Grand Canyon University Rankings by Salary Score

Unfortunately, other reviewers are right in their reviews. This school is not what it offers to attract students, their doctorate programs are nothing but money-producing products. The dissertation chair and committee that you are assigned either quit in the middle and you have to start over with the next one trashing all of your hard work and time that you put into your dissertation. The committee deliberately disagree with one another only adding additional time to the students' end wasting their time and... Read More money. Once students are out of their usual course track they have to pay from their own pocket to maintain their attendance in the program and to continue working on their dissertation work. Spending $500 for an 8-week course that only continue to drag on for 2 years is an unacceptable act that only leads to running out of a 7-year time frame. I would not recommend their online doctorate programs to anyone.

I recently completed my Master of Science in Psychology at Grand Canyon University (GCU). My emphasis area was Gero-Psychology. I love the elderly, subjects related to aging, and everything that goes along with the aging process. I absolutely loved GCU and recommend it to all! Ok, in fairness, I did not ALWAYS love the courses because they could be very stressful at times, due to complex subject matter or deadlines. But in general, I loved GCU and the Psychology program. The online GCU program is intended... Read More to move swiftly, thus allowing students to complete their program or degree faster. Most students are working as well as studying. It takes incredible focus, dedication, and time management skills to succeed at GCU. If any of these items are lacking, trouble will follow. However, the online learning management system (LMS) is excellent. It is called HALO. GCU switched to HALO last year or so (you can do a test drive here >> https://testdrive.gcu.edu/test-drive). HALO helps students stay focused on assignments and class discussions. It also helps keep students organized so deadlines are not missed. In my 2-3 years at Grand Canyon University, I never once had a technical issue. I overwhelmingly approve of the program, the course instruction and instructors, and the course content. It helps to have some type of background in a psychology related field, for example mental health work, social services counseling, case management, gerontology, clinical work, community agency volunteer work, school counseling, etc. If lacking in these backgrounds, it is still doable, especially if you had a related undergraduate degree. There is a required, introduction to graduate studies course at the beginning of the program. It is worth it, especially if you have not been in school for a while. You will also learn all about general psychology topics such as ethics and ethical issues (APA Code of Ethics anyone?), along with social and cultural psychology. As my program had a gerontology emphasis, courses about aging and older adults make sense. They were super interesting. These courses covered sociology of aging, physical health, and biology of aging, and psychological, emotional, and spiritual aspects of aging. In addition, there was a most intriguing course about death and dying. This course will grab your attention! And … warning: this GCU program is graduate level. It adheres to national standards associated with doing research. That is right, research is a huge part of this program. In fact, there are two required, challenging courses on statistics and research methods. Prospective students will need to be ready for takeoff when these course start. Get the reading done early and practice, practice, practice. These two courses are not for the faint of heart, but extra help is available if needed. I got through without needing extra help, for what it is worth. But I know some students were REALLY struggling with these two courses. Finally, there is a capstone course. It is the last course for the program. There is a lot of career-related subject matter in this course. It is very helpful. The instructors were either very good or great. The ones who were very good were more than sufficient. I had four very good teachers. Then I had six excellent teachers who went above and beyond while instructing. There are online discussion topics. Excellent teachers interact with students with high energy. They make the course very engaging by offering up interesting discussion or participation questions. The main objective of these discussions is to replace the lack of in-person communication with something similar. So, someone posts a reply and then students can follow up. Sometimes discussions can be a bit dull when students reply to other students they know from a previous class. You can tell they are going through the motions. But the excellent teachers push the discussions to higher ground with other excellent, related topics and resources. This allows for expansion of participation and discussion and improved knowledge sharing. LMS insinuates that students be independent and motivated. If you are motivated and manage time well, then LMS is for you. But there may be trouble if a student struggles to comprehend material or hands in assignments late. At that point, they will need to seek extra help, using instructor office hours. GCU offers a robust technical support program if needed. The GCU online library is outstanding. The course textbooks are included with the tuition and fees. I am not sure if this is common nowadays with other schools, but it sure is nice. I was always able to easily access the primary course text online. Microsoft Office is included free for GCU students. I took advantage of that. It was VERY helpful to have the software installed on my computer. I think I have written too much. But I am a big fan of GCU. I am so glad I chose this school! I hope this helps.