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... Read More 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 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... Read More 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. 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... Read More 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 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.