Capella University Reviews of Doctorates in Healthcare Administration

"When I began taking courses at Capella University. It was very good in the beginning. So my experience was good at that time. So, things began to turn for the worst out of the clear and started going downhill. About 2 and half years went by I started getting these teachers, first, it was a male teacher stating that I plagiarized my answer to a question in class, I thought that was very strange. He summons everyone to come to the classroom at a certain time to talk about certain students plagiarizing. I thought he was nuts it was not like we all were writing a dissertation or anything it was an answer to a question. At that moment I felt that this man was trying to get me out of Capella. After that one tried to oust me a female with a Ph.D. tried as well to get me out I have not seen anything like this before in my life. So, I contacted my Advisor at that time and told her what the deal was. So, she asked me if I made corrections I said I did go over my answer to my question I re-arranged it and I did not hear from him again nor did I talk or hear from the Ph.D. female from Alabama. But one day she contacts me and said that she was leaving Capella and she called me Doctor Bey as if that would make me feel better after what she took me through. After she left they got a mentor that did not know anything about how Capella did things. He stated that Capella is backward and things are not right. I went through so much crap with Capella I wanted to pull my hair out. Then I found out about the revolving door Capella had everyone I knew was leaving. First, two or three students left one of the students said they accused her of having a third party to do her work she contacts me and told me what happened and she left. The librarian and my advisor at that time both left. There were three new people who introduced themselves to me six months later they no longer work there. Also, I found out the mentor that was assigned to me was playing right along with them. Capella had changed the templates I was using the templates that were already there for the doctoral students to use. The mentor told me that I should not go fast that I should go slow down or I would be kicked out I thought that was crazy as well. The mentor had me to do chapter 2 all over again although I had finished it. I told him I had finished my chapter 2 he said you would have to scrap that and do it all over, I was so angry I could have spitfire. Also, he submitted to me more information I already had in my files I felt that he did this just to drag me along. This school is not for anyone that is serious about their degrees. I started in 2012 I thought that I would graduate in 2016, certain ones I communicated with did graduate but others did not and that includes me or so I was told. I at least thought I would graduate in 2020 since Capella and the Mentor dragged me along. I put in for an appeal and still at the end the person that did the appeal stated they are still standing by their decision. So, they kicked me out and said I was not within their school standard, but I managed a 4.0 all through the program. Capella got all the money they wanted from me which they dragged, lied, and took my money. I made all corrections at the request of Capella’s reviewer 4 times then I had to change other corrections back to their original form she had me going back and forth. Then at the end, she got nasty and wrote (Make sure this matches the month and year during which you receive final dean approval, once it is known.) this was a joke. If anyone reads this I beg you do not attend this school you will be taken advantage of and taken through the mud."

"I definitely do not recommend this school to anyone who truly wants to graduate. I wasted more than 80,000$ dollars here and have no degree. You will be passed through your classes without issue. However, getting the intensive help needed to complete your dissertation will not be there. Find a university close to home so that you can receive one on one assistance if needed. Do not waste your money here. Its truly heartbreaking."

"Capella University is a wonderful school to obtain a degree from because they offer its potential students, students, and alumni a world of assessable knowledge through I-Guide and other online tools. Capella University is also, a well known University were employers hires it graduates to become apart of the organization leadership team. So, select Capella University as your school of choice."

"This is the worst school on the surface of the planet. All they aim for is get you to cough out your money and once that get the money, they become your Lord. Whatever they tell you you have no recourse. They have no structure to see or track customer service. Their after class survey is a sham. This is a school that has no structure for people to assist you. Horrible customer service over and over again. No one should attend this school. Total waste of money & Time. Research schools before enrolling. Simply googling will give you information on peoples experience especially with CAPELLA UNIVERSITY. Beware of Crooks."

"I think that Capella University is an excellent university. The program that I am currently in has help be learn a great about what is expected of me in my future career. The only thing that I would suggest is a way to help students get jobs associated with their education."

"Capella offers a great program and offers blended learning through research, interacting in groups and in the classroom with other students. This structure challenges your thinking and knowledge and opens up a whole new world of deep and analytical thinking. It also allows students the flexibility needed, particularly for those who work and are also earning their degree."

