Kaplan University

[Kevin]

^^Or GPA. A good friend of mine is going to a Caribbean med school. He scored very high on his MCAT, but had a sub 3.0 GPA. Med schools don't care that his sub-3.0 comes from Reed College and was in mathematics and that he wrote a thesis on game theory. Med schools are all worried about their rankings, and new student GPA is part of that ranking system.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

The LLM doesn't bother me so much--don't you have to be a practicing attorney to do that? A bunch of my friends have gotten their LLM in Taxation, especially during the recession when it paid to be competitive.

A lot of LLM programs are for non-U.S. attorneys. It's to educate them in one year (instead of 3) on the peculiarities of the U.S. legal system. Others cover specific subject matter, e.g., native american law, international law, taxation.

I'm not sure what the entrance requirements are. I don't see why you'd absolutely have to have a J.D., but if you want to practice law, most states, maybe all states require a J.D. or equivalent degree from an ABA accredited law school.

It's just...doesn't the JD require some level of group interaction? You can't really get that in a chatroom. Is this going to be the next Cooley? (Totally O/T: I live behind a courthouse, and there are always 10-12 cars parked that have Cooley tags. I guess they're getting employed somewhere.)

Yeah, I can't really see the online route working. The proper law school experience requires the law student to be humiliated repeatedly by faculty members in front of his or her peers, or at least to have the possibility looming.

[DrPhil]

Bump because I keep seeing commercials for for-profit and nontraditional schools, including recently founded schools. There's a really dumb commercial out now with 4 people walking past a crowd and the voice says something silly like "I don't want to be lectured to, I want control of my education."

I need people to be realistic and honest about what they expect to get out of this educational experience. Check the accreditation, check who is overseeing this school's programs, and realize that everything with "college" or "university" in it is not a REAL college or university.

Another critique of for-profit schools (I think this includes online degrees offered by legitimately accredited colleges and universities):
http://www.mndaily.com/2011/11/07/ab...t-universities

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Bump because I keep seeing commercials for for-profit and nontraditional schools, including recently founded schools. There's a really commercial out now with 4 people walking past a crowd and the voice says something silly like "I don't want to be lectured to, I want control of my education."

I need people to be realistic and honest about what they expect to get out of this educational experience. Check the accreditation, check who is overseeing this school's programs, and realize that everything with "college" or "university" in it is not a REAL college or university.

This. This includes the technical school type for-profits that aren't online like National College, Fortis College, etc. (Google them, I think they're local but I'm sure there's a similar kind of thing everywhere.)

They call it college, but it's not. And you're surprised when employers give your "degree" the side eye because the place you got it from is non-accredited and the credit doesn't transfer to any other legitimate school because of it.

My fave thing is when people try to be school snobs with their for-profit degrees.

Ex: Looking down on people because they went to a state university like Kent or Akron, but your degree is from Kaplan?

Other personal fave, for-profit film/art schools like the NY Film Academy. There are ads for it (their MFA programs) all over my campus and I'm pretty sure it's not legit.

[DrPhil]

This is that damn commercial that grates my nerves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq6AIFIeFk8

The unfortunate institution:

https://www.coloradotech.edu/

https://www.coloradotech.edu/Campus-Locations

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I need people to be realistic and honest about what they expect to get out of this educational experience. Check the accreditation, check who is overseeing this school's programs, and realize that everything with "college" or "university" in it is not a REAL college or university.

I see the people who are overwhelmingly taking classes at "Fake Universities" online and it worries me. They're not savvy enough to know the difference--they just see that they can get a degree while they're in their pajamas! You don't need an online MBA to do hair. They're taking out insane amounts of debt just for the privilege of saying that "they GOT their degree!"

I also think these schools know, demographically, who will fall for their nonsense.

[carnation]

One thing that really gets me: that so many teachers are getting these fake graduate degrees and getting paid for them! And since they're not at a bricks-and-mortar university, no one can really check up on them and I've heard of several teachers who pay other teachers to write all their papers.

Many teachers have been RIFed in this state due to a lack of money to pay salaries and I really think that a lot of that is due to the sudden explosion of teachers with so-called advanced degrees.

