Tuesday, January 8, 2008

University of Phoenix

I completed an MBA at University of Phoenix in 2007. While the UoP is known as an online school, I took the entire course "on the ground" (in the classroom). I compared the program with a workmate who was taking an MBA at Johns Hopkins at the same time. The program and the individual courses were very close. The level of instruction in both was superb. I did FAR more writing than my friend, and did not have to write a final thesis because I wrote one at the end of every class - 30 pages or more. Think about it. Content, quality, proper APA format, grammar, spelling, and substantive research (peer-reviewed, scholarly resources) required for each paper - one every 6 weeks.
Gahhhh
Well - I got the degree in 21 months. Some weeks I thought I'd quit. Some weeks I thought I'd die. Sometimes I wanted to kill members of my learning team(s). Always, I felt like I was 2 steps behind.
So what? I got the MBA with a 4.0 GPA.
Yes, I am proud of myself, and gained enough respect for the UoP that I decided to go on for a doctorate there.
This program is strictly online. What a difference. But so far, the same quality, same rigor, and at the same time, more fun. The school seems to have more respect for me as a doctoral student than it did as a mere post-graduate.
If you want a degree, want it to mean something, want to learn, want to work hard and get it in record time from an accredited university, then I recommend University of Phoenix.
The MBA will cost you over $36K.
The doctorate around $50K
So it ain't cheap.
And in my opinion, you DO get what you paid for :)

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