Review of Walden University

Great in the beginning, now so frustrated and disappointed

I received my Masters from Walden and was very impressed with the program. I learned a great deal and that is why I decided to pursue my doctorate from Walden as well. I have been in the program since May 2007. The classes in the beginning were challenging and informative and I was excited about getting to the dissertation and research stage of the process. I have been at the stage of waiting to be approve for research for two years! My first three chapters have been written for two years. I have had several committee changes and chair resignations. I have never missed a deadline and have never received anything but an A in my courses, except the one time my chair made a mistake and gave me an unsatisfactory grade because she got me confused with someone else and I have had for for my chair for two years!!! It was a headache to get it corrected and I had to provide numerous forms of documentation to prove it. The hold up is not me, they drag everything out, email responses, returning of paper submissions, assigning of committee members, everything! I do not normally complain but I wanted anyone who is contemplating getting their Doctorate Degree from Walden to know their practices. I am stuck. I have paid Walden thousands of dollars and do not want to give up on attaining my goal but I am running out of money and the excitement of conducting valid research is gone. It is so frustrating. Potential Walden students BEWARE!

Avoid if Possible

After reading several reviews about Walden University, I decided to join this university in September 2008. I wanted to pursue my PhD in management,on line was a good fit for me because it doesn’t require the complete one year residency as brick and mortar universities generally require. It was not going to be new experience for me, since I already took several of my master classes on line from a conventional state university. Walden seemed to have what I was looking for and it was listed as one of the approved universities by my employer, so I was going to be able to apply for educational assistance.
Well, here is my story: If you can, stay away from Walden. Take this advice from someone that has taken on line classes from a brick and mortar university and knows what bad and good both service and education are. Walden is a business, thy will try to get as much money fro you as possible, regardless of what you do academically. They will task you with homework, lots and lots, whose value is more than doubtful. If you submit it on time, you got points. The feedback you get from the instructor is useless, and they force you to participate in nonsense discussions with no value whatsoever. Unless you really what to learn something from this, this is just a waste of time. For those of you that think that customer service is bad, you are right. Customer service is terrible. They treat you very well when they are trying to hook you up. After that, forget about it. But, this is not much different from my experience in my state university.
Now for the worst part: It is expensive. They tell you that a quarter is $ 4,1700.00, but what they do not tell you is that depending in the time of the year you register, there will be bridge course until the new quarter begins. They register in this type a course during the first quarter, but they tell you not to do anything on it until the 12 week. Then at this time, they automatically register for this class again for an additional $ 1,500.00! When I complained about it, I was told that this is the way the university works, so I told them that unless the charge was removed from my account, I would not register again. I am still waiting for an answer. The most fantastic thing was that I did not submit any work or participated in any discussions for this class and still got a satisfactory as final grade! In top of this, you have to pay for residencies (6 of them with a cost of $800.00 to $ 1200.00) and books, even a simple $ 10.00 DVD (Please let me know how your textbooks were included, mine were not).
Bottom line: This school has to be considered as a last resort. I am out of it and registering for a local, in state and well-known university. It is a business, and they will treat you like that. And believe me, I can distinguish between meaningful work and just work.

Walden AMDS PhD actually more socially-relevant

Having completed my MBA at a traditional AACSB-accredited brick-and-mortar university, I was at first skeptical about the marketability of Walden's online PhD in Applied Management and Decision Sciences. Having attended my first academic residency in St. Charles, IL, last year I am confident Walden was the right choice.

One criticism of PhDs in a discipline is that they can sometimes be too focused on esoteric theoretical matters and there is often a disconnect between scholars and practitioners. Walden University has addressed this concern by formulating from the ground up a distance learning scholar-practitioner model that constantly encourages doctoral students to discuss and refine their goals, motivations, and future applications so that their research remains both academically relevant and congruent with the real world. That the majority of Walden doctoral students are already successful executives in their own fields and continue as practitioners throughout their academic careers only serves to reinforce this model.

Walden doesn't simply admit students into a doctoral program and leave them alone to complete their research without regard for the real world outside academics--all students before beginning research work complete a Doctoral Foundations course which involves several discussions per week with a professor and other doctoral students discussing and helping each other refine goals and research interests and strategies for success.

The Walden University PhD program comprises a series of formal research papers--Knowledge Area Modules--each focusing on a standard facet of a student's chosen research interests, eventually leading to a formal published dissertation. A series of four- and six-day residencies along the way, averaging about one a year, complement the online learning process by providing opportunities to meet students and faculty from all doctoral programs and participate in seminars. With approximately one residency per month in locations across the country and internationally, there are tremendous opportunities for networking and face-to-face interaction.

Walden provides comprehensive online access to academic journals and references through a combination of its own licenced resources and document delivery agreements. Its student support, including financial aid, writing centre to assist with the APA Style in place for all doctoral work, and disability and other services are available in an accesible and timely manner.

I am confident that Walden, built as a distance-oriented program from its inception, has a winning model for its doctoral programs. If there are any specific questions you have before enrolling, I would be happy to discuss them personally! Please visit http://robincheung.info for contact information!

Review of Master of Science in education program

I just graduated with a master of science degree in elementary reading.

The program was very challenging. I think I worked harder than I would have in a more traditional program. This program afforded me the luxury of being able to sit in front of my computer wearing pajamas, for example.

However, the program consisted of mostly writing papers. You must be a decent/good writer to do well in this program.

Accreditation at Walden

From time to time I have read various posts about concerns about Walden’s accreditation.

For Psychology students the biggest confusion centers on accreditation with The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association and accreditation with American Psychological Association (APA) or designation by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards/National Register (ASPPB/NR). These last two are requirements for licensure in some states, but not all. There is a history at Walden of the decisions around pursuing APA accreditation or not. This does not make Walden a “bad school”. Not all schools, and not all Psychology specializations within a school, will have these accreditations. Walden makes it explicitly clear in several places on their website and in the program guides what accreditations it holds and what it does not. I realize that this is easy to get confused about at the beginning of a program, but come on – this is grad school, and by now you really should be able to ask questions. It really is up to you to understand the licensing requirements for your state before you enroll anywhere. There are several practicing, licensed psychologists from Walden – again, depending on the state. Walden’s general psych program is geared either to the educational arena or research. If you want to be a counselor don’t pick this program.

I am almost finished with my doctoral program at Walden and have to say that overall it has been a good experience. Many people like myself, with full time jobs and life demands could never pursue higher education if we were limited to traveling to and from a regular institution. So many traditional universities are now offering several courses online, if not full degree programs. Being among the first to tap into technology at the accredited graduate school level, does not make Walden a diploma mill, nor make the degrees awarded useless.