University of Phoenix Reviews of Bachelor's in Accounting

I just graduated from the University of Phoenix. I can assure you this school is all about the dollar. My experience with UOP is that I did work hard and their curriculum is difficult. I will give them that much. However, I also think accounting is universal in that every school teaches it the same way. You either learn it or you don't. I do get the sense though that UOP is very money driven. And try and get something rushed, you will speak to 5 people until that one person actually tells you the... Read More right thing. I find them to be very unorganized, especially the AA's. The PLA is also unorganized. Overall, check out other schools such as Liberty University, who provide military discounts and cheaper tuition. Stay away from UOP. Besides, where I live, it is a joke degree unfortunately.

The school at first was ok, then I found that financial aid was not doing what was necessary to get my account current. The instructors expect other students to help you when you have a problem. I have also had issues with the IT department with certain programs that are needed to complete the class. I have had issues with just about everyone I have had contact with. One class I took was ethics they teach about doing the right thing, but the school itself does just the opposite. I would highly recommend... Read More doing a ton of research before committing to this school.

I started UOP online back in 2008 and enrolled into a bachelor's degree program for accounting. After 2 years and 45 units, I caught on to UOP's tactics. They constantly raised tuition, course material was high-school level difficulty, and instructors were impossible to speak with. The only person who ever answered my calls or returned my emails was the financial aid representative, usually to make sure I was on track to getting my loans in place. Other students in my classes seemed to have very... Read More little knowledge of the English language. And I'm not talking about foreign students. I'm talking about American-born students who have lived in the U.S. their entire lives. Some of the discussion posts, the peer-reviewed papers we graded...it was like they never got past 8th grade English or had any concept of written communication whatsoever. Some of the writing topics and questions in the math classes they submitted were laughable. Yet I would see the same student names class after class, so somehow they were getting passing grades. I left with about $30,000 in student loan debt and no degree. I transferred to a 4-year public state university where the tuition was half the price. Unfortunately, only 30 of my 45 units from UOP transferred. The university advisor flat out told me, "There's a lot of classes there that we don't recognize as college-level work, so you'll have to retake them again." What a waste of time. Don't fall into their trap, there are a lot of better options out there. Even the state schools have online degrees now. Phoenix is just a big money pit posing as a university. You're better off investing in their stock than studying at their school.

I was a student for just over 4 years at UOP and I can tell you that this school is not the evil empire those make it out to be. Yes, it is expensive, but I could not afford the time to be able to go to a traditional college. Further, many technologies that UOP was using prior to the State Universities like with Math and Reading, also the Onlie Library is second to none, my wife uses my access because her State University's is horrible. Over a four year period I had several issues, but you will always... Read More have them, too often people act as if nobody is human or some instructors are just difficult. It is part of the learninig process, so because someone is mean to you, you quite college? What happens when you become employed and someone is rude with or unprofessional, you would quite your job? Many have legitimate complaints, but it does not mean UOP is a poor school, it mean you have to be a responsible adult and finish your work or go to another college, but everytime the DOE and various different things happen, generally you can dismiss them. If you want to know the truth, many of the State Universities and traditional universities have acceditation suspended and removed quite often, it is public information, people just always assume that if the government runs something it is free of corruption and perfect, that is far from the truth. Go to the school leave it, heavy lies the crown of the largest school in the Nation.

I went back to school because I was unable to progress in my accounting career. I had completed approx 1 year of college in my late teens/early 20's and absolutely hated the 'brick and mortar' environment, so I decided to attend school online. I started from the very beginning and completed all four years of my B.S. in Business/Accounting with UoP online. I had a wonderful experience with my A.A. and B.S. programs for the following reasons:

1. I am introverted and a very independent learner- I'm not... Read More the type of person who asks a lot of questions or requires much direction 2. I'm self-motivated 3. I love to write 4. The instructors were absolutely great- every instructor was currently employed (and had extensive experience)in the field that each was teaching. Most had Ph.D.'s, and all had a minimum of an M.A. or M.S.

The accounting program was very difficult at times and may be different from other majors (I'm not sure) because there is basically only one right answer in accounting, and very little room for error.

I don't think I would ever recommend taking certain classes, such as Finance or Financial Accounting, online because these can be extremely challenging and I could have used much more guidance than was possible over a computer. Still, I got through all of the classes, albeit with a TON of work and independent research at times.

If you have questions, the instructors WILL respond within 24 hours (either by e-mail or phone), but the online forum isn't always ideal for complex explanations- this is often the reason why people dislike this type of learning, or simply find that they can't absorb the material.

In this environment, you definitely get back what you put in. If you are very extroverted, lack discipline, prefer in-person interaction, require hand-holding, don't like to write, don't like to have to interpret complicated information largely on your own, this is probably not a good choice for you.

If you're like me and don't like to waste time listening to other students' (often) pointless questions or listening to a professor explain material that you already read in a course's textbook simply because you need to hear it out loud, then you will most likely love this school. Like any school, you will determine the quality of your learning by the quality of your effort. If you enjoy and CAN learn this way, then I highly recommend it and learned more in one class than in one year of traditional schooling or work experience. On the other hand, I completely understand why some people would hate this environment.