"I originally signed up for the RN-MSN program and switched from Leadership & Management to Education. Closing in on my last year, the Family Nurse Practitioner program became available. I jumped at the chance to be in the inaugural class. I was very pleased with the variety that the different professors shared and I cannot say that I was disappointed with their response times as they were always prompt. Finding my own clinical instructors to me was not a terrible thing! I was able to concrete instructors that I felt could mold me into the practitioner that I wanted to be. It wasn't always easy and yes the program is extremely time consuming, but if it wasn't, I would wonder if they weren't just after my money. The program is expensive, but due to the fact that it was completely online (except for clinicals) and at my convenience, I feel that it was worth every penny. I did decide to complete my DNP through Walden and must say that I was thoroughly disappointed and actually dropped out of the program. The adviser that I had was worthless and never seemed to be available. The quality of the response that I received was so poor that I decided that this would not be of benefit to me. Unfortunately, I just signed in and saw that he was still advising. (Maybe Walden should take a second look at the cause of a lost student and realize that you have a problem with some internal employees.)"

Lei Kim Sawyer

Reviewed: 1/26/2016
Degree: Elementary Education
Graduation Year: 2017

"The pros of attending Walden is that you can remain at home and complete the courses online. The online format is easy and comfortable to use. Some of the professors care deeply about student success, however some are just in it for the paycheck. The professor feedback is timely, though. The cons are the cost and the lack of grants and scholarships."

daffy duck

Reviewed: 1/26/2016
Degree: Nurse Practitioner (Family)
Graduation Year: 2017

"This has been the most horrible and ridiculous experience. Walden has messed everything up from my financial aid, registering for classes, practicum accounts. etc Forget about making one phone call to try to correct the situation. This only leads to unanswered questions, or that dept can address your concern and will forward your concern to another dept, in which you never get a phone. call. Professors are horrible about responding to emails. Assignments are mundane and does not teach you how to practice as a nurse practitioner. Every semester has been one nightmare after the next, but unfortunately I am in the same boat as many of you. I am too invested in the program to start over some where else. I am not proud of the school and will not be proud of the institution name my degree with display. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SCHOOL TO ANYONE!"

Susan

Reviewed: 1/23/2016
Degree: Nurse Practitioner (Adult-Gerontology Acute Care)
Graduation Year: 2016

"I definitely cannot recommend Walden University for completion of FNP or Acute Care NP, the field experience office is a nightmare to work with, frequent personnel changes add to the confusion and no one seems to know what is required from sites in contract negotiation. The student is not communicated with and when I have had communication with someone I received incorrect information. When I was setting up preceptors for clinical rotations many sites just refused to work with Walden, and when asked why, the response was generally always the affiliation agreement process. I very rarely get a response to emails sent from the school, and I have already invested quite a lot of money in this endeavor up to this point and feel I have no choice but to continue to pursue completion, however I caution anyone drawn in by their ease of acceptance and promises. There are a lot of better choices available."

Current Student

Reviewed: 1/13/2016
Degree: Psychology
Graduation Year: 2019

"You get out, what you put in. As in most courses, it is up to each student to put in their best effort. I am working hard and gaining excellent theoretical knowledge, applications, and personal development through Walden University. I have had many great professors who are passionate about psychology. While some professors have been less than great, this experience is similar to the other Universities I have graduated from. Online education is not for the faint of heart and requires discipline, patience, and hard work. Also, attending residencies, in person, is most certainly worth the financial investment. It is where I have gained valuable relationships with my peers. All the best!"

Patricia Manning

Reviewed: 12/31/2015
Degree: Business
Graduation Year: 2017

"The pros of completing a graduate program at Walden are the availability of resources and opportunities to learn and advance my professional development goals. The only con is applicable to the lack of engagement of some professors and their ability to continue teaching. This is currently being addressed and I expect this weakness will be strengthened in the near future."

Jonny

Reviewed: 12/23/2015
Degree: Management
Graduation Year: 2012

"A Completely worthless degree to further your career, but an excellent avenue for a sense of personal attainment with an exorbitant price tag cost. I worked hard and the curriculum at Walden was rigor (at least I thought at the time). I must say you really you get what you put in from Walden. But whenever I tried to get a job, my employer always look at me "you when to Walden?" Also, when I talked to other co-workers (also have a Ph.D. from "real university," many of the statistics topics were over my head). I worked hard, but how come I still felt inadequate? I am embarrassed to talk about my dissertation as I used simple regressions while other colleagues speak of time series and trajectory analysis in their doctoral study. I felt my time working on my degree was wasted, even I have put in much hard work and time in the program while working a full-time job. I am not saying the school is bad, but people will have bias on your degree before you open your mouth. You really need to think about why you are going to get a doctorate from an online university in the first place before you are going."

