Plymouth State University

I work full-time and wanted a master's degree that covered business, management, and marketing so Plymouth's online MBA seemed like a great fit. My first courses were awesome. The instructors were hands on, they challenged me to think critically about how the course content is applicable to my career, and made the online experience interactive. B. B. is particularly impressive. She's by far the best online instructor I've ever encountered. These instructors set the standard for my experience; however... Read More I learned that their approach to online teaching is rare at Plymouth. Tough lesson to learn when you're 30% through your program. The rest of my instructors were phoning it in. Discussion boards were busy work and featured one dimensional topics (and therefore difficult to actually discuss). They didn't make efforts to show the real-life application of these topics. For example, in operations management, nearly every example centered on manufacturing. Operations management is valuable in any field, so this was disappointing. The Business Law course was interesting and the instructor was brief and to the point with feedback/instruction, but offered compelling discussion points (weren't always relevant to the actual workforce, but interesting topics nonetheless). The capstone was also interesting, but again, it didn't strive to build connections between your career and the course content, so it was a missed opportunity. If you want an MBA program that will help you create a vision for your professional development and help make a difference in your career starting from day 1, avoid PSU. If you want an MBA to check off the box on your to-do list, it's not a bad choice.

While some professors were helpful in the CAGS program, many gave minimal feedback with limited opportunity to actually learn. I felt as though the value of the education was very poor at many points throughout the program, particularly with online courses. Professors posted copious reading materials with somewhat relevant themes and rarely pushed online discussion forums into a productive dialogue. Submitted papers took 2+ weeks to get back and the comments related to the formatting, not the content... Read More itself. Other disappointing aspects of the program were the inconsistencies in the rigor of the courses, inaccurate syllabi (including incorrect meeting dates and times), outdated educational software (Moodle) which hindered the learning process, and lack of attention to individuals paying significant money to attend the school. Overall, I had a poor experience with the CAGS program and would recommend others to look elsewhere. Plymouths CAGS program is a money-making scheme for the university since most school districts pay for their employees courses. This allows teachers to obtain credits for minimal work and at no cost to them, which lowers the academic standards of the classes.