UMass Global — Attraction in Aliso Viejo

I'm a student enrolled in the UMass Global MyPath program for my Bachelor's in Information Technology and I absolutely love this school. The curriculum is amazing as I feel like I've learned a lot and it's only been 1 month since starting. I've already sped through a couple courses due to the nature of the program being self paced. Each class or "competency" is broken up into smaller learning modules that have a variety of assignments ranging from quizzes, short readings, videos, interactive media, and finally Milestone Activities. The Milestone Activities require at least 150 words and some require half a page to a full page in order to be submitted. Therefore if you don't enjoy writing this program may not be for you. Theres also optional discussion boards and learning journal assignments in each module. The MyPath program is more project based as opposed to WGU (a school I transferred from that's also self paced) which is more exam based. WGU uses exam proctors for every single exam which I found very exhausting. UMass Global doesn't use proctors because most of your final assessments are research papers, presentations, etc. However, for more technical classes like my Software Development class, there are COMPTIA certifications that require proctored exams. But my program only has about 6 classes that require these certifications, meaning I'm only taking 6 traditional exams, which I found a lot less daunting. Also, registration was easy and my financial aid process went smooth. My only cons I have for this school is that the tutorial faculty (professors) are extremely unresponsive to my emails and direct messages on Strut. I have yet to hear back from any of the messages I sent to multiple teachers. Also, some teachers may take a while (up to 7 days) to approve your milestone activities which hinder you from submitting your final assessment. This is because the final assessments are locked until you fully complete the quizzes and milestone activities. However, you're still able to view the instructions of your final assessment before it's unlocked, you just can't submit it. Overall, the program so far has been amazing and I hope it continues to stay that way. I hope this review...

haven't even started classes yet and I must say I am disappointed. The admissions team is horrible, especially the coach who I was assigned. He never responded to a single email, yet someone from admissions called every day. The phone system must not work because every time I answered a call I was either hung up on or the call immediately dropped. I asked for all communication to be through email.... still no response through email. My application was missing a few things - figuring out what was missing felt like a scavenger hunt because I had to go digging for the information. From day 1 I was given misinformation regarding classes, flexibility, and cost. Getting questions answered regarding cost is impossible - I start classes in less than two weeks and still don't know if I can even afford this. My advising coach made me feel like I was asking for too much when I asked some pretty standard questions regarding what is expected of me. It felt like she was consistently trying to avoid answering questions. The lack of organization and basic knowledge from the team is concerning. I really hope this is not an accurate representation of what the masters program will be like. At this point, I don't know why I am still considering going to school here.

UPDATE Senior leadership still has yet to reach out. Advising team has dropped the ball again. The financial team is the only team that is helpful and super nice. Admissions and advising are so uninformed that I am baffled as to how they even work here. I regret choosing this school and I havent even started classes yet. Someone needs to reach out and fix this ASAP or I will be declining...

I have never regretted attending a school more than I do this one. From the beginning It has been absolutely egregious working with admissions and then "onestop" and the whole process felt cheap. I should have noticed those red flags in the beginning and pulled out immediately. Stick to a public university. I definitely will be seeking guidance from the US dept. of education and other resources. The university appears to be predatory in nature. The advising department is lackluster. I missed an appointment with my advisor and needed to wait another two weeks when the semesters are only eight weeks long and advisors seem to rush you off of the meeting and have minimal options and knowledge to assist you. They give you generic responses and direct you to someone "resource" on the UMASS global website. It is also robotic and barely seems human. I have never encountered such inconsistencies in grading as I have here as well. One of my professors currently when I expressed some difficult circumstances almost seemed to talk down to me and power trip rather than assist to me to ensure I pass the course, which would make more sense given the obscene amounts of money we spend here. It seems everything is slow and delayed and divergent to avoid you withdrawing from courses. Take it from me, I will do everything in my power at this point to ensure attention is brought to this and I will be seeking an alternative education program. TO TOP THIS OFF, I will get some generic reply to this here on my review for the school to save face about how the school is "dedicated to providing the best...