Recent DNP graduate

Reviewed: 12/21/2015
Degree: Nursing
Graduation Year: 2015

"The DNP program is very structured, as with any completion program (i.e BSN, MSN) discussion threads and assignments were useful. As nurses we already have a solid foundation in nursing, we already know how to write papers, & projects using APA format, so getting through the core class was a breeze. The problem starts when you are finish with all of the course work and trying to finish your DNP project, they run you through course 8701 at least 4 times. No course work just trying to get your manuscript approved by your committee. There is little to know guidance, at times the chairperson does not respond to emails for weeks. If this problem occurs Dr. Moss is the go to person, she will respond immediately. Overall I am happy to be finish, I will not recommend the program to anyone."

William Hancock

Reviewed: 12/21/2015
Degree: Criminal Justice
Graduation Year: 2018

"The school itself is not bad. However, the financial aid office and the academic advising office are a joke. They do NOTHING to help their students!!! I have been dealing with them for a week and I still haven't resolved my issue and I've spoken to 13 different people and that is not including the numerous amounts of emails."

Carrie

Reviewed: 12/20/2015
Degree: School Counseling
Graduation Year: 2018

"Little to no academic support, you are expected to teach yourself concepts at the doctoral level. Instructors are often demeaning and despite majority of students lacking understanding blame students instead of the inept curricula. At this point I think 3 of my cohort are left. I am not far behind, I will be looking for another school due to the total lack of teaching provided. Teachers expect students to read a chapter in a book then write a complex 5-7 page analysis of the trading with NO guidance. What am I even paying for?"

miffed1

Reviewed: 12/20/2015
Degree: Psychology
Graduation Year: 2018

"WAs offered first term free scholarship, started the program and three weeks in I was thrown to collections for the $5700 unpaid tuition. My advisor and the collections department within student financial services both acknowledge the offer, but state they cannot figure out who pays it or how, or even when. The scholarship has disappeared."

Nurse101

Reviewed: 12/19/2015
Degree: Nurse Practitioner (Family)
Graduation Year: 2017

"So, I have 15 years of experience as a nurse, which is proving much more important than the material I've been digesting.This program is open to anyone who can afford (and maybe not afford) it. I'm finding that my colleagues in the 'real world' roll their eyes when I tell them where I 'attend'. It's almost embarrassing. Not so much because of the program, but more because of the 'quality' of students enrolled. There are 4 other walden FNP students I know of at my place of employment. I wouldn't let them make healthcare decisions for me. I have too much money invested in the program to simply quit and start somewhere else. When I graduate (God willing) I don't know if I will display my degree at my office. Which sort of makes me sad..."

Former student

Reviewed: 12/19/2015
Degree: Nurse Practitioner (Family)
Graduation Year: 2015

"Terrible, redundant topics beaten to death, I learned 1000 ways of saying one thing or describing one topic , no complaints responded to, policies followed , or proper handling of anything. Not recommended for serious students desiring an actual education. Diploma mill? For profit...greedy."

Nurse Practitioner Program

Reviewed: 12/15/2015
Degree: Business
Graduation Year: 2015

"I decided to pursue an online MSN degree with Walden University. While I am not dissatisfied with my experience with Walden, it was quite challenging finding my own preceptors and not being able to physically access the school, instructors, classmates, etc. I successfully passed the FNP boards after completing the MSN, FNP program. If I could go back in time, I may have done things a little differently, but more so out of personal preference, not out of dissatisfaction with the program. Online programs offer a different way of learning and this should be kept in mind of those who are thinking about obtaining a degree through this route."

Michelle M

Reviewed: 12/14/2015
Degree: Higher Education
Graduation Year: 2016

"Please be aware that Walden University working school week is only 6 days. Day 1 is Monday, Wednesday initial assignments are due and by SATURDAY all other work is due. This is extremely hard for the working nurse and mom to lose a whole day. I will be considering a transfer out of the program due to this."

Jennifer Jones

Reviewed: 12/14/2015
Degree: Nursing
Graduation Year: 2015

"The academics I have received at Walden are good, however my experience with the Financial Aid office is less than par, if not absolutely horrible. Master's programs are expensive enough without having to deal with loan issues, caused by the University you are attending. Walden is at fault for an extreme delay in my loan disbursement and release, causing my family serious financial constraints and problems. Even though they are at fault they offer absolutely no resolution to my problems, of which they caused!!! There are many Universities that offer flexible online degree programs, with equally supportive financial aid teams. Everyone deserves a University who provides both. Beware of Walden!!!!"

