University of New England Reviews of Master's in Social Work

"I signed up for the MSW program at UNE in early 2016. The course material was both challenging and interesting. I compare the course work to University of Victoria online that my spouse attended and Walden University that I previously attended to find the quality, quantity and difficulty of the work to be roughly equal. I was really excited about this university (UNE) as their reputation is very good. However, I was somewhat disappointed in the complex and confusing portal to access services. That is, the student services portal, blackboard, the library, the book store, finances and other services all operate independently. I realize this is how Brick and Mortar schools operate... each unit in a different building with its own network system and administrators (a series of small kingdoms)... it does get clunky and obstructive in the online space... that is, I felt continuously like I was burdened but he interface instead of focusing on the material I was learning. I completed 4 courses (all above 90%) but left the UNE for Walden due mostly to feeling like the interface clunkiness was holding me back and causing me undue stress. The faculty of UNE were top notch and the course material first rate, but I just did not feel part of a cohesive system of learning there."

"Great masters program for working professionals! Instructors and online staff were all helpful and supportive of all students despite the distance learning environment. Highly recommended for self-motivated students seeking an alternative to the classroom learning environment. Courses were well-structured and organized."

"This program seems more concerned with protecting themselves from litigation by non-compassionate conservatives than protecting liberal, moderate, compassionate conservative, pro gay rights and women's right students from emotional and psychological harm in discussion forums and group work. This school is around 80% female and a male student in our class expressed his very strong anti-abortion views in a discussion board. Several other students chimed in to express their support for him and congratulate him for speaking up and wrote things like, "the life to save is the life of the unborn". Despite the fact that this student was displaying textbook passive aggressive behavior and writing things like "I'll be a damn good social worker", "those people should be more responsible with their sex lives"....."many people can't have kids"....."I don't care if I sound like a misogynist"..., I was told that after expressing my concern that this student was unprofessional and acting unethically, I must have a phone conversation with him with our professor on the line and work out our problems with each other. This was beyond degrading and psychologically abusive. I was expected to give my personal phone number to a raging anti-abortion advocate and listen to him further express his feelings of entitlement to bombard us with his views on discussion boards. For every 5 incredible social workers they graduate, they go out of their way to dismiss intolerance as belief systems deserving of respect and coddle and nurture a future generation of "social wreckers" in the process. In another course, I was in a women's rights task group and one of the members decided to make a web page advocating for women to have free access to fertility treatment and another member felt female genital mutilation was an issue she couldn't imagine how to advocate against that she should provide resources for people who want to get FGM without judgement. The fertility treatment advocate actually tried to take credit for my work at the end of the course and claimed my webpage was her own. Even though you may be working full time and have a family while you take courses they expect you to do group work with people who are lazy, and don't want to work if it is inconvenient for them and display textbook passive aggressive behavior on-line. If you don't want to put up with this because you have no time and you expect maturity and accountability in graduate students, they will isolate you and publicly shame you for not working this out with those students. I suspect there are faculty members with radical ideas that should not be implemented as classroom policies who they refuse to call out for their psychologically abusive learning tactics. I love this school but I worry about being apart of something that fails to recognize their complacency with intolerance and excessive coddling of passive aggressive and socially loafing students."

"The program is an accredited MSW program that prepares you to become a licensed clinical social work. The educational faculty is amazing! They are very knowledgeable and supportive of students and one another. I was always able to get in contact with a professor quickly about any questions or clarifications I had about assignments and lectures. The school does not provide aid to graduate students other than student loans, this creates a financial burden after graduating."

"The University of New England has a collaborative learning environment the various medical professions as a team. Accredited and staffed with the most genuine and experienced professors who are passionate about the curriculum and ready and willing to assist students with anything. My experience at UNE has been nothing short of motivating and after some hardships with family issues last year and having to take a leave of absence, the staff assisted me in getting everything back together and vouching for my education and yearn to learn about the field of Social Work to develop my practice and my career."

"The pros of the social work program at University of New England are numerous. The faculty is amazing and always willing to help. The faculty views the students as colleagues and therefore as equals in the learning process. The curriculum is demanding and rewarding. The faculty and students make the environment and safe and supportive place to share and grow with one another. The tuition costs are high for the program."