"Walden is an online University, it is not Harvard or Yale. If you are looking for a degree that is going to give you instant success in life, you'll be looking forever. I don't care where you went to school, if you don't work hard, and solve your own problems you will fail in the real world too. Most of the successful people I know did not go to big schools, they went to junior college and transferred to state schools. Or they opened their own businesses and worked hard to be successful. My wife got her MA at Cal State Los Angeles and she now owns a successful business. And guess what? She hires professionals with online degrees too. Walden requires you to do the work, they will not do it for you. If you need to do research, it's up to you to figure out a way to get things done. If you have an issue with fin aid, advising, etc., it's up to you to become an adult and solve the problems on your own. If mommy and daddy have their pockets lined with money, go to a nice school with tall trees. If you are accustomed to having everything done for you, go somewhere else. I am on my second year at Walden and it has been good up to this point. It's everything I expected from an unranked, online, and for-profit school. I did my BA at a brick-n-mortar school and I can tell you that the hand holding stops here. If you're worried about the reputation of the school, don't go to Walden University. Go to an Ivy League school, period. If you can't get into any of those schools, simply complain about it for the rest of your life. Personally, on my resume, my education is last because my accomplish at work are more important. I use my BA, MBA, and soon to be DBA as a supplement to prove that I can work hard, and I have the education and training to handle the additional responsibility. It does Walden a huge injustice when people come on here and berate Walden University for mistakes that are most likely out of Walden's control. For example, people give Walden 1 star because they had a death in their family and Walden wouldn't go out of their way for them. Or, people giving 1 star because they weren't able to find an internship in time. How come other students could do it, but for some reason these people could not. I'll tell you why, they are lazy and want everything done for them. Walden is not for everyone. Please do your own research, look at the rankings, and then decide if Walden is right for you. If it's not, then please stay away and let us enjoy the University for what it is."

Rachel

Reviewed: 3/25/2016
Degree: Counseling
Graduation Year: 2018

"Absolutely appalling customer service. I could not get the Academic Advising Team to answer any calls, voicemails or emails for several months - I literally had to put an email Subject Line as "Please I am begging someone to respond" to get an answer. To top it off, they were extremely unhelpful and honestly quite rude when they did finally respond. If you want a school that provided actual student support and gives the slightest hoot about their students, stay away from Walden. I'm currently deciding whether or not to cut my major financial losses and withdrawal."

Joseph

Reviewed: 3/25/2016
Degree: Business
Graduation Year: 2012

"My MBA from Walden University has not only opened my eyes to a world of new business opportunities, but it taught me how to properly understand, assess and maximize the full potential of these opportunities. In addition to this, my degree has helped me earn multiple promotions since graduating, and has prepared me to go above and beyond the additional responsibilities that are asked of me. The flexible schedule and design of the courses are incredibly helpful, and ultimately gave me the ability to still work full time while studying. It is also a great format to improve your time management skills. I am lucky enough to work alongside business professionals with degrees from various ivy league institutions, all of which are held in higher regard than Walden, yet I am often the one in a leadership role in my current organization. I owe a great deal of my success to the degree I earned at Walden, and I am eternally grateful for that experience. I would recommend Walden to any person that has strong work ethic and is determined to improve his/her career for the long term."

Renee

Reviewed: 3/23/2016
Degree: Education
Graduation Year: 2013

"Please save your money! I received my masters from the school. I went back and had to leave for a family emergency. They are charging me for the entire semester and have added an additional 1200. I owe them 5400 for a class I could not complete. They do not take family emergencies into consideration. On top of that, my initial degree from them is no longer accepted in the state."

Alicia E.

Reviewed: 3/23/2016
Degree: Instructional Technology
Graduation Year: 2017

"I love Walden, and I do not understand all of the negative reviews. I have a bachelor's and Master's from a brick-and-mortar university, and Walden is definitely meeting my expectations for an online PhD. I won't lie: this school is very difficult. Their expectations and standards are very high for their students, but for good reason. I have published several times since starting this doctorate, which is exactly what I set out to do. If you are expecting to "coast" through school, and if you expect it to be easy, think again. Online degrees are what you make of them. I love every person I have worked with here: the instructors are fantastic. Some of them are more difficult than others, but once again, for good reason. The advisors are always helpful, and the library is excellent! I have finished all my PhD coursework in 3 years and am currently working on chapters 2 and 3 of my dissertation. The process is going very well. I have a wonderful committee, and they are very dedicated to helping me progress. Additionally, every time I have interviewed for teaching and administration jobs, the employers are always impressed by my education and credentials. I highly recommend this school in all aspects, especially for the education programs."

