University of Maryland Global Campus Reviews of Bachelor's in Information Technology

"SCAM SCAM SCAM!!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS HORROR HOUSE!!! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER FROM THE BEGINNING WHEN THEIR ACCEPTANCE RATE WAS 100%, YET A GRADUATION RATE OF 4%. WHERE DO I START? FINANCIAL AID IS PRETTY MUCH A SCAM. THEY BLINDSIDED ME BY "PROCESSING" MY APPLICATION TILL THE MIDDLE OF SEMESTER JUST FOR ME TO FIND OUT I COULDNT AFFORD THAT SEMESTER. THE CLASSES ARE A COMPLETE JOKE!!!"

"I would prefer to not even acknowledge it as a school if you ever must have an encounter with any department for help you will be disappointed. From financial aid to advising.. none is available to students! You may look at their site and think there are so many support and help, but Im telling you this from many painful experiences I have not met a single person who cared about an individual student. The worst college experience you can have. It is not enough to describe how bad this college is. I'm really sorry to say this, but it hurts just thinking about it."

"I started out in 2004 while I was enlisted and finally finished my program in 2016. At first the program was pretty strenuous (what I would expect from any UM System school.) Somewhere after 2010, they switched to eight week semesters and stopped using actual textbooks. The majority of the faculty is adjunct. With the exception of people like Reginald Haseltine, most of the "instructors" are just there to push corral you through the material like cattle, forcing you to learn the material on your own. Some "instructors" don't even read the papers you submit, just give you an A for the submission. (Personally verified this.) All this comes down to one simple fact; You get what you put into the school. Pros; 1) They took ALL of my military credits and applied them to my degree 2) Online courses made it easy to continue my education even when I moved back and forth across the globe 3) The switch to eight-week semesters allowed to me to finish my degree finally 4) The classes are textbook free, so you don't have to pay extra for materials 5) The switch to eight-week semesters also put me at "half-time" status with the VA, allowing me to collect BAH while only taking one class at a time. 6) In contrast to other-school that change program requirements to keep you from getting your degree, my program was changed several times to make it easier to get my degree. 7) I had professors like R. H. who was not only a subject-matter expert in his field, but was also a GOOD instructor. Cons; 1) The majority of the faculty don't care about you 2) The online reading material that replaced the textbooks are sub-par, I had to buy books off eBay to supplement the online readings 3) Since most of the instructors don't give recorded lectures, I had to watch MIT OCW lectures to actually learn the material 4) Some class you could "ace" with minimum amount of effort possible 5) The program quality was reduced from 2004 when I started to 2016 when I finished"

"I cannot stress to you how important it is that you do not attend this college. They give you an online book and a summary of what is in it. Rarely do you see an instructional video. Students spend 99% of their time googling our youtubing in order to try to understand anything. I went to college so that I would not have to learn that way. Most of the computer course instructors have English as a second language. It is difficult for them to communicate to students what they require. By the way, tutoring is no longer available for computer course online. This school says it is friendly to working adults but that cannot be further from the truth. The workload is intense."

"I guess experiences may vary, but mine has been awesome here. I'm an Army Vet starting my last semester in January, and I would recommend UMUC to anyone to be honest. I am about to finish my bachelors in Software Development and Security with a minor in Digital Media and Web Technologies. If you put the work into it you will do well especially in the programming classes. I'm not going to lie at first I had Computer Science as my minor and I would have stuck with that had I not had to go overseas and gotten so busy. Beware though some of the IT/Comp Sci classes are no freaking joke. Most you can make it through them and do really well by putting a moderate amount of effort into them, but there are a handful especially in the Comp Sci arena that will eat your lunch. In particular the Data Structures and Analysis class. That one is super tough. I made it two weeks then found out I was about to need to go overseas for work so I dropped it and then decided to change my minor for a number of reasons, but that class was one of them. The professors are really helpful too, and this isn't some For-Profit garbage school like University of Phoenix. UMUC is actually part of the University of Maryland School system. There are 11 schools within that system total and UMUC is essentially the one that specializes in distance learning. There was one person that mentioned LEO being bad, and while I don't think it was as bad as they said it wasn't the best. I never had any issue with the advisers here. They always told me what I needed to know and gave me any information I asked for. Never had a problem with the financial aid department either. They have since made a lot of improvements and I don't think it's even called LEO anymore it's something entirely different. I had a great experience here. I recommend it to anyone Vet or otherwise especially if you are a working person with a significant other, children, etc."

"This was a difficult and expensive experience when it came to my math and computer science courses. Basically, you are given assignments of quiz, test, projects with barely any direction or teaching for 8 weeks. You are completely self taught. I had to hire tutors to help me in some cases. For my other classes some were better, but you are basically doing it on your own and Math, Science and Computer classes are the worst to do self taught. I suggest take those classes somewhere else and transfer them in. The financial aid and Bursar's departments aren't very good at keeping track of your records and billing accurately. Benefits is, you basically know what you have to do for each 8 wk or 4 wk session, they accept CLEP, DSST and Transfer credits, and its conveniently online or in person."

"UMUC has been accused of being a degree mill which honestly could be said for several institutions I can think of right off the top of my head. I have friends who have attended UCI's MBA program and USC for undergrad that told me many professors will give you a B or a C in the class just for turning something in because you are paying for the degree. You will get back what you put into the program. I have learned a lot even and really appreciate the flexibility of being able to come home after work and do my classes online instead of having to drive to a crowded campus and fight for parking. The students are a mix of young professionals who are trying to complete their degree (myself included), people changing their careers, or military students. Another plus of the programs at UMUC is that they are usually centered around practical application for work. I have been able to take something I learned in almost every class so far and apply it next day to my code or to different project plans I have created. For the most part the faculty and students are about the same as a state school as far as quality. I also went to UCSD and can say most of my classes have rivaled the quality and difficulty level there. This might be due to the fact that I'm majoring in Computer Science so I can't speak to the other programs. You will need to be willing to participate actively in discussions or email the teacher if you get lost. This is no different than any other school where you will need to actively care about your grade and work to understand and get help if you need it. As far as financial aid, I have been using a combination of financial aid and my own money to cover costs. I would recommend going on the monthly payment plans through ESCI if you are having trouble with expenses. I don't get enough financial aid to cover all the classes I want to take so I usually end up paying for one and breaking the course fee up with a 6 month payment plan."

"First, let me start of by saying UMUC is a good school with really good professors that goes the extra mile for you IF you put in the time to work. Just like any other school, you have your good points and bad point, but overall for me, I am well pleased knowing that I just finished my Bachelors and my degree will be conferred by August 30th. When it comes to the negative comments concerning financial aid, if you're in the military(active duty) you have tuition assistance and FASFA if you don't want to use financial aid and/or Post 9/11 GI BILL. BOTTOM LINE: Do you research before applying for financial aid. This school is just like any other....IT IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT!!! I truly enjoyed UMUC and looking forward to starting my dual master degree(Cybersecurity/MBA) in the fall!"