Bellevue University

I went to school here because they are partnered with my organization (My company pays a portion and BU pays a portion) so I basically earned my degree for free. BU partners with many organizations, and if you work for an organization that is partnered with them, I highly recommend going here. Going to school online has a lot of advantages for me. If you are under-utilized at work and have access to a computer, self-motivated, and can learn things on your own, and have your organization pay for your... Read More school like I did, I highly recommend a school like this.

I have just recently completed my BA in Behavioral Science at Bellevue University. My experience in the program has been excellent. All of my professors were individuals that are actively working in the field and I learned a lot from them. Communication was excellent. If I ever had a question, they would respond quickly and efficiently. In my review, I would like to address some of the negative comments that I would like to address from my personal experience. The first is the course load and working.... Read More I am a mother of 2 children (2 and 6), work full-time, and take my children to their activities a few nights a week. The course load was manageable. My typical school workload consisted of 2 assignments (one 5 to 6 paragraphs and an APA paper 2-8 pages) and two discussions. There is a benefit to having all 6 weeks open in your courses. You can get ahead. My laptop became my handbag, I took it everywhere and took advantage of every opportunity to work ahead, which helped a lot. I would work on papers in the car during my daughter's cheerleading practice and read my textbook during my lunch at work. I learned a lot from my earlier college experience, procrastination will make things much harder. The second negative comment that I see is in the discussions. You do have to respond to at least 2 of your classmates in the discussions. Sometimes this can be difficult because some of your classmates do not follow the rules and give crappy responses to the discussions. I found this to be frustrating at times, however, you can usually find classmates that have decent responses to the topics. If you focus on the content of your response and what you learned from the topic, you will be fine. Third, I see that some people complain about the courses themselves and the lack of knowledge they gained. I can't speak for other majors, but your textbooks are incredibly valuable in the Behavioral Science program. As an individual who took my classes entirely online, I had to read the assigned reading to be successful in the program. Half of the things that you learn come from reading the textbook and the other from the course material on Blackboard, which by the way is really user-friendly. Fourth, The Kirkpatrick Series. I have to admit that I was not excited to take this class in the beginning, but I learned a lot from the class. The class requires you to volunteer 21 hours and complete a learning service project and PowerPoint presentation. They are pretty open to many different types of volunteer work. The key to success in this class is to read the directions and follow them precisely or you will get points off on your work. The biggest is the 3+1 rule, which is that you have to cite 3 pieces of work from the current weeks reading and 1 from the following week. Lastly, financial aid. I did have one issue that I was not happy with. This past September there was a glitch in their system and it sent refund checks to students that were not supposed to go out. I received one for 2700 dollars. They never contacted students until weeks later and then they wanted the money back. I was lucky enough that I had another refund check coming in November and was able to pay the money back, but for other students, that error ( which I heard happened more than once for some students) was devastating because they didn't have the money to pay it back. Other than that, my experience was great!

I completed my MS in Clinical Counseling (recently changed to Clinical Mental Health Counseling to align with CACREP accreditation requirements) from Bellevue University. When I enrolled, Bellevue University's counseling program had recently received CACREP accreditation (a very important accreditation because more states are requiring CACREP accreditation program graduates for licensure). There are two residency requirements for this degree, and there are hotels nearby for those traveling by plane--residencies... Read More are a requirement, and if you cannot guarantee traveling to Bellevue two different times, you will not earn the degree. The overall majority of the faculty members are great and very helpful. The professors do want the students to succeed in the program; however, many of the assignments for the MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Bellevue University can be very strenuous at times. My overall GPA was very high, but I studied every day and worked very hard on every assignment in every class. The program requires a minimum of a 3.0 GPA to continue in the program. With the program being CACREP accredited, there are "assessment probes" for each course, and that means a student must receive a minimum of an 80% on the assessment probes to pass the course. I know of some students who failed assessment probes and had to repeat the courses. The MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Bellevue University is not an easy degree to earn. I have read reviews where some claim Bellevue University is a "diploma mill." While I cannot comment on their undergraduate programs or other graduate programs, I will say my MS in Clinical Counseling from Bellevue University was not an easy degree to earn. I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into my assignments, and there were times I wanted to give up, but I succeeded! If being a counselor is your dream, I would recommend Bellevue University's Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. If being a counselor is not your dream and you want an "easy graduate degree," the counseling profession and Bellevue University's MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling is not for you. I also want to mention Bellevue University has its Writing Center for all students, and the Writing Center will help you with your essay assignments (e.g., proofreading, continuity, etc.) if you schedule an appointment. My student coach (Bellevue changed the title for their advisors) was top-notch and has been with the university for many years and knows the requirements for the MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling very well. My student coach literally coached me and supported me every step of the way. I highly recommend this program and I've received compliments from seasoned counselors for knowing as much as I do with being provisionally licensed (working under supervision to achieve the required hours for full licensure), and although I read books on counseling and attend educational workshops and seminars for certifications, I could not have done it without the education I received from Bellevue University.

This is an excellent university, if you can study hard, and put discipline in your studies. This is for you! Just make a good research your own if the major you choose is really the one you want to study and it would open doors in the labor market, and also the necessary experience, or licenses you may need after for bringing your CAREER in full SUCCESS!. ALSO DO NOT BELIEVE, all comments made in this post because the advisors are amazing. There are some people making comments out of no sense and... Read More with bad faith, and obviously, these are all misleading comments.

