Walden University — Attraction in Minneapolis

There are too many "single points of contact," such as your "student success advisor." (And my Student Success Advisor changed at least 3 times in 5 years.) More often than not, these points of contacts can't answer your questions and refer you on to someone else who refers you on to someone else, who MAYBE can answer part of your question, but seldom all of it. There was almost no support at all for finding preceptors, and the field experience office staff were often hostile when contacted with questions related to the field experience (a few were polite, so it wasn't all of them), and it was not uncommon for them to give incorrect information. For example, I contacted the field experience office once to see if my proposed preceptor would be acceptable and was assured that they "absolutely met the preceptor qualifications." Then, after providing them identical information on that same preceptor for the formal approval process, they would not approve them because they "did not meet the preceptor qualifications." After that, they claimed their own pre-approval of the preceptor did not matter. Also, the grading by some of the instructors (specifically pharmacology) did not reflect the material covered, and in some cases was weighted inappropriately relative to how much time/ reading material was assigned on that portion of the material. As a result of these things, I ended up switching my focus from Adult Nurse Practitioner to Nursing Education. By the time I realized how bad the support was, I had put too much time and money into the program to move to a different school and I graduated from Walden with my MSN in 2025. After commencement, which you have to pay around $400 to attend (not counting travel, which is on you) and a little less than $400 for regalia, they sent us links to photos taken at commencement; however, the link doesn't work. They also sent a text saying that they would email us a "unique StageClip"; however, two days after commencement and I still don't have the email and still can't get access to the photos. In addition, the majority of Walden's commencement ceremonies are in Florida, including the ones in July! I'm not sure what idiot thought that was a good idea, but the heat index on commencement day was well over 100F. They really should reconsider their summer commencement venue and move it to somewhere that is not sweltering. The commencement itself was actually pretty nice and the speakers were actually not too bad or too long-winded. That said, overall I would give Walden 3 out of 10 stars, and most of those stars are because of my own effort, not what the university did. Unfortunately, although I did graduate from there, I cannot in good faith recommend the university. I'll be moving on to a different school for any further education. Sorry Walden. I sincerely wish you had done better.

I did not look at other reviews before writing my own so I would not be biased. However, I came back to edit this because I noticed that Walden responded to MANY of the 5-star reviews, but I only saw one response to any lesser review. That says A LOT. And...

As a military veteran and a busy mom of two, I initially thought Walden University was a great place to continue my education. I am only 6 weeks into my first class and I have realized it was a terrible mistake. Even though I am a transfer student with numerous transfer credits and 15 years of military experience, I still had to take a "How to learn" type of class that is aimed towards 18 year kids straight from high school. It was a waste of my time and my money. Walden would not exempt me from the class like other colleges have in the past. Walden does have a Military Services office but they are absolutely horrific. They never answer the phone and don't respond back to emails. The entire military services office and the financial aid office is completely uneducated when it comes to the GI Bill and FAFSA refunds. The financial aid department is a joke and you could call 15 times in the same day and get a different answer each time. No one knows what is actually going on. They initially certified me for classes for only the 1st 6 weeks instead of certifying me for the entire 12 weeks like a traditional college which resulted in a delay in payment from the VA. They also submitted numerous tuition amendments to the VA which resulted in numerous adjusted COE's and payment letter from the VA. Even after they received my official COE and payment letter they would not release my FAFSA funds. Every single college I have attended over my 15 years in the military has released my FAFSA as soon as possible. Walden is quick about taking their money that is owed but takes their sweet time giving refunds back to students who need it. This school is a joke, not to mention the admissions counselor who was emailing me and texting me 25 times at 8pm and sending me MEMEs. He had no problem texting me 30 times a day before I started but now that I am in school and actually have questions, he is no where to be found. SAVE YOUR MONEY and go to a...

The only reason why I'm giving this school two stars is because they're good about accepting transfer credits, which actually was a small hassle because my enrollment counselor lacked attention to detail.

I echo everyone here when I say, as far as communication goes, Walden has a systemic issue. The Financial Aid department is the most incompetent. From lack of follow-up to conflicting information, trying to get anything resolved with them is a time-consuming and often unfruitful process. Additionally, getting support from other departments is a chore in and of itself. All over, it takes literal weeks to hear from someone, even though you're told "one to three business days." Representatives are not empowered to bring resolution, so they pass you back and forth between levels, claiming that "you have to wait," meanwhile, they falsely communicate that they've escalated your case -- a case that was created sometimes because of their professional deficiency. After the interactions that I've had with the varying departments at Walden, I am not confident in any of them, and they have obliterated my trust in them. Not only because of the lack of communication, but also because of the content of communication. In one case, I spoke with at least five different representatives and they each gave me a different and conflicting piece of information.

And it seems as if they don't care.

There's always a two-question survey at the end of the calls. I wonder if they even take them into consideration because things haven't changed. They constantly claim that "they're sorry" and encourage you to reach out, but when you do, no change happens. It's performative.

Beware. If you enroll, either lower your expectations or prepare to be regularly frustrated by them. Salt to the wound: "There's nothing I can do. You...