University of Maryland University College

Apparently UMUC has a thing for sending applicants to collections. I did not even finish my application, and they sent several notices demanding payment. As a potential customer, I was appalled they would act as such, so I decided not to attend. Pretty soon afterward, I received a collection notice. I couldn’t believe it. First off, they aren’t even a real school, so they aren’t warranted in demanding a $ 50 application fee. Second of all, I have filled out other college applications and not paid the fee when I decided not to attend. NONE sent out a collecting notice; they just didn’t process the application. You would think this would be common sense. UMUC is run by scam artists. DON’T APPLY!

I’m surprised by a lot of these negative reviews. UMUC offers online classes — students shouldn’t expect a ton of interaction with their professor. I have been enrolled for over a year and even before starting it was understood that this wasn’t going to be the same as a face-​to-​face experience. Online is not 100% self-​taught, but it does require a LOT more effort on the student’s behalf.
I graduated from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree, so I know what an «elite» school learning environment is like as Suz L has stated. You earn the grades you deserve — if you want higher grades, put in more effort. To me, these courses are WAY easier than when I was at JMU. If you read the material, participate in discussions, and turn your assignments in there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be earning an A in every single class like I have.
Don’t let negative reviews from others affect your opportunity to earn your degree online. This experience is entirely what you make of it, so if you really want something and work hard you will succeed!

It is almost like the university (using the term lightly) does not want to enroll students. I have had nothing but push back for getting enrolled in classes since I have tried to attend again. Their laziness in processing anything has already cost me the ability to enroll in courses for the first part of the Fall Semester. Their excuse? I’m applying for a second bachelors so they need the transcript from my first bachelors before I can enroll. They already have my transcripts from my Master’s degree and my bachelor’s transcript is on the way, but the logic doesn’t seem to click for them. THE WORST SCHOOL I HAVE EVER WORKED WITH IN MY CAREER!

Interesting reviews from other people that I don’t think are fair or cover the entire UMUC experience. After high school college wasn’t an option for various reasons. Once I started working better full time positions and earning a decent salary, I enrolled at a community college and after years I was not making any progress. A single mother having to ‘attend’ classes? I was constantly dropping classes mid semester because of personal conflicts. I needed a miracle and UMUC kept coming up in conversations and ads. So, I finally gave them a shot.
I was originally a little upset that only 9 of my credits from a Maryland CC transferred until I realized how the shorter online sessions helped me tremendously!!! The 8-​weeks sessions had me knocking out classes back to back. If i felt a course was too hard, i would take it alone and still get 3 – 4 more classes done that semester. Financial aid set me back horribly Spring my first year… I was dropped from everything due to a delay in financial aid awards and not being prepared to pay out of pocket. I don’t fault them for that because apparently this is a normal issue at any college. Your tuition is your responsibility until aid kicks in! With my lesson learned, I did payment plans and avidly searched for scholarships. Used tuition reimbursement with my job and waited on a refund (that always came in when the struggle was too real). Since I am freaking awesome, I get more grade based awards than I ever imagined. Financial aid redeemed themselves a little there.
Less than four years from beginning in Fall 2012, even with a full semester out due to an aid hiccup, I am set to graduate Summer 2016. My degree never seemed to be a reality while working a full time, part time and raising three active children until I switched to UMUC.
Yes, some professors are assholes, but from my experience as long as you follow the syllabus which is standard for each class and department there won’t be any issues. I found it amusing how people barely gave the university a shot… It seems to be more of a personal conflict with their expectations.
The school has been great for me. Challenging. Rewarding. Most importantly, successful. I am very pleased and look forward to going straight into the MBA program Fall 2016. Even excited about a doctorate degree. Four years ago this wasn’t a reality for me.

I have taken classes at UMUC for nearly a year and have had poor experiences with nearly all of the professors. The professors take on too much work, as they are often teaching at multiple other institutions. I’ve had many unