University of Maryland University College

I wrote the previous review after my first semester; I was obviously disappointed after my first semester. however, I have much better news to report two years later. My experience changed a great deal. I think it was mainly because I wasn't use to the online format and really didn't understand the commitment and personal responsibility that must be taken when you take courses online. I quickly learned that if I was going to not only survive, but be successful in my coursework, I had to take another approach to learning. that approach included setting and keeping a tight schedule, asking questions and not waiting for someone else to do, being proactive early in the course if I wasn't happy with some aspect of the course, communicating with the instructor regularly, making a few friends in every class, etc. After implementing some of these things, I found the majority of the instructors very receptive and more interested in my learning. I had a few 'administrative and advisor' issues, and that's why a few of the scores are average.But I ended up graduating successfully, making several good friends while receiving an excellent education. Taking online courses has really built character and now I'm very glad that I did not give up out of frustration. The advisors can be 'call center-like" but my suggestion is to do what I did........I asked for Promise Griffin every time I had a problem because she was very caring and very effective with helping me to successfully resolve any issues that I had. Dr. Thompson was my Capstone instructor. He's really a great teacher! Make sure to take his course.

I've been disappointed with this program; however, I transferred from Georgetown so maybe I'm comparing it with the wrong school. I do think that for an online program one is given a great deal of busy work. The instructors aren't very responsive--providing regular feedback and I often feel as though I learn from the students as they are the ones who usually answer my questions. Scary. Anyway, administration is awful and you can't even transfer many credits because UMUC wants to get as much money as possible. The advisors don't seem that interested in helping me and unless I ask specific questions, a couple of them really didn't inform me like they should have. I had soooo many prooblems when I first started with the financial aid department and felt that no one knew what they were doing, but it was resolved after several months of me calling and complaining. It was such a headache! If you want to transfer to grad school here, I don't really recommend it, especially if you're depending on credits to be transferred....don't count on that many being transferred. They also advertise that students can get a dual degree but when I asked about doing that, they told me that it wasn't applicable for my degree. I'm really not happy with this school, but have no choice but to continue.