University of Phoenix Online Review

Was it worth it? Would I do it again? I would say yes it was worth it, but there are some cons to this that I should mention. No, I wouldn't do it again or take another degree program from the University of Phoenix Online. Here are my list of cons from my own personal experience.

• It's a faceless environment. I only talked to my teammates about four times on the phone. We once had a concall but that was the closest I ever came to meeting any of my classmates, many of whom seemed to be great people. The Internet is great, but it is a one-dimensional environment and that sometimes works to your favor and sometimes not. For long-term educational work, I don't think it's good -- that opinion is with all things considered, i.e., travel requirements, gas prices, parking, time, work load, etc.
• Some facilitators or professors aren't great. I had some really superb facilitators for my classes. My Legal Issues in The Workplace facilitator was a lawyer and it was a great class. He really knew his stuff and had a great personality that came through his writing. It was by far one of my favorite classes. However, some are unmotivated. My Sys 540 class facilitator was lazy and very slow in getting the grading to us. He also hardly ever, if ever, would comment on anyone's postings.  Another facilitator and I just didn't get along. He was gruff and overbearing and I couldn't stand him. He was also unbelieveably demanding. The irony is that it was my Marketing 553 class -- and I'm in marketing. (It was my only A- in the whole program (I graduated with a 3.97 GPA.) Still, to be honest, I learned a lot in that class and his demanding, no nonsense approach I came to respect as it made me reach higher. All in all, I ws really glad I took the class. Although I'm still not on his Christmas card list, I'll bet. :)
• It's expensive. I paid for it myself and it cost $26,000 to do this program. It's way overpriced if you ask me. I could see perhaps $15,000 or $16,000, but not the $26k I spent. The $26k I spent would've been enough for me to spend elsewhere at another school. Harvard has a program with their Harvard Extension Program master's programs and it's actually just a little less expensive than the University of Phoenix's program?!!! That upset me when I found that out.
• It's demanding and time consuming. Don't let the fact that it's an online program throw you. It's time consuming. Yes, some classes are easier than others but this is not a paper-mill program --- not by a long shot. It takes work, thought, planning, patience, and time...oh and did I mention it's expensive?!

Pros? Here are the pros and positives of the program.

• It's convenient. As it's an online program, you can respond to your classmates responses and the teacher's discussion questions at your leisure. You can write your paper whenever you want and work on the classwork whenever you want. You don't need to go to a place, you just need to turn your computer on. By that standard, it's great and I enjoyed that.
• Not the most prestigious name. A famous female basketball player on the LA WNBA team got her MBA from the Univ. of Phoenix, but other than that, I don't know of anyone else that's famous that got that degree or went to the UOPHX. Still, it was and is a graduate degree and that helps. The degree certainly opened a door for me into a Fortune 1000 company. Okay, so this point is more a con than a pro, but there it is. It's helpful, but it isn't Harvard or Georgetown or Yale.
• Don't have to buy expensive, ridiculously priced text books. The texts you're required to read you can buy in paper form, but I opted for the PDFs -- that was easier and less expensive.
• It's a legitimate graduate and undergraduate institution. The school has some kind of accreditation that is bullet-proof. It's not like some of these other online or distance learning schools. This is the real thing. It's demanding and requires real effort and work. If you don't plan appropriately your weekly work and assignments, you won't make it and you'll start skating. As I was paying for it, I took every assignment seriously and tried to not only get good grades but to learn.
• You do learn useful information. Seriously, this is the truth. From what I learned in my heretofore mentioned Legal Issues in The Workplace class, I learned my then employer was playing footloose and fancy free with the law as far as my classification was with the IRS (I was actually an employee but he classified me as a 1099 so he wouldn't have to pay the Social Security tax). I'm no fan of the government, but he was cheating and he knew it for he was/is a CPA! You'll learn other stuff too, I assure you.
• Fellow students are great.
• It does enhance your earning power.
• The UOPHX has things very well organized. This is true but they are also tend to just let you be off on your own. There's not a lot of hand holding.
• Their tech support is good.

There you have it. I got this degree and I know what's required. I've been as honest as I could be. So, let me answer my own question again:  Is it worth it? Yes, it is. Really, it is, but I wouldn't do it again. I think I could get something more prestigious and with the money I spent, I should've. That's what bothers me more than anything, the cost. It wasn't worth $26k, but more like $16k considering the lack of a prestigious name.

So, if you're thinking about it, there you go. I hope I've been of help.

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