Doctoral Program not Collaborative

Reviewed: 3/22/2016
Degree: Higher Education
Graduation Year: 2019

"The educators from the Walden universityneed to revisit Phd requirements. Tthe value of a true group process or Doctorate level education is not evident. I worked my but off to get to this level and I expected evrybody else to be professional. I found myself alienated from the group in every class. I would write to many students and receive no responses. Additionally, very few students would write me initially in the discussion post. They had their favorites. I teach classes that never happens everyone is included. I brought this alienation to the attention of the faculty and the department chair it felt like I was taking the class by myself. This university prides itself on interactive discussion posts and classmate bonding. I cannot dismiss the fact that I received 4 to 5 hits for responses in the entire class. Whereas a class leader was receiving 20 extremely polite affirmations on every thread of this discussion adding up to 120 per class. Explain that? Other follower students posts there was absolutely no disagreement or deviation with this leader classmate. Classmates responded to his every discussion point. He did know what he was talking about. I wrote to him 10 times he blew me off. He was running the show. It was clear to me that these group members or network was pre-determined. Every member of the group gravitated to this great leader a CEO of a company. This boot licking tells me either they knew each other or they were looking for job. I found this behavior to be anti-doctoral acumen. The class wrote about the dangers of the social network and the informal network – here is one example I dropped out and I have 4 degrees and 25 years’ experience. I was excluded from the discussion group which account for death of the class for me. I worked very hard and received nothing back. The instructors could not control their classes. Therefore, I felt my classmates were not challenging and engaging in an unprofessional manner, and moreover, the material of each class a specially XXX it was a class in my Masters program. I majored in this class, as well as, taught to undergraduates many times. Therefore, as many students on the Internet posted serious complaints about the university simply looking to make money there was absolutely no individuality whatsoever. I called folks they did not call back except one great instructor. I called the Dept chair she did not call back. Find a group that responds exchange phone numbers. This seems to be the day of the blow off - coral your teammates. When academia becomes driven by the need for profit it is a sad day. Quite frankly classwork easier than the master level classes - often it resembled undergraduate work. Dr. B was the best instructor. I found the transparent marketing ploy of sending students and identification card after the first class, that said "you are Dr. Psychology" it was not true and shady The money con was on at all times behind the scenes. This not evident in the Universities I went to it was about academic excellence A true test of student knowledge is not : no tests, limited deadlines, all subjective rhetoric and biased discussion posts. It seemed like that some people just look up the research and splashed up on the page (quoting the author) with very little personal discussion or demonstration of knowledge. Some students do not have any real world experience they should not be in a Doctoral Program. Other students were awesome and I wanted interact and learn from them but, I could not even receive a criticism."

Kate

Reviewed: 3/22/2016
Degree: Counseling
Graduation Year: 2017

"The first year at Walden was fine, I really enjoyed my courses and the professors were knowledgeable and respectful. I mainly signed up for Walden because a friend referred me and I needed to work full time and was planning on moving. An online platform seemed to be the best solution at that time. I was pumped up after the first Residency to finish my degree and start the process for licensure. Upon the second year (late 2015 into now), I noticed even more so in my courses that there was a how amount of mediocrity in the discussion boards throughout the whole quarter. I understand that discussion boards are a little more informal, but in every course professors said that APA style is mandatory for discussions along with thoughtful responses to peers. I am in no way perfect at APA style and writing in general, but what I saw from a majority of my classmates was laughable. Most did not appear to know how to formulate proper sentences with grammar and spelling errors throughout the whole post (not to mention far from APA style). This made me often wonder how these students got to the point that they are at, especially as I pride myself for spending a lot of time studying, researching, and going above and beyond requirements the professors asked for. I now believe that professors are instructed to pass all students (at least with a C) provided they write ANYTHING and it's fairly on time. On top of this, I began searching for field sites a year ago (last summer). Either agencies and hospitals did not want anything to do with Walden or they were not taking in any interns at all (it was this way in New Hampshire and I moved to South Carolina- same thing). I was considered for a practicum spot in a city in North Carolina but I did not have the means or ability to just move. This whole process was quite frustrating, and the field site list Walden provided was very outdated (agencies on that list were shut down) and I spent quite a bit of time making my own list and calls. I have gotten no support in this process. I called the Director of the Mental Health Counseling program at a local university and she told me that her school has affiliations with a few hospitals and agencies (and the practicums are done on campus until internships which are done at the field site). She said it is very competitive and even her students sometimes have issues landing a field site. Walden has no affiliations and is not a brick university, making it that much more difficult. I'm all for hard work as long as I know it will pay off. I spoke to multiple "advisers" at the start of my career at Walden and they did not indicate any of this. If anything, they made it seem like finding a site is easy provided you start looking a year early. They gave me stories of how some students have four sites lined up just in case. They did not once mention that finding a site is not a guarantee, and that we are all alone in this process (also the fact that there are no pre-established affiliation agreements with any hospitals or agencies). I said goodbye to Walden a few days ago and am not looking back."

