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I started the online doctorate program full of optimism and motivation. I talked to several people at the school administration office who assured me this was an interactive program with zoom calls and instructor participation. Well - I was lied to. By week 2 of my first class, I realized this was not the experience I wanted. The instructor was MIA for most of the course. They will respond to emailed questions but these classes are very boring. The focus is on word count and APA vs a challenging/rewarding... Read More student experience. You are paying tuition to teach yourself. The school will say that you learn by reading the books, having a weekly discussion with your peers and getting grades back with comments from the instructor. There is no cohort, no teamwork, no team assignments, no student association, minimal student support and no support for your dissertation until more than a year into the program. They have less than 10-graduates of their program. I fear these guys are only in it to make money. They do not care about the student experience at all. The academic advisor for the doctorate program was defensive when I voiced concerns. The faculty brushed it off as "this is way online education is. It is NOT this way at all institutions. At $800 credit hour, I expect to have an instructor who is present and actually instructs us on something. Is that too much to ask USW? Save your time and money and go somewhere else. USW is a joke.

As a third year student at the university of the southwest I must admit as hard as it is to pay for the tuition, room and board, and other "USW" fees it has been nothing short of unacceptable. The school receives money for the academic work the students put in yet, they don't physically see any reward from their efforts. The school has not been descent in sports consistently, yet the coaches are still brought back and remains under low expectations. The school overall, is way to expensive for the... Read More limited resources, poor living conditions, and high amount of low caliber professors and staff. I am an out of state student and I'm trying to figure out how and why this school hasn't see a change in culture, one word to sum up the last few years would be "WOW". The staff and website lead you on to believe that the institution is Christian lead and whole heartedly encouraged but unless your taking a required course, no Christian related activities are assigned.

The MBA program is solid. They offer no prerequisites and no GMAT or GRE. You just jump right in. They offered the first class free to me (I dont know if that is still the case). They also provided a lap top after I completed 6 hours and it was very nice. The courses are offered on an 8 week schedule (online). Each course is set up very similarly. You have 8 weeks with two assignments each week. One discussion and one written paper or problem sets (finance and accounting). The professors grade the... Read More work quickly. One area that I would like to see improvement is that the professors don't interact in the discussion board. You get grading comments about your answer and that is it. Otherwise, I have had good interactions with my classmates. The rigor is appropriate for an MBA. The books are included in the tuition and are linked into the courses. Overall the MBA is a quality program. I recommend it.

This school was a huge disappointment. First, their mission statement states Christian values and beliefs; however, the material and worldview is extremely secular with a negative view towards Christianity in the three classes that I took. I am in my fourth class now. The professors are very unorganized. The quizzes for 3 of my classes had questions on them that weren't even in the material that was being tested. I contacted the professor and he admitted that they were questions from other chapters... Read More and asked me to look through the book to see if I could find them. I ended up going on the internet for some. Also, in one class, I would be graded differently for different assignments. It seemed that an assistant may have been helping grade and didn't have the same grading criteria as the professor. I received A's in all my classes, but the time spent was not beneficial to learning and very inconsistent. Because I want a faith based education and want to attend a professional university, I plan to transfer to Liberty University after this class. I do not recommend this school!

This is not a good school to attend...they are very slow about getting things done. When you ask them too,  they want something from you. They expect you to get it done right then. In the financial department, they only have one person working on things that need to be done right away and when she decides to take a vacation, she leave for 2 weeks and no one else is there to help. The attitude of the staff is also terrible...I thought it was an Christian school but it is really not....If you can help... Read More please decide to look at other schools before you go there.

One of the cons of my graduate program is that it is pretty strict with regards to your grades. For example, you can only get 1 C in your entire program, which is a lot of pressure to maintain all A's and B's in your classes. But, with that said, one of the pros is that the professors are very supportive and they want you to succeed. They make themselves available to you through email, and I have even had a teacher give the class her cell phone number. If you communicate with them they can make accommodations... Read More if you need it. They are there to help you and that's exactly what they do.

I attend graduate school online. This is the second online program I've completed and I know that this form of education can be somewhat isolating. It's hard to feel part of the campus and "college experience" when you aren't meeting with classmates, interacting, etc. The staff and faculty at USW understand this far better than any program I've seen before. I was assigned an academic advisor, a retention specialist and a financial aid counselor. Any questions I have, I give to my team. They are FANTASTIC... Read More about communication? No phone tag, no unanswered emails. I have a question, I call... and they answer the phone. Sounds minor, but believe me: it is revolutionary. They know I'm busy with school, but they will send emails just to check in -- how are classes? Do I have any questions? Need help finding textbooks? I simply love this school and the SUPPORT I get. I thrive on feedback (especially in my program [Counseling], it's essential that I get it) and my professors have been attentive, constructive and knowledgeable. Some are better than others, sure, but they've all been collaborative and prompt with responses. I am happy to recommend my program to anyone interested in pursuing a 100% distance learning Masters of Counseling.