Initially I liked the program offering, and it was easy to get in to this 'University'. I'm in one of their cohort programs and I will say it's ridiculous. You have to go in and make silly small talk on their blackboard, on each assignment, which equates to about 3 assignments per week. The funny thing is, as I read the comments from other students, it occurs to me some of my 'cohorts' have zero writing skills, which means anyone can attend this school, even if your writing level is that of a junior... Read More high school student. The masters that I earn will always be embarrassing to me personally because I will assume others will know the same thing regarding the caliber of students who attend. The financial aid department literally operates as though this is a new school and they have no idea what they are doing. When I complained, I was told that they have had high turnover and people don't understand what they are doing. Why do they have high turnover? Who is in charge of training these people? Bruin...that's another joke. The websites used aren't user friendly and neither are the people who work in that department. If you are lucky, you will get someone who is helpful. If you have options, do not attend this school. I will actively tell people this isn't the school for them. That's unfortunate.

Not only did this school juggle me throughout 3 different advisors, these student advisors let me take my capstone, told me I was gradating, then after I finished my capstone, told me I still had 2 semesters of classes to take. Sounds like a nightmare right? "Nightmare" could sum up my time at Bellevue well. The classes are mediocre at best. I learned everything I know about Graphic Design through YouTube videos. These teachers did not understand fundamentals of design nor did they know how to teach... Read More it. On top of that, I was insulted and harassed multiple times by one of my web design teachers. When reported, NOTHING was done. I absolutely suggest not going here and spending your money elsewhere. Horrible and useless experience. What a waste of my time. I wish I could get it back.

This university has been nothing short of a disappointment in the 2 semesters that I have attended here. I resumed my college process through Bellevue University in order to maintain my day job, and attend classes online when it worked for me. My ID card was a literal piece of paper that has already begun to fade with limited, and I mean, limited usage. In addition, financial aid is less than adequate. I got my financial aid package before the summer semester started, and I had used this information... Read More to calculate my balance, what a fool I was. 3 weeks into this semester, I get an email that something has changed in my status. I emailed financial aid and I was told that my Pell Grant gets prorated when nearing completion of a degree (I have 67 credits, thought I would be sticking around for a while), and they said that the balance was not an error. I called financial aid, and they said the change occurred because they have to “guess” how many credits, and what types of classes students will take, so they get students’ hopes up, and rely on lofty reasoning to determine student financial aid eligibility, and expect you to pay any and all extras within a week of being notified. The financial aid advisor also told me that students are sent an automatically generated email when a change is made, and they expect students to call if they see something and have a question. Apparently, we aren’t entitled to an explanation as to why we owe money? I’m still not even sure if that is the correct explanation for my change in financial aid, since in two days I have received two conflicting stories about why my aid was changed. I will be withdrawing from this university immediately, and encourage others to do the same. Like all other universities, this institution is after your money, and will not cease until they have all of it. This really is a shame. I have maintained a 3.8 GPA during my time here, and still do, and I was really hoping to be able to finish my studies and graduate through BU with their online degree programs. I was truly blinded and sold by this university. I’m not saying this out of haste or spite. I am a genuine hard worker, and put a lot of effort, time, and care into my studies, but how can students focus on their studies, if financial aid keeps giving them the runaround? Students get a degree to move up the income ladder, but will they ever get out, if they have so much student debt?

I'm currently taking an all online course load through a degree program/sponsorship between BU and my employer. I actually had completed about 80% of my coursework years ago in a traditional course setting but never finished. I could not pass up the opportunity to complete my degree at a great price. My experience with the school itself has been generally positive. There are some things I would definitely change if I were writing the content. Let me preface this with saying that I fully understand... Read More there is not a ton of options to instruction methods when all your coursework is online. However, I feel the amount of writing in these courses far surpasses anything you will EVER do in real life. I have written more six page papers in less than a year than I did in three years of traditional college plus my last two years of high school...COMBINED. Additionally the duplication in many of the assignments is crazy annoying. For example, class A will be "write a four to six page paper about your experience with a local business". Next in class B, "write a four to six page paper about your experience with (insert specific retailer here". Two courses, two identical assignments, but slightly different wording. It's a tad frustrating. However, with that being said, I feel the experience has been generally great for the method I'm choosing.

The PM courses are actually fun and you will learn alot. The professors are great about balancing real life with the demands of college life. Even the general ed courses were fun. Don't expect much from advisors though if you go online, maybe a phone call a quarter but then again I wasn't in need of alot of help. They did reach out via email and phone about concerns anytime I had one. The only draw back to the school is the Kirkpatrick Series (9 credits) at the end of your program. The mandatory... Read More requirement of the courses doesn't bother me what does is the mandatory Service Learning Project. At 45 years old I am not a boyscout and I'm pretty sure my military career and public safety career shows some civil service/sacrifice for the greater good. Had I have known about this requirement when I enrolled I would have went to another college that also uses the PMI curriculum. Dictating that I must do more volunteer work on top of the 33.7 hours of estimated course time a week and a full time job is ridiculous