Reviewed: 3/17/2016
Degree: Psychology
Graduation Year: 2019

"I am finding this to be an excellent university. Walden's classes are well written, organized, and most of the faculty is truly invested in sharing their knowledge while encouraging our own. I highly suggest attending the residencies as it provides the many benefits of being face-to-face with faculty and other students... plus, a beautiful reason for travel :)"

Waldensucks

Reviewed: 3/15/2016
Degree: Information Technology
Graduation Year: 2017

"Doctoral program can't finish I am stuck with having one mandatory class to take, and they only have one professes or for this class The instructor failed me I filed every petition and gave full documentation but all were seined the real problem is that they want me to take the same class same syllabus from the same teacher I feel he was racist and had a problem with me for not having taken the residency due to lake of funds he abstractly made sure I did not pass I was only .something away points away from a 70 the grade point was 69. This teacher took off points for anything he could find as well as when it said I exceeded the expectation of the criteria he still did not give me all the points also he did not explain or document his reason in the comment section but when I brought it up he said there were grammar errors and it was his decision whether or not to give me all the points, The professor also took points from me because he said he reformatted my paper, and it wasn't long enough after reformatting but he never showed or posted the reformatted paper. Secondly, I used the example in the syllabubs for my formatting to make sure I had formatted it properly. The main issue for me is paying and taking the same class from the same teacher who failed me and we have a disagreement there is no way he will be able to grade my work fairly and I not trying to waste more money for this teacher to fail me again this school is very unethical and needs to be shut down I am sending all my info to all educational out let a school that big that doesn't have another teacher for a mandatory class is not right they may just be lying . I can't finish my Doctor without this class"

Elizabeth Russell

Reviewed: 3/14/2016
Degree: Higher Education
Graduation Year: 2018

"BeWare of Walden University. Research Class Actions Suits against them. I wish I would have listened to the warnings I read. It is a bait and Switch. The enrollment advisor will be very helpful. Once you are a student you have not advocate in the program. I have been told, "Sorry we cannot help you" so many times! Your academic advisor is probably a temp employee who can do nothing to help you. I am leaving this university with a lot of dept. I know of others who did so much more than I did just to leave with more debt. READ THE BBB and law suits against them. Don't trust anything they say. I have two masters degrees from other institutions. I am an excellent student. This university has terrible customer service and they are so big they don't care how the treat one student."

Reviewed: 3/7/2016
Degree: Psychology
Graduation Year: 2017

"This is the worse school ever please don't waste time to go there, no matter how hard you try they still find away to have you fail, up front they are so friendly, because they want your money, the advisor was helpless, I regretted attending this school."

Aleta Ivey

Reviewed: 3/3/2016
Degree: Criminal Justice
Graduation Year: 2019

"Walden University has provide an enormous amount of support for their students. One of the benefits to their systems is to ensure they keep a constant line of communication between all departments that will influence the students learning environment. One aspect I think is a negative impact on the environment is the student missing hands on interaction. However, the school ensures there is a residency establish."

