The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

This school was one of many in which I researched to see if I could earn a professional certificate in counseling or psychology. I never spoke to anyone there because the cost of tuition scared me off rather quickly ($2,000 plus books per course). There is an affordable alternative to anyone interested in social work or sociology at Ft. Hays State University in Kansas. They offer an on-line program that is only $500 a course for undergrads and $675 for graduate students. Best of all, they are regionally accredited by the exact same agency as the Chicago School.

Dont do it! Online program unorganized financial aid is a nightmare and the professors are questionable.

I decided to pursue the on-line Master's program as an intermediate step, which I felt would offer me a slight edge over recent graduates when I am ready to apply to a PhD program.
When I applied to TCS I was challenged by the head of the program (coordinator?), who suggested that I wasn't adequately prepared for this program and had to explain how I was qualified by prior graduate coursework and experience.  I was informed by an admissions counselor about a week later that I was accepted, although she was unable to answer any of my questions. The quality of the instruction is poor and gives the impression that admission is determined by the credit limit on your credit card or the amount of your student loan.  I say this because the only conversation iI have had with my academic advisor related to my financial aid.  The criteria also seems low based upon discussions by my classmates.  Because this is an on-line program, it relies on on-line discussions. Many of the individuals who post are very inarticulate and their comments reflect either mistaken beliefs, "cut and paste" responses from Googled searches, or are parroted from other classes or the textbook.  Much of the discussion amounts to a mutual admiration society (e.g., "Gee, I really enjoyed your post", "That was really nice", etc.), rather than offering any real insight.  The instructors don't offer much help either.  Some of the postings are absolute nonsense and don't reflect any knowledge of the required readings and are reinforced by the instructors with praise.  The feedback from the instructors is generally nonexistent on written assignments.  Some instructors will provide feedback about what you've written, although usually this is strictly related to the mechanics of your writing.  One instructor I had simply assigned grades and offered no rationale for his grades on papers.  

Lastly, I have to comment on the administration.  This is abysmal.  The program I am in has had three different program heads, initially with Dr. XXX as the program chair or leader) and subsequently two other people acting in various capacities.  Currently there is someone with a MA heading the program (Interim Administrative Lead). One term this year my ARP instructor suddenly changed after the first two weeks and disappeared; when I asked as to why this happened, no one was able to explain why she was no longer my instructor. This was very unfortuate, as she was the only person who was intimately aware of or had a good grasp of what my ARP was really about. My academic advisor lacks any knowledge about my area of research and has been unable to answer questions about operationalizing my research in the field.  

If I had been in Chicago or in one of the other cities, I would have applied to one of the Clinical PsyD programs, which I would hope are better organized and offer a higher quality of instruction.  Given what I have read here and elsewhere, it seems that this is not the case.