Co-worker went to University of Phoenix and just promoted

[SandEagle]

Seems odd to be able to enter a graduate program without an undergraduate so I went to their website and did a live chat to find out more.



This is what Gina showed me on the website:


To enter a graduate degree program, you must:

• have an undergraduate degree from an approved regionally-accredited or nationally-accredited college or university, or hold a comparable degree from a recognized institution outside the United States.
• have a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 (on a 4.0 scale) as shown on the undergraduate degree posted transcript.

can someone mention that their coworker got admitted without an undergrad degree. how was that even possible? can UofP rescind the degree?

 

[Slick5150]

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and call shens on the entire OP story.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I suspect it is possible to take the classes for a bachelors degree and then take the MBA classes without being "awarded" the bachelors at the University of Phoenix.

 

[techs]

If you dig deeper it might be possible if you have some college credits to get additonal credit for work experience that will get you a University of Phoenix online bachelors for only a small(large)fee and get into the grad program.

I didn't look that up but that's what someone I know did a few years back.

 

[Imp]

Not saying who I believe, but there's "official policy" and there's always "talk to us and we'll think about it" or $$$$$.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and call shens on the entire OP story.

I don't know, I find it possible (if unlikely) that there's someone at OP's business who doesn't know University of Phoenix is an online university.

 

[Vic Vega]

UoP has campuses all over the place. Essentially go to any major business park in the US and you will see a UoP campus.

 

[zerocool84]

So basically OP got debunked twice in this thread.

 

[unokitty]

A few years ago, a group I was with invited Howard Schmidt, then White House Cybersecurity Czar, to help us with an awards ceremony.

From Wikipedia:

"Schmidt holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration (1994) and a Master of Arts degree in organizational management (1998) from the University of Phoenix. ... He is a professor of practice at the Georgia Institute of Technology's GTISC, professor of research at Idaho State University, adjunct distinguished fellow with Carnegie Mellon's CyLab ..."

Doesn't seem like earning his degrees from the University of Phoenix has held him back...

Uno

 

[Svnla]

Believe it or not, a piece of paper means jack shit. Some of the most knowledgeable, effective people I've worked with had little to no formal training. Results matter, not papers.

While I agree with you but many places will not even let you interview if you dont have that sheet of paper. My place is one of them. No BS/BA? The applicant will not even make pass the first round.

 

[jersiq]

OP, you are looking at this the wrong way, it should be something more like this:

"My job can be done by a high school grad"

Time for you to polish that resume.

 

[classy]

University of Phoenix is a respected college. Keep on listening to all the Harvard graduates here that tell you its not.

 

[lxskllr]

While I agree with you but many places will not even let you interview if you dont have that sheet of paper. My place is one of them. No BS/BA? The applicant will not even make pass the first round.

Oh, I know. That's what pisses me off. People put more value into the paper than I think it's worth. If you get a lot of applicants, it may be a convenient chopping point that'll still allow good prospects through, but you're certainly losing some good ones in the process. If you're only getting a few applicants, you may be dismissing the most qualified without a look.

 

[BoomerD]

You jelly, bro?

 

[Fingolfin269]

I'll be honest, now that pretty much everyone goes to college I really don't care where it's from. Unless I'm reading Harvard (or some other prestigious name) on a resume I really don't care. Did you go to college? Did you graduate? OK great, now on to the questions.

And by the way, the only reason I care if someone has graduated college or not is because I'm told I have to care. I'd rather have someone with 4 years of work experience than 4 years spent to get a piece of paper from joe blow u but I don't make the rules.

 

[SagaLore]

What nobody realizes yet is that she actually went to University of Phonix and the "MBA" is a "medal of basic articulation".

 

[AlienCraft]

So I just got a call from a co-worker, telling me that another co-worker of mine was just promoted on the basis of her new "degree" and on Monday we are going to have to have someone take over her assignments. She is essentially a glorified file clerk, and I'm (well, I was) at least 4 levels above her. Now she is at the same level I am.

What degree you ask? An MBA from the University of Phoenix.

You see, a few months ago she "graduated" from University of Phoenix and went running around the office making sure everyone knew. Here was my conversation with her on that day:

Her: Hey I just graduated! I've got an MBA. <literally does a stupid dance in the hall>
Me: Oh? I didn't know you were in school. How did you find time for it when you work 60 hour weeks?
Her: I did online at University of Phoenix. I'm good at online. (literally said that phrase... "good at online") I've got a masters!
Me: Oh.... I didn't know you had a bachelors degree even.
Her: Bachelors? I don't have a bachelors.
Me: oh.... how did you go to grad school then?
Her: I just applied.
Me: Um, didn't you have to take the GRE/GMAT?
Her: GRE? GMAT? What's that?
Me: Those are tests you take to be admitted to grad school....
Her: Oh no I didn't have to take those.
Me: So you have no bachelors degree, and you just got an MBA?
Her: Yep! Did it in 18 months.
Me: Ok, well good job. (at this point I go back to work and wonder WTF kind of "school" allows someone to go from high school diploma to "masters" in 18 months online)


So now this idiot just got promoted because a director was impressed with her "MBA". I have two bachelors degrees (graduated magna and summa cum laude) from a state university. She now has the same job I do.

