Kansas State University

Kansas State University Academic Advising Graduate Certificate: I completed this 15 credit program online from Jan 2015 - Dec 2015. I was already working in higher education in registration and enrollments but wanted to advance my career and move into... Read More academic advising. Because my educational journey for both my bachelors and masters had not yet included academic advising or education related classes, I felt this Kstate program would be ideal to provide me with the right concentration of knowledge to be an excellent academic advisor. I also felt that this program combined with my education and employment history would make my resume stand out over other candidates applying for academic advisor positionsand it did as I did get an academic advising position while completing my first term of classes! Although I am no longer employed as an academic advisor (military life), I still work in an advisor capacity but now for a federal organization. The program itself is a lot of work. I took it as a 2-1-2 format. Two classes in the spring, one class in the summer and two classes in the fall. With all classes online, you have to schedule dedicated time for all the readings, time to craft written responses to instructors lessons and time to craft responses to classmate responses. It is a challenge when some classes have more activities than just posting online material. For example, EDCEP 829 - Learning Principles & EDCEP 851 - Multicultural Aspects of Academic Advising have very interesting projects in additional to normal online postings. EDCEP 829 had lot of weekly projects that added up to a personal learning portfolio and EDCEP 851 had a fun (and stressful) group project to create a syllabus from an advising perspective. With so much of the program materials coming from NACADA I was surprised that there werent more opportunities in the program to partner up with the organization. It is sometimes difficult to feel included in an educational community when you are an online student and this would have been a nice touch. I probably could have sought this out on my own, but I was close to my limit with school, work and family needs. I paid for this program out of pocket and setup a payment plan each term to make the program costs fit into my monthly budget.

K-State offers quality education with a rigorous curriculum that prepared me for the job market. I was employed immediately after completing my degree and have become a very resourceful individual. The advising and mentorship l received from my department... Read More instructors was very specific to what l was seeking. I would recommend anyone to k-state any day.