[KSUViolet06]

^^^Interesting point about online degrees and teaching: My state does not allow for-profit university online degrees to be used in applying for an initial teaching license. Ex: If you get your education degree from Kaplan and you go to apply for your license after you're done, you're going to be a very sad panda because it's not approved by our state as an acceptable program for licensing teachers. That's why it's good to do your research.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Let's be honest, though, there are a lot of bricks-and-mortar universities or non-for-profit universities that are total crap as well. Certainly, there are a larger percentage of for-profit universities that are total crap, but it's not like they have a monopoly.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by carnation

Many teachers have been RIFed in this state due to a lack of money to pay salaries and I really think that a lot of that is due to the sudden explosion of teachers with so-called advanced degrees.

I never thought about this for teachers, but a ton of my idiot cousins are state employees (again, not educators) and they've all taken the online degree route because they get a pay boost for getting more education (anywhere from an AA to a PhD). Their respective states don't care where the degrees are from...just that they have one.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Let's be honest, though, there are a lot of bricks-and-mortar universities or non-for-profit universities that are total crap as well. Certainly, there are a larger percentage of for-profit universities that are total crap, but it's not like they have a monopoly.

Oh I know. There are some non-for-profits on that non-state approved list as well. Ex: Jesus Christ Bible University in Middle of Nowhere, OH that is not accredited.

[DrPhil]

One of the newest monstrosities is Virginia College. This for-profit waste of money and waste of "accreditation" was founded by Atlantis Group, Inc. in 1983 and its first branch campus was in Alabama. It is opening more campuses across the country. WOMP WOMP.

[Munchkin03]

My soon-to-be former boss received his MBA from the University of Phoenix a few years ago (just before I started working there). Sometimes in conversation, he'll say, "oh, when I was in B-school," and I'm all, "Wha? You mean when you were sitting at your desk?"

Do y'all know how hard that was for me? It was one indicator that the culture of that company and I are a bad match.

And, no. That UOPX education did NOT teach him anything about being a good manager. For far less, he could have gone to an Executive MBA program at one of the local colleges and actually had a real MBA experience...and, isn't half of the MBA experience meeting and networking?

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

My soon-to-be former boss received his MBA from the University of Phoenix a few years ago (just before I started working there). Sometimes in conversation, he'll say, "oh, when I was in B-school," and I'm all, "Wha? You mean when you were sitting at your desk?"

I do not know if the following applies to University of Phoenix.

Strayer has campus/classroom classes for those graduate students who do not want online courses or an "online degree." I know people with MBAs and M.A.s from Strayer who did not take online courses or only took one online course (online courses and online degree programs are also offered at some nonprofit private and public colleges/universities these days). They only or primarily took campus/classroom classes with highly credited faculty. Too bad Strayer has a uniform method that prevents true faculty freedom and prevents faculty from being too creative with its students.

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

For far less, he could have gone to an Executive MBA program at one of the local colleges and actually had a real MBA experience...and, isn't half of the MBA experience meeting and networking?

Sure, if those programs at local colleges and universities are geared toward nontraditional and older students with full-time jobs and/or families. Not every graduate program is geared toward that which is one reason why for-profit graduate programs make so much money.

Places like Strayer have a relatively strong alumnae/i base to assist with meeting and networking. Plus, they know that many of their students are professionals already in their fields. Unfortunately many of these people get mocked for getting a degree from a for-profit institution, regardless of how intelligent and experienced the person is.

I do not like for-profit institutions but, as I have said numerous times on GC, I can tolerate Strayer's graduate programs. They have planned these graduate programs (especially the campus classes) quite well and made a great deal of money for a very good reason. That will not change how some individuals and employers see for-profit schools.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I do not know if the following applies to University of Phoenix.

I do not like for-profit institutions but, as I have said numerous times on GC, I can tolerate Strayer's graduate programs. They have planned these graduate programs (especially the campus classes) quite well and made a great deal of money for a very good reason. That will not change how some individuals and employers see for-profit schools.

From what I recall of Strayer, wasn't it a trade school (from back in the day where you could go to school to learn a business-related trade) that simply expanded into the online market? I'd imagine that the people who know would be okay with Strayer alumni, where UOPX has a well-deserved bad rap.

I think that's a far cry from someplace like UOPX which always catered to the at-home-during-the-day correspondence courses and took advantage of that market.