So ready to start a new career.....

Life is not fair, especially a Capitalist one. Get used to it.

 

[Meghan54]

I sympathize with the OP.
The University of Phoenix business program is not accredited by the largest accredition in the country.
Instead it is accredited by a group that sprang up in 1988 to specifically provide for inferior schools with no real standards.
The list of schools accredited by this group are a virutal who the f*ck are they list of colleges and online universities:
http://www.acbsp.org/p/cm/ld/fid=14

The organization was accepted by the US Department of Education however many corporations do not accept this and refuse to provide tuiition reimbursement for courses at these colleges.

However, the fact that they were even accepted as an accreditation association was thought to be political in that the for profit schools that make up the bulk of the members are large contributors to Republicans. An attempt was made to end their recognition in in 1991 when it turned out the schools standards were below that which was required for things like Federal student loan programs. The attempt failed due to Congress's involvement.

While you are correct the UoP is listed on that accreditation list, it's not the only one that UoP is listed. The other I've found is by the North Central Association, one of six regional accreditation associations accepted by the DOE.

In the United States, there are 6 regional accrediting agencies. Each agency covers a different section of the country. For example, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges accredits schools that are located in New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.) The other 5 agencies evaluate schools that are based in other states.
The 6 regional accreditation agencies are:

• Middle State Association of Colleges and Schools (Commission on Higher Education)
• New England Association of Schools and Colleges (Commission on Technical and Career Institutions and Commission on Institutions of Higher Education)
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (The Higher Learning Commission)
• Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (Commission on Colleges)
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges (Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges and Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities)

And according to this site, the DOE's site, the regionals are as good as any national accreditation.


http://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg6.html#RegionalInstitutional

 

[ModerateRepZero]

Oh, I know. That's what pisses me off. People put more value into the paper than I think it's worth. If you get a lot of applicants, it may be a convenient chopping point that'll still allow good prospects through, but you're certainly losing some good ones in the process. If you're only getting a few applicants, you may be dismissing the most qualified without a look.

In fairness, it's easier for HR or screeners to use in trying to whittle down applicants as opposed to, say, requesting everyone for a creative job position submit a portfolio. Suppose it takes say, 2-5 minutes to at least skim a portfolio....if there's hundred or thousands of applicants it can take hours for a few people to go over, whereas a college degree is a yes or no.

But I agree with you that without an exception (ie. no college degree required if you have 10+ years of experience), it will exclude some potentially viable candidates whose shortcoming is they didn't spend 4 years at an educational institution.

 

[chusteczka]

Her: Hey I just graduated! I've got an MBA. <literally does a stupid dance in the hall>

pics?

 

[Nintendesert]

Even if the OP is telling the truth (doubtful) all this showed was she was willing to do more than you were to advance. You didn't do UoP but she did. Stop being so jelly and go and improve yourself.

 

[DAGTA]

I believe that traditional ground universities, on average, are better than online universities. However, it is possible for someone to get a good education from an online program, but that depends on how much they are willing to work on it. If it is someone looking to learn everything they can about the subject, they will go above the minimum course requirements and seek out greater understanding.

It's stating the obvious, but a good student can learn quite a bit regardless of the school and the opposite is true as well.

 

[AdamK47]

So ready to start a new career.....

Or you can find a company that promotes correctly based off of experience and performance.

 

[Phokus]

I swear i read a story years ago about this guy who got a PhD but never had a bachelors or even masters degree. And this was from a real school too.

 

[OverVolt]

Ya know, our parents never went to college thinking it was too expensive and it was their biggest regret.

Now they take that regret out on their kids, bending over backwards to send their kids to college and amassing huge sums of debt. Probably wiping out their retirement in many cases. Expensive much?

I'm thinking 20 years from now, everyone will think college is a scam. There aren't enough jobs for all the degrees since college is now way too big. Its really just a piece of paper after doing nothing productive for 4 years.

I'm doing it now too har har but then we wonder why other countries pass us in competitiveness and efficiency when we send all our 18-22+ year olds to do nothing productive while they learn, and then get a job that more than likely has nothing to do with what they learned (About 60-70% of grads get a job unrelated to the degree)