Walden University Reviews

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Walden was the best thing that ever happened to me! I feel well equipped to continue my educaton to become a certified teacher in my home State. Walden staff, students, and programs worked well in my hectic schedule and the course work was top notch and challenging. I earned my BA in child development and not have the educational foundation that I need to finish. Thanks to Walden!!

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Ed.D Teacher Leadership: Excellent materials and the professors I had were also excellent. Timely in their responses. High standards. I found the students cohorts to vary widely in ability, but there were about four or five in each course that kept the class standard high. I think the cohorts are too large, which is one reason that I give this 4 instead of 5. Also, an online school is not for everyone. I teach at a college and have access to colleagues and librarians beyond Walden. I also have longer vacations than secondary and primary school teachers so that I was able to keep up with the recommended pace of the degree. I have found this program very challenging and demanding and I have learned as much as I have in my other degrees in traditional schools. After insisting on two changes in committees, I am now with an amazing committee and that has made all the difference in my dissertation writing. Again, Walden has high standards. One has to be very independent, a good writer, pretty sure about the focus of interest BEFORE beginning the program, and strong in self-advocacy at times.

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DO NOT attend this school!! None of their departments communicate to each other and if you have an issue forget that it will be resolved. I had to get the president involved on a financial aid issue and then they decided to teach me a lesson and took my financial away after I was already in my classes and too late to withdrawl. And of course I did not have $3,600 laying around, so I was suspended from my classes that I was in and not able to complete them which forced me out of compliance and unable to transfer my credits to another school. This institution is the WORST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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I just completed my doctoral program in Health Psychology at Walden University. This was my first experience with an online university. My other degrees were earned at traditional schools. Walden's standards were just as rigorous as any traditional university. The program was research intense. Most of my courses required that I research two questions each week using both the course texts and the university library's databases. My weekly papers were 4 -5 pages long. In addition most courses required a 20 - 25 page research paper. My dissertation was a 174 page manuscript that documented my original research into a topic that filled a true gap in the scholarly literature. Like all Walden dissertations it has social change implications. My instructors were for the most part, excellent. They were supportive, knowledgeable, and engaged. My first statistics instructor helped me overcome my statistics phobia. He was available 7 days a week by telephone to students. He also severed as the methods member on my dissertation committee and has now welcomed me as a friend and colleague. My dissertation chair was my instructor for the first class I took at Walden. She became my mentor and was very supportive throughout my program. She has also welcomed me as a friend and colleague and we plan on continuing our work together.

I was welcomed and supported by administrators as well. Dr. DeZolt, the Provost of Walden. She helped me by finding an archival database to use for my dissertation. Yes, Walden is a very large university. But, in my experience, if you work hard and reach out to people, they are very responsive. If you expect to have the same experience you had in a traditional university, i.e. lectures, people giving you the information, etc. you will be very disappointed. However, if you are willing to take responsibility for your own education and take advantage of all of the resources Walden has to offer, you will succeed.

I really enjoyed my experience at Walden University. I was very self-motivated. Very proactive. And very open to the experience. And now, as of last Monday, I have a Ph.D.

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(11)

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Write a brief At first, I was very skeptical about online classes. But Walden University has changed my mind. I was not accepted at the UNC system for my MPA due to the fact I did not score 1100 points on the GRE. I did not want to waste time and did my little research on online universities. After careful consideration, I decided to go with Walden.
My first and second quarters were very hard. APA style along with lots of reading, I was overwhelmed. However, when I understood that it takes discipline and hard work to earn a degree; I was into it. Hard work is nothing when you are a veteran of the US Armed Forces.
Two years after, I completed the program with some kind of personal satisfaction. I am taking a little break right now before going for the PhD program. What I can only say is: higher education is not for everyone!

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(6)

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Walden is not for every student. Yes, they will accept almost anyone into their PhD programs but most will not make it out with a Doctorate. The graduation rate is 2.7%. Walden makes a great deal of money off students who want to take a shot at achieving their dreams of a Phd; however, most students soon realize that this is not an easy program. At this point many students get frustrated that they have made a major investment and will not reach their goal. Should Walden do a better job screening PhD candidates; thus, avoiding such a high dropout rate… perhaps. But Walden is a business, and revenue comes from student enrollment.
Bottom line… Walden will give almost anyone the opportunity to obtain their PhD, but if you can’t cut it… don’t start complaining about the work load, not enough support, or the caliber of instructors. Remember, Walden offers a “student centric” model. This mean the student has to take control of their destiny.
One final comment; when I started the PhD program and attending my first residency I was shocked at the caliber of students I met (not in a positive way). I was mostly disappointed and started second guessing the legitimacy of the program. However, once I started taking classes like Advance Statistics the truth came out. We started with 47 students in the class and finished with 13. Never forget that individual capability and intellect is the final filter.
I’m 4 month s out from becoming one of the 2.8%, and I can tell everyone who is reading this comment… anyone who completes the Walden PhD program KNOWS how to conduct research.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

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(8)

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I am in the last year of the doctoral program in education and glad I selected Walden. The experience has been so enriching and most of the instructors fabulous. What so many of the others have said before is true; this is not a program for those who are not willing to put in the work because Walden gives you nothing you have to earn it! I did a BA and a Masters at CSUDH and this program is just as rigorous. WALDEN is the best! (-:

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(1)

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I have spent the last nearly 6 years trying to complete an Ed.D. in Teaching Leadership at Walden. The classes were great, I learned a lot, the teachers were helpful, and the other students in the cohort were wonderful. However, eventually you have to being the paper. Your success in this depends almost entirely on who you get as a committe chairman. My first one was terrible, after a year I complained to the department chair that she had yet to read my first chapter. She finally read my chapter, but left the program without any notice a couple of tri-mesters later. I was assigned a different chairperson, but the requirements had changed, so I had to change my project. I have had to change it an additional time, so I have started from the beginning 3 times. There is not a tremendous amount of support, financial aid isn't much help. Some people DO graduate, but they are few and far between. We all tend to quit out of frustration. Don't try this program at this school.

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(7)

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The worst level of education available. I had an easier time with mail in schools. I am an A student the assignments were not the problem. THEIR entire system for financing was less than acceptable. From the Busar's office to the Financial Aid office. They have no communication between offices and I withdrew after the first two bogus classes. DONT ignore the negative feedback as I did. I thought oh it will be ok. It wasn't. It's a joke.

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