools, however, this problem is magnified when only having 5.5 weeks to complete a class. I was frustrated when I had a teacher that I felt did not teach effectively, and the crucial information I needed to know was missed because of how quickly the curriculum passes. It is also difficult to communicate and work through problems online, but that is especially so for an online student that doesn't have a teacher that communicates well to begin with. I ended up finishing that particular class with what I felt was a less than acceptable understanding of the subject.
Considering this, I was also disappointed with how may people either passed a class, or received an A in the class. I felt that the quality of work that was deemed acceptable by other students was insulting. I am a very dedicated student, so I would often spend 7 - 12 hours on an assignment. I turned in the highest quality I could possibly produce. I understand that some other students do not have this dedication. However, seeing other students who obviously threw something together without a clear concept of what was being taught was incredibly insulting. I feel that the quality of work expected from students should be higher. The major expense of the education should mandate this, among with the perceived quality of the school. If minimal work is required from students, mediocre graduates are going to occur, and more than likely in high numbers.
In light of staff, I also felt pressured by admissions to join the school. My ignorance to the application process had a lot to do with this, as well as my sheer eagerness to get into school. However, in hind sight I realize that I was pressured to attend more than I felt necessary. When I said I wanted to sleep on the idea of attending, I was then put on the line with another person who then tried to encourage me to join. I felt pressured for the answer "yes." I recall them asking repeatedly, "Are you going to attend?" but perhaps in different wording. I felt they were trying to anything to get me to commit before hanging up. Now that I have more experience, I should of realized I was being pressured, and that this is not a good sign. I have since applied to several other schools and I am realizing that the higher quality schools screen students to find the best, not pressure them to join.
I generally had good experiences when I had technical difficulties. I also generally had timely responses by staff. I did have a bad experience leaving the school when I decided to transfer. I felt that since I was leaving, staff no longer cared to deal with me.
The technology used for classes was passable. The online library was vast but often difficult to use. The classes had reliable forums but I felt could be updated for different types of input, whether it be video, text or voice recordings. Some teachers responses were in depth, others were minimal and offered little feedback. Students are required to respond to other class mates, but frequently the quality of the response was poor. Again, this is where I begin AIO needs to raise their quality of standards.
Books are included with tuition for a cost of $50 per class. They are delivered in an online format. This saves the student hassle, but the student only has access to these books for 5 years. Additional materials are purchased by the student before classes.
Overall, I am unsatisfied with the quality of learning from AIO. There were some classes I learned a great deal, others I felt I learned a minimal amount. The duration of classes (5.5 weeks) can be very difficult to manage and may leave the student feeling like they did not learn enough on the subject. The cost of AIO was not reasonable for me. The standards make me believe this is a lower quality institution. Staff can be extremely qualified or pushy and unprofessional. I felt the technology available to students was minimal but barely acceptable. I hope this review helps prospective students because I understand how difficult it can be to pick an institution.
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