"Not every online University is incompetent; certainly, I know that Capella is very competent. It is also worth noting that an online university is not for everyone. For one thing, one has to be effective with using technology, secondly, one has to be time conscious and discipline, third, one has to be a fast learner. These are important criteria needed to succeed in an online environment. I will admit that every university has its pros and cons. I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. There have been times when I felt frustrated with certain activity at Capella, but, as mentioned, every student will experience such even in traditional universities. It is also important to note that the fundamental reason(s) for every university is to make money and hopefully providing quality education. Capella University is providing quality education and in my opinion, I believe that Capella University is one of the best online University out there."

"I am proud of my accomplishment of completing a Doctorate degree. It has been a year since completion and I still do not have a job. I reached out to career services but they do not assist with actual job placement which would be an enhancement of the Capella experience."

"The three and half years I studied at Capella University were some of the most informative years in my academic career. I was already an established and busy surgeon in my country, but I felt I needed that extra challenge to add a PhD to my medical qualifications. It was not easy spending those nights working on the weekly course assignments, but it was all worth the effort. I fully enjoyed the structured online course work offered at Capella. Since, graduation I have published not less than six papers adapted from my course projects in per reviewed journal sometimes in collaboration with former course instructors. I would recommend this university only to serious graduate students who are ready to work hard and complete on time. Otherwise you could get frustrated and end up blaming the university for your shortcomings. Online courses are in fact be more demanding than full time college studies."

"I started the DHA program with Capella in the Summer 2012. Everything was going great. The only gripe I had at the time was not getting information about the dissertation and no advice for getting ready for the dissertation. The program started out with 39 students and dwindled down to 4 when we got to the dissertation. Throughout the first three years, I was told by my advisor that the entire program would only be 4 to 4.5 years to complete from start to finish. I went into the dissertation and found out t that it will be longer than the year they told us and it will be anywhere from 2 to 3 years with multiple delays because the assigned mentor will find flaws and not point them out and just return the section of dissertation. Dr. Davis was facilitating the dissertation, when asked about the delays we were told if we don't like it, oh well. She is extremely unprofessional and rude to the students asking questions. My colloquium was changed twice without notice and was told that I couldn’t proceed with my dissertation because the next colloquium wasn’t available until the fall semester. I was forced to take Spring and Summer term off because of the universities policy about taking the colloquium in either the first or second dissertation course. I spoke with other students in the program and they weren't told about the colloquium and blindsided by the cost and extended cost from the colloquium alone. Tuition has gone up since starting the DHA program and wasted 70k on a degree I will never get. Dr. D. didn't answer questions during the dissertation meeting about the continued financial cost only saying it’s not the school’s problem, "shame on you if you aren't doing anything while waiting weeks for the mentor to provide feedback. Its your responsibility to read read read read”. You need to call your financial advisor to sign up for an additional 8 semesters and 50% of people that start dissertation don't finish." When a student asked her where to find something about the CITI her response was, "you need to find that for yourself. I will not show you where to find that". I emailed my mentor 3 weeks ago and haven't heard back to start an professional dialog. Also, my mentor changes three times before starting the dissertation course. When I was able to reach out to my newly assigned mentor, he was not helpful and proceeded to talk about his professional accolades. I became concerned because I only have 19k left in student loan money and they are saying another 20k to 40k after spending 70k already. I never heard of a DHA that cost 110k to finish. In my case I was told I needed another 37k to finish the program. I reached out to my academic advisor and was told, “you need to give the dissertation courses a chance and when you have no more student loan money, we will go from there”. I spoke with another advisor about transferring to a MHA to savage something and was told, “A lot of students get edgy when they have no more money and I can’t answer what the program will do. You have seven years to complete the entire program”. I requested a petition to have my courses transfer over and then got a call from my academic advisor that she was leaving and I needed to contact the university at the end of 2015 to restart my dissertation. On 01/06/2016, I reached out to the school about resolving the issues and salvaging something from three years and 70k in course work, I was told nothing could be done. On 01/25/.2016, I reached out to the university a final time and spoke with Jon Michelson and was told, “There is no direct link between DHA courses and MHA courses, which means that you would need to petition each course to see if there was a direct match. Even if there is a direct match we can only allow up to three courses to be transferred in, which would leave you with nine courses left to complete. I suggest we move forward with the Certificate in Health Administration”."

