University of Nebraska at Kearney Reviews

"I enjoy the size of the classes and individual attention provided by the professors. The faculty and students are welcoming and supportive. There are great opportunities to be involved with research, clubs, and the community. For the size and location of the university, we really are afforded multiple and unique options for involvements, internships, etc. UNK (and Kearney itself) is safe and fun."

"When I graduated with my B.A. in 1983, the college was Kearney State College. Today I am earning my Master's Degree. The college is now called UNK (The University of Nebraska Kearney), but there is nowhere else that I would go. My professors have been wonderful. They answer my questions, are readily available, and so supportive. Located in the heart of Nebraska, the beautiful campus is easily accessible and in a great location. Even though Kearney is part of the university system, I do not feel like a number. The UNK campus is my college family. If I could do any part of my life again, I would return to Kearney as an incoming freshman to experience those wonderful years all over. UNK is a perfect fit."

"Getting my bachelor's degree at UNK was an amazing experience. I felt it was the perfect size for someone who wants a college that provides ample opportunities to get real-life experience and still offer small class sizes and one-on-one mentoring from faculty and staff. The stimulating courses, life-long relationships, and engaging extracurricular activities all made my 4 years some of the best of my life. I would highly recommend someone attending UNK. (Graduated 2009 Cum Laude in Psychobiology degree, Was an intramural referee, Chancellors Ambassador, Health Science Club President, and Mortar Board Senior Honors Society)"

"This college was one of the best I could find! I enjoyed the professors and the subject material as well as the location of the campus. Kearney is such a lovely city, and the people whom live there are polite and kind. As far as funding goes, UNK is not expensive by many standards, and it is constantly upgrading its space to provide better access to students both presently and in the future. I would highly recommend this school to any potential student!"

"I was really surprised to see that no reviews for UNK have been published yet, and that is the main reason I wanted to post. I attended UNK's online Biology Masters program from August 2013 to December 2014 and was highly impressed with the level of the program. The reason that I chose this school was due to my military service, as a matter of fact prior to attending this school I had went through a MS in Biology program at a brick and mortar school. I had completed all the course requirements for that degree, however I was unable to complete my thesis before leaving to attend basic training in the spring of 2011 and as such was unable to graduate. I was wary of the online program at first, simply because I had heard so many bad things regarding online degrees and the inability to actually use them to gain employment. The one thing that was a deciding factor was the fact that this school is actually a brick and mortar school with an online component, NOT a school that is entirely online. With that being said, when you get your diploma it looks just like any other diploma from the university, and as such it isn't glaringly obvious that the work was completed through online means. Applying to the program does not guarantee your acceptance to this university, they require that you have certain academic requirements (GRE, GPA minimum, statement of purpose written) before you are accepted. They do accept transfer credits (9) which was helpful since I was basically doing an entire MS again. The course load is HARD. Do not be fooled into thinking that you can mess around and graduate with this degree, as a matter of fact several of my courses were courses where the professor had live students in addition to those of us attending online, he/she would simply record the live lecture (you could see the backs of the heads of the students) and post it to the interface known as blackboard. As such, we were held to the same assignments, same tests, same research papers as those students the ONLY difference was that I was not physically sitting in that classroom. In some ways that made it more challenging as I could not just raise my hand and interrupt the professor to ask a question, but would rather have to take extra time out to email or jump on the discussion board to get those questions answered. As for the department itself, the biology staff is simply amazing. Everyone from the coordinator to the veteran liaison is extremely prompt about answering any questions you may have, whether it is degree related or financial aid related. When I started this program I was in Afghanistan deployed and I didn't have a single issue with getting in touch with someone if I needed help. Do be advised that some people will make a big fuss out of the current director of this program and how she is this, that, or the other however I had no problems out of her during my stay in the program. During my research portion (more on that in a minute) my research advisor left the school for another position at another university so she took over the oversight of my project. She was nothing but helpful to me, I think she can just be short sometimes with students because she is extremely busy with her own academic work, mentoring students, in addition to teaching. As I mentioned, even as a distance student you are required to perform graduate level research in order to earn this degree. You are not doing an actual thesis (in that it is not required that you publish so understand that if you are looking into a future PhD program this may not be good for you) but you are doing everything else that leads up to this- writing a proposal, gaining understanding of IACUC approval, getting funding, gathering data and using statistics to back your findings. This portion is broken down into six core classes over the course of your program, and your advisor can help you determine what research would be feasible in this timeframe. Understand that they are there to ADVISE you not actually come up with your research and make it happen! One of the most beneficial components of the program is that each summer they set up a biology trip to some other country, and many students that are online go to do their data collection as there is at least one faculty member who goes with them. Last year we went to Brazil, and while this is an extra cost and not necessary to graduate I was able to meet other students (from both on and offline programs) as well as get my data collected for my research under the supervision of my advisor. This summer they are going to the Galapagos Islands. I wouldn't trade my experiences in Brazil for anything. While my tenure in the program was short (I came with 9 hours to transfer, and attending full time in the summer) the expected length of completion to the program is 2.5 years if you go full time. I was there 1.5 years and would recommend this program to anyone."

"I am in a distance Master's of Biology program at UNK. It is described as the only one of its kind in the world. I am loving my experience with the faculty in the Biology department. There is a wide variety of courses offered for the distance program. This allows each student to focus on their area of preference and career requirements. The classes I have taken are rigorous, and the facutly have been supportive and helpful. I would highly recommend this program to anyone needing a masters degree in biology without the ability to take on-campus, live courses."

"I love my graduate program, there is nothing I would change."

"The professors are very easy to talk with. However, the work load is very high compared with what my friends from other grad programs are encountering. Great reputation, and I am proud to say that I am a Loper!"