Waldensfake

Reviewed: 2/29/2016
Degree: Public Health
Graduation Year: 2015

"This school only cares about making money off its student. Below par education for putting you in debt. Did not attempt to work with me and whenever I tried to reach anyone with the staff or faculty, always, and I mean always, goes to voicemail. I was never able to reach any staff or faculty when I tried calling them. Which is strange for a online degree program that is based on distance learning. But then again, all they care about is taking that money from you"

A. B.

Reviewed: 2/28/2016
Degree: Nursing
Graduation Year: 2015

"I would NOT recommend this school. They are only out to profit from students all the while making false reassurances about the integrity of their facility and how supportive they are of students' needs. Once they have your money, you're on your own; advisors (there's more than one when you initially sign up) abruptly disappear. I almost had to sit out several times because the list of clinical preceptors provided by Walden was a joke. I struggled to find preceptors and Walden couldn't have cared less. Many of these facilities on Walden's "list" had never even heard of Walden or were no longer taking Walden students. One clinic manager even told me they were not accepting any students from Walden "because of the hassle of dealing with Walden." Hassle indeed. I cannot get a straight answer from financial aid - I get a different answer every time I email. They are also unprofessional and rude, writing emails in red font. Advisors may or may not call you when you make an appointment. Course material was ridiculously easy - not at all what one would expect at the master's level. I passed my nurse practitioner certification exam only because I bought review books and TAUGHT MYSELF. Walden instructors give "A"s to every student just to keep them coming back. Overall, I am disgusted and disappointed that I wasted my time and money here. As other reviewers wrote, I don't even want to hang my degree up in my office. AVOID THIS PLACE!"

DNP Student

Reviewed: 2/28/2016
Degree: Nursing
Graduation Year: 2015

"Walden's Doctor or Nursing Practice Program (DNP). Walden University advertise that the DNP project is completed within the following courses: NURS 8410, NURS 8400, NURS 8500, and NURS 8510. This is not true !!!! After you finish NURS 8510 Walden will have you enrolling in 8701 for at least an additional year or more; be prepared to pay Walden University and additional 15,000 to 20,000 dollars after Nursing 8510 . The Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice needs to do something about how this University is deliberately stealing funds from students."

Very Dissappointed Student

Reviewed: 2/28/2016
Degree: Clinical Psychology
Graduation Year: 2017

"It is going on six maybe seven years and I have not gotten my prospectus approved. I am totally disappointed with Walden University. The instructors are rude and some are pompous and narcissistic. The program does not prepare students for the dissertation. I am in the thick of it financially and have stuck it out this far. Either staff resign or those that sit for you temporarily are getting their pockets lined. No I would never refer anyone to attend Walden it has become a nightmare. Do not go there it truly SUCKS!!!"

Dr. Lill

Reviewed: 2/26/2016
Degree: Education
Graduation Year: 1998

"I have a BA degree and an MFA from highly ranked universities. I was hoping to complete a Ph.D. at USC, but found myself working full time. Walden was recommended to my by my grad school Dean at USC at the time. In my years at Walden I loved what my truly excellent professors taught me. My dissertation ended up winning an award for excellence, and my career was successfully boosted. These many years later I still use what I learned at Walden."

Scam School

Reviewed: 2/21/2016
Degree: Clinical Psychology
Graduation Year: 2016

"Walden reinforces the negative stereotypes of for-profit diploma mills. Every student receives an A which fosters doubt about academic quality. I found Walden administrators to be dishonest, unresponsive, and unethical. The workload was embarrassingly easy and the caliber of students poor. With a 4.0 GPA, employers continually question the quality of my education and label Walden as a "business" rather than an academic institution. Walden is a subpar school that preys on vulnerable students. I won't even hang my degree because of the terrible reputation of the school."

Pacengineer

Reviewed: 2/20/2016
Degree: Management
Graduation Year: 2017

"I am currently in the School of Management and happy to report about Walden University. The instructors are great, very helpful, and experts in their fields. I also had Walden change my program for KAM to Regular classes and it was a great experience. I would recommend this school to any of my peers."

Samantha Taylor

Reviewed: 2/19/2016
Degree: Education
Graduation Year: 2015

"Exceptional university, excellent faculty, superior student support services, current curriculum, best academic experience. I never had to work so hard to earn a grade. My doctoral advisor was a tremendous expert who was constantly available. This was my most challenging academic achievement and I would absolutely make this same choice of university. Walden University is set apart from the rest."