Tony

Reviewed: 12/14/2015
Degree: MBA
Graduation Year: 2016

"I guess I can't speak to some of the other programs that people are leaving poor reviews about, but my experience has been great. The teachers are professional and available to me when I need them. The material is what I expected from an MBA but exceeded my exceptions for an online course. The consolers have been knowledge and able to work with me when I needed to take a class off. I was able to take the class and then jump right back in when the next one started. The website works fine. If people are having issues with it, it is because they are using an outdated browser. I have even been able to use the website from my phone. Walden is more expensive than other online MBAs but the quality of the class is worth it. This is not a degree mill school. The grades you make are earned and not given. I was able to find the financial aide I needed and there was only as much hassle as you'd expect if you have ever applied for aide. They offer a discount for military as well. I will consider Walden for my DBA in the future and I highly recommend their MBA program."

Zed

Reviewed: 12/9/2015
Degree: Psychology
Graduation Year: 2015

"Adult learners be aware. I'm very dissatisfied with the lack of empathy of instruction and circumstances. They seemed to more interested in money than with student success. Instructors seem to be facilitators of chatrooms rather than providing significant teaching of course material. Overall, I find Walden lacking quality instruction for course material. The technology of the chat room is a decade old with no video or lecture ability. Collaboration is great...however, it is mostly with students and is not real time. often many hours or even days go by without instructor feedback."

anonymous

Reviewed: 12/3/2015
Degree: Nursing
Graduation Year: 2016

"Walden started out good; however, thank goodness I am almost finished because they have been progressively been getting worse and worse. Academic advising has always been very bad and they know nothing about the field experience programs (clinicals). It is impossible to speak to an actual person regarding the field experience and they do not respond well to emails. It once took 5 weeks to get a response to an email which made the question obsolete as it was a question that a potential clinical place had and by the time I got the answer, it was past the deadline to turn in an application for the next clinical rotation. There is NO help in setting up clinical sites, you must do this all yourself. It sucks to be a middle person when trying to set up a phone contact, the instructor never responded to my preceptor (she tried multiple times) which makes Walden look bad, and I am embarrassed because I'm thinking they are wondering what type of school am I going to and what kind of education am I getting?! Other online schools have utilize alternate resources such as webinars and video lecture which would come in handy as options for someone who is having difficulty understanding a concept. I know some other schools also set up one or two times that a student must travel to the school in order to go over some of the physical assessment things (such as pelvic exams and prostate exams) which I think would have been helpful. I personally know people who are having a lot of difficulties with Walden and I do not recommend anyone to go here."

Laura Newcomer

Reviewed: 12/2/2015
Degree: Psychology
Graduation Year: 2013

"VIRTUAL FITS A BUSY LIFE. As a working professional, Walden was the perfect choice for me. The ability to do my coursework around my own schedule was of keen importance. There is a schedule and cadence of coursework to which one must adhere, so the flexibility comes from having no structured meeting time, not from lack of deadlines. YOUR SUCCESS IS UP TO YOU. In my coursework, there were no team meetings or group assignments which was much to my liking. I had years before experimented with another on-line university that did require team assignments and I disliked the lack of equal commitment. A few of us would wind up doing the lion's share of the work while others would offer sub-par submissions or skate by. At Walden my work stood or failed by my own efforts, and since I was earning my degree for me, that seemed more fitting. IT IS HARDER THAN YOU THINK. Having experienced both traditional college and on-line, I would say on-line is more challenging, especially if you are working full time or busy raising a family. I travel a great deal for work, so my academic activities were often done on airplanes or into the wee hours in my hotel rooms. I truly put my personal life on hold. Before I started grad school I made sure I had the full support of my husband, our closest friends, and family. I surrendered my weekends to writing papers and completing assignments. I also had the full support of my work team and my boss, as well as a tuition reimbursement benefit at work. With all of that in hand, I signed up and dove in. OVERALL GREAT FACULTY (at least in my area of study) Out of all my coursework, I suffered only one really poor instructor whose on-line demeanor was very off-putting. There was a lack of the genuine helpfulness that I experienced pretty much across the board for all my other courses. Certainly some were more engaging than others, and I had a few exceptional instructors as well, but overall I would say very good - to - excellent. BE SMART ABOUT THE PACE THAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU. I was encouraged to take two courses a quarter by my academic advisor, but I knew with my demanding work schedule and travel, it would be better for me to do it one course at a time. Thus it took me 3 years to finish instead of 1.5. It was exhausting but an accomplishment that means the world to me. DON'T MISS GRADUATION. You can attend a real graduation. Grads from all over the world attend, and it is a grand event that can be shared with family and friends. YOU WILL BE PROUD OF YOUR ACHIEVEMENT. My coursework absolutely equipped me for further career success, and I am a very happy Walden grad."