University of Phoenix

I must agree with those who say that you get out of it what you put into it. This is a great school for adults who aren't interested in frats, sororities, partying, or the dorms, and are primarily concerned with learning and getting an accredited degree. There were many nights after coming home from a full day at work that I did not feel like putting in 2-3 hours of math labs or reading 60+ pages of accounting text. On the weekends I had-Guess what?-More reading and more assignments to complete. It was not an easy commitment to keep and I wanted to just slow down so many times, but I kept going. The environment is not the sterile academic scene of the traditional university where you are saved from having to deal with "those people" because they do their work and you do yours. You will be forced to work with people you don't agree with, are not at the top of the class, and whose scholastic habits are less than supportive of your own success. In other words, it's just like the job you have during the day, only you're paying someone else to let you do it. If you expect to work hard and be treated like a grown person, you may find, as I did, that the UOP is right for you.

UOP is by far the worst school I have attended. When you start, you get bombarded with all these advisors who don't even know what they're job is. All they do is refer you to another advisor who will just refer you to someone else. I don't know where they find their instructors, because the quality of education is poor. Nobody knows how to teach so everyone has a power point which they read off the entire class minus all the group presentations. Teams, wow where do I begin? UOP is so obsessed with this "team" work that they forget all about individualism. I know that it is crucial to understand the team concept in order to be successful, but in the real world nobody is going to carry you and pick up your slack. Group assignments make up majority of your grade and you're SOL when you get grouped up with students who don't even know how to construct a paragraph. By assigning so many group assignments it allows unqualified students to pass on the back of qualified students. Classes meet once a week and even that is too much work for the teacher that they'd rather waste our hard earned money to sit through ridiculous amounts of presentations, yea let the students teach each other because putting a power point is too much work.

I have finished my degree with a 3.73 GPA and it was extremely hard. As mentioned in other post the program is accelerated, you learn all the materials in 5 weeks opposed to a traditional semester. I have had to give up social life and family time to meet deadlines and keep good grades. I transferred in to UOP Sacramento from the California State University - Sacramento, because it became expensive and almost impossible to get classes. So after extensive research and calculations I decided to make the move to UOP. I was an on grounds student (in class not online). However when I doubled up classes I was online as well as on ground. My experience in both atmospheres were great. The instructors very extremely knowledgable and helpful. The degree I have recently earned was well worth the money and time. The curriculum at UOP is the same at other universities. It is hard work but if you are eager to learn, want your degree and are serious about your education, then UOP is the place to be. It is definitely not a fake it til you make school, one needs to be focused and engaged to pass the classes. The instructors do hold their students accountable. I am so satisfied with my education I plan to attend UOP for my Masters Degree, after I complete the CPA Exam.

I have attended UOP for my Bachelors and working on my MBA right now. I had one job and because of my educational background and experience I was offered another job March 2012. I like the flexibility of being able to convert from online to ground when there are changes with my work schedule. The company I work for has been in business since 1958, they believe in education, believe in UOP, and believe in me. There is so much room for growth and attending UOP has opened so many doors for me. This has been an awesome experience for me and can't wait to see what other opportunities will come available once I complete my MBA.

After the UOP personal came to my workplace, talking to us in regards to how great their university is, I was intrigued. I have never though of college prior but the individuals assured me that with being a single parent I would qualify 100% for pell grants and would not have to pay the money back, NO LOANS. I went to the university to inquire further, and was advised due to my income, I would not have to pay anything back or pay any loans. I expressed several times, I do not have the income to pay back, and was again advised I would not have to worry. While filing out the forms online, in which I was advised, "click here and click here, and you grants will be processed", I was rushed through the forms, not giving me time to read. I am at fault for not making them slow down through the enrollment process for me to read, but I had put my trust in the employees of the university, being I have never even looked into school and them praising the school, and thinking that I was actual doing something good for me and my daughter. It was not until 1 yr into schooling, that I received a statement from Wells Fargo Bank that I had a loan of 11,000 dollars. I about died. I immediately went to see the financial advisors and was advised that I needed to complete my school and I was never advised of that I was not going to have to pay any money back. I dropped out! Yes, I am a drop-out. I was advised by another financial advisor that they would look into the issue. Now 4 yrs later, I receive a call stating that my checks will be garnished, and I have this huge loan out there, that I thought was taken care of. I went to UOP today, requesting all paperwork working my pell grants and the loans they had filed for me. Sure enough there were loans equaling the 11,000. I advised the financial advisor that when I registered with UOP what I was advised about not paying any loans that my pell grants would cover the cost, she advised me that she believes she knew of the people I had spoken with, and that they no longer work there, that they have hired a whole new crew, because of issues such as mine. I was outraged, even hearing that, but kept my cool, because she was a very helpful person and it was not her fault of my experiences. Here I am 4 yrs after quiting that school, only attending 1 yr, and in debt of 11,000. Her words of a whole new staff because of issues such as mine, just makes me think that they should be responsible for part of my loan, but we all know that I will be the one paying it back. She did give me some options of loan consolidation that I will research, but this school was not worth 11,000 a yr. The classes were not necessary for my degree, Accounting, the team projects were ridiculous, and I even had one instructor/teacher give the whole class an A for just showing up to class, never had to do the assignments. Please before considering to be a student at UOP, do an extended research of the school, and definiately make sure they are not scamming you, as they did me.

I give the education at UoP a one. It sounds extreme, but all I received was an expensive electronic textbook and a syllabus. The online school is completely without instruction, there is no "educating" going on except what the enthusiastic student gleans from the reading. Discussion questions are rarely "discussed" and when they are, the typical response from students is a cut and paste (and possibly rearranged) clip from a wiki of some type. Trying to "discuss" is impossible because the majority of students do not even read the text much less any of the reccommended readings outside of the text. The students get the questions...do a quick search on the internet for the answer (which is there somewhere because all of these questions have been used for the 100's of previous classes). Assignments and tests are available, in their entireity, online as well...often in links to other schools who are using the same texts. I also find it grossly inadequate that the UoP mandates electronic resource materials. Students are not given the option to not pay the resource fee (which is the way text books are acquired) so that they can find a format that suits them. A student may buy the text again in another format but must pay the $100+ fee for each class (even if the same electronic text is used for several classes) and the format of the electronic book can not be altered in anyway...no highlighting no notes in the margin no bookmarks...NOTHING). The text is so difficult to use that it probably has contributed to the extent to which it is not used by the students. Also, the teachers at UoP are consistently unavailable to teach. I believe I had around 20 classes at UoP and never repeated an instructor and NEVER had a single instructor who wasn't moonlighting as an instructor...they all have full times jobs that are not teaching positions. And, they do not teach. There are NO lectures. I ONCE had an instructor who created a power point presentation as a form of instruction but the rest just post the canned questions and assignments and dole out the grades with some canned feedback. I once got feedback that said "excellent job on the assignment" when I scored less than 15% on it. I gave the school some points for support, but that was for customer service. They have great customer service. They let you vent, tell you what you want to hear (such as "the caliber of student improves as you get into the higher grades" not true but comforting) and handle all the tuition loans and grants like pros! What really sucks is that I made sure that I got myself educated...I took the initiative to do it. So many students did not, however, and they are the reputation I have to be ashamed of.

I completed 4 courses in the BA Accounting/Business Administration program. I received 3 "A's" and 1 "B". I did not like the group projects at all. I ended-up doing most of the work because of other group members that were slackers. You could not work at your own pace or on your own time when a project was due that week. (for each 5 week course, we had 4 learning team projects (a paper or Power Point presentation). There was no guidance from the instructor about what do do if a team member did not pull their own weight and do their share of the assignment. My first team project every member of my team either dropped out or did not finish their part of the assignment - very frustrating. I can deal with one team project per class, but not 4! Also, you cannot depend on the instructors getting back to you in a timely manner to answer a question. It usually would take 2-4 days (if that) to get an answer by e-mail. The instructors set the tone that they were not available at a moments notice (most had full time jobs). I never dared called the instructor because I got the feeling that might affect my grade negatively. I did get a different perspective from the other students- what it was like working in their field which was interesting. There were some top-notch students with interesting professions, as well as students that had trouble constructing a readable sentence. I am looking for an on-line program that is accredited and that does not have team projects. I'm at a point where I almost have all my credits and I've had enough experience working in teams. Also University of Phoenix is very expensive - I need to find a more affordable university.

I think UOP is a decent school, but from everything I am reading after the fact, there are ALOT of better and cheaper ones out there. The outlook express newsgroups they use are ancient technology and not very user friendly. I also think the courses are TOO accelerated to truly grasp and retain all the concepts even if you put in the work. I guess if fairness, it is accredited and allowed me to sit for the CPA exam in my state.

To begin with, I wouldn't choose any other format for attending school in the future. I completed my BSB/Accounting degree at University of Phoenix (UOP) in November 2003. The Online format is a great way to learn, especially for busy adults working full-time. I was able to access my classroom through Outlook Express or the web from any computer at any time of day or night. I was able to schedule my studying at my convenience without having to spend extra time driving to class and finding a place to park. At that time we still used physical textbooks in each class. However, UOP was in the midst of transitioning to online textbooks and resources. Class size is much smaller than attending a physical classroom so we had more personal attention from instructors. I belive I received a quality education without extra time away from my family and work. The only down side was the cost. Because UOP is a private University the cost is already higher than a public University and the cost of online classes was higher than traditional "ground" classes. However, I do believe, in my case it was worth it.