"For anyone reviewing the negative comments- please note the grammar, language, emotion, and content of those negative posts. I have seen a multitude of students disappear from the program and in my opinion it was the correct decision. I have read numerous posts where the student did not last through one course. It takes time to get used to an on-line program and it is challenging to work in a virtual environment. I am entering the dissertation phase of my degree and I think that those that have made it this far deserve it. The dissertation process is extremely challenging and I imagine that we will lose more learners. A friend of mine is a full professor at a Big 10 university and when I told him how challenging the dissertation process was, he just gave me a wry smile and said "it should be"! You can believe what you want, but it takes effort, desire, resilience, and support to make it happen. Only those who deserve it make it through. The rest is up to you....no excuses."

"I do believe this university is only about and after money. I wish I had never attended this school. I have two graduate degrees from another university and I personally would not recommend this school to anyone. I wish someone had warned me prior to attending."

"I really don;t know where to begin. I completed my Masters from Capella and had a really positive experience. I enrolled in the DHA program after being told the entire program take four to four in a half years to complete. Initially the program had over thirty students. When it came time to complete the dissertation there was seven of us left. During the meeting to discuss our dissertation and have questions answered, we were told it was going to be anywhere from an additional two years to four years to complete the dissertation. That is on top of the past three in a half years of course work. After talking with financial aid and my academic counselor, I learned that Capella goal is to max out student loans and many students quit or kicked out with no explanation with over $100,000 in student loan debt and nothing to show for it. My academic adviser said to me, "Many students don't want to do the work or put in effort. I recommend you stay in dissertation for a couple of semesters to meet with your mentor and lay the ground work, then consider leaving if you want". I am sorry at $4,000 a class. I don't have time or many to waste $8,000 to sit around and talk with my mentor. My mentor was changed four times before entering the dissertation course room. I completed the first dissertation course and my assigned mentor never got back with me. I ended up taking the next semester off so I could transfer schools. I am now finishing my Doctorate with ASU, which has appropriate accreditation and will take an appropriate amount of time and money to complete. I encourage anyone that is using student loans to be mindful and do your research before attending Capella. I have heard horror stories about the school deliberately maxing out student loans and students have nothing to show for it. I have over $120,000 in student loan debt and $100,000 is from Capella. Also good to note that I declined all extra loan money and paid for bare minimum. I am in my final track of my dissertation with ASU and will spend three years less in school and only had to spend another $11,000 to finish my Doctorate, where Capella said it will be another $33,000, on top of the $55,000 already spent. I can not stress the importance of doing your homework on this school."

"I began the program in the Spring of 2005. I completed my coursework in less than two years. Overall my experience was positive, however I had issues with members of my dissertation committee which in my opinion were due to a lack of leadership from them."

"Not for me. This school was just okay. I thought that the canned curriculum was not rigorous or motivating. The standardization of the discussions encouraged me to only post once to other learners when I wanted to post more. There is a standard of 250 words per discussion and I feel that this is inadequate for a comprehensive understanding of the topic from a doctoral standpoint. I generally wrote the minimum because it answered the question and that is what I needed to do to get the grade. My classmates were totally into the courses and were writing 6789 words for their posts which I thought was ridiculous and as I read then posts found that what they said could have been written in 250 words. They got of topic and it was difficult to read. The teacher was no help and simply encouraged the APA style and nothing was said about the conciseness of their postings. A Lifelong Learning Inventory was required in the first class but the inventory was not accessible. THerefore the coursework that centered around the LLI was not able to be completed and there was no clarification on the part of the instructor. The final discussion was to write about the LLI and had nothing to do with whether the actual content of the course was relevant. The LLI may be a good option for some students. But let me at least get through my first course before you start with the psychology of me. I really had high hopes for this school. I gave them the benefit of the doubt after some very negative reviews. But after I spoke with a student that I work with who is almost done with the program and he said that it doesn't get any better, I knew that I needed to jump ship. Today is the last day of school and the last day of my first course and I will not be re-enrolling there for the next course. I have chosen to go a different route and go to a different school."

"I completed my Masters with Capella and finished my first year of my PhD program and very pleased with the school. If you apply yourself and read the APA Manual, you will be fine."