University of Phoenix (Surprise: credit, law school, law)

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Just wondering how grads from University of Phoenix are looked upon in the area. Is there any kind of stymatism associated with the school at all.

[Plin]

The University of Phoenix is a diploma mill. Many employers look askance at degrees from there, and graduates would find it difficult if not impossible to get into graduate school if they ever want to pursue further education.

[Greatday]

Originally Posted by Plin

The University of Phoenix is a diploma mill. Many employers look askance at degrees from there, and graduates would find it difficult if not impossible to get into graduate school if they ever want to pursue further education.

I disagree.

I know someone who had an MBA and MC from UOP and was immediately accepted into a Doctoral program at a major university. No questions asked

[Plin]

Originally Posted by Greatday

I disagree.

I know someone who had an MBA and MC from UOP and was immediately accepted into a Doctoral program at a major university. No questions asked

An accredited doctoral program? Really? Most schools I know of are extremely wary of a degree from UoP. The people I know say they usually discard those applications up front. Maybe it depends on the discipline, but given what I know about how they handle faculty training and course prep (a grad school friend taught there for a couple of summers), I would also be extremely skeptical of someone's qualifications based on a UoP degree. Perhaps your friend had other credentials that the PhD program found attractive.

I say this as someone with a master's degree from an online program, although it was offered by a regular brick-and-mortar university and was fully accredited. So I'm not dismissing online education in general, but the UoP model is not one I trust, nor do most other academics I've discussed the matter with.

I'm not saying you can't learn some useful knowledge and skills there. However, you run the risk of limiting your future options by choosing UoP over other, more widely respected programs.

[Greatday]

Originally Posted by Plin

An accredited doctoral program? Really?

Yep - fully accredited

[Plin]

Originally Posted by Greatday

Yep - fully accredited

Well, there are certainly always exceptions. Still, I wouldn't consider your friend a typical example.

[Ponderosa]

For years Intel paid tuition there for employees. Many area employers still do. Where I worked a UOP degree was considered as good as one from ASU in terms of selection and promotion.

[Plin]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

For years Intel paid tuition there for employees. Many area employers still do. Where I worked a UOP degree was considered as good as one from ASU in terms of selection and promotion.

What kind of degree? Maybe we're coming at this from different perspectives. It's possible they do a good job at certain kinds of professional training, like accounting and computer programming.

[sweettearose]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Just wondering how grads from University of Phoenix are looked upon in the area. Is there any kind of stymatism associated with the school at all.

Education is something that is valuable. And I do respect the effort people take to complete their education through the University of Phoenix. At the same time, I do think the University of Phoenix is a big scam. I do feel bad for people who enroll in their programs because I see them as victims. They are under the impression their degree can get them jobs and they really don't. I know the companies i worked for would never take a degree from the University of Phoenix seriously particularly their MBA program.

I've also personally seen the work it takes to complete these degrees. It's much more difficult to attend a formal undergraduate or graduate school and attend classes and take exams. The on-line degrees are much easier and their grading can be "lenient" to put it mildly. I've seen some of the papers that have received A's and they had several editing mistakes and were not thorough or only had on-line citations which is a big no no in the academic world.

I would strongly discourage anyone from attending the University of Phoenix, or Western International University. I know someone who also graduated with an MBA from Western International U. She spend 3 times as much as ASU MBA and couldn't get any better than an entry level job which paid nothing more than 35k. She spent more than 20K getting the degree.

[sweettearose]

Originally Posted by Greatday

Yep - fully accredited

Being accredited means almost nothing. It's very easy for a school to become accredited. This is why there are so many schools that offer bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees. Of all the graduate schools, only medical schools are strict about their accreditation. They limit the number of schools to meet the demand of the popuation. This is why you don't see as many medical schools as business and law schools. In some ways, I wish business and law schools followed suit because there are so many bad programs that offer an MBA and a JD that those degrees have lost its value to some degree. This is why people strive to attend a top ranked school that offer true networking opportunities and job recruiters upon graduation.