First off, thanks to all for the congratulations and kind words.
I thought I would offer up some feedback on my experience with CCU in order to help anyone furthering their education. I never thought that I would ever have a Masters degree, thanks to information found on this forum, Shotojuku's example, and a lot of encouragement...I did it. I feel it only fitting that I continue the tradition and post my feedback that will hopefully light the way for someone else, much the way it was lit for me.
CCU is California Coast University; they are located in Santa Anna and are nationally accredited. They offer several Master degrees...see the following link for detailed info on the programs and the school itself:
California Coast University - Accredited Distance Learning Degree Programs
I signed up with them on June 15th of 2007 and completed the coursework for MBA HRM on Dec 15th 2007.
The course is set up so that you can proceed at your own pace. You have to first buy all the textbooks. I paid $120 for 9 used text books via Amazon and rented the remaining four from CCU; it cost $25 per book for a three-month rental and you only pay shipping for the return.
I signed up for 3 courses at a time and worked on them 12 hours a day when I was off and as much as I could when I had to work; I seriously invested all of my time into this degree.
The courses are set up in this manner: CCU will e-mail you a study guide which outlines the material in the book and contains four 25 question unit exams; each one is 20% of your score for the course. Miss more than two questions and you'll get a B; more than five is a C. After you submit, and pass, all four unit tests, you have to have the 100 question final sent to a proctor. The proctor can be anyone who is not a family member; I used a co-worker. These can now be sent electronically to speed up the process. After you take the final you have to fax it back; I usually got my score via e-mail within 12-36 hours, they grade the finals everyday around 10:30 in the morning. Before the course is considered complete, you must also write 3 essays; you usually have 5 questions to choose from that must be thoroughly answered. These essays are pass/fail and must be graded before you receive credit for the course.
You can take 10 courses and write a thesis, or take 13 courses and not write one; keep in mind you'll still be writing the equivalent of a thesis anyways as 39 essays add up.
The last item to add is that if you can show, in writing, that you have prior experience in a subject, you can challenge the course (up to 3 total). I wrote a six-page academic resume, complete with an essay on why I thought I was worthy of challenging the courses, and was approved for all three; this saved me having to write nine essays & complete four unit exams as all I had to do was take the final.
Now, here's the biggest issue I had with the course.....these are open book tests....sounds really easy doesn't it....how can you fail with an open book, untimed test...right?
HA, not so fast there slick! I spent 12-18 hours PER FINAL in the books digging for answers; it was common to spend over an hour on a single question. These are not black and white questions/answers, they consist of applying principles and theories into a scenario and choosing the right answer (many of which had almost identical answers). I read each textbook, cover to cover, at least three times. It is a very clever way of teaching the material as you first have to read the chapter, learn the principles, then be able to apply the knowledge...not an easy thing to do on one's own. I wanted to score well on each test and did not stop unless I found the answer....to the best of my ability anyways. Even after all of this effort, there were still times I feared I would fail a test. Hands down, they were the most difficult tests I've ever seen, ECE tests were a joke compared to these; some nights I was a raving madman and just had to stop for the night.:eek: I finally finished with 10 A’s and 2 B’s for a GPA of 3.87.
The school and staff of CCU were very friendly, ALWAYS answered my calls and questions the first time; they were a joy to work with. There was a small registration fee but no outrageous Excelsior “graduation fees”...an added plus is a diploma that you won’t be ashamed to display.
The courses cost $630 ($210 an hour); the cost is the same if you challenge the course or not. If you fail the challenge, you don’t pay again, you just take the course as normal; I recommend trying to challenge all three if you can come up with some sort of justification (experience, courses, training classes, prior degree). Military members can take advantage of TA paying for this; I recommend you start the program in the middle of the year because you’ll soon use up your $4,500 cap...it renews itself on Oct 1st though
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Let me know if anyone has any further question and I’ll do my best to answer them. I’m not a spokesperson for CCU, nor do I get anything out of this other than the pleasure of helping others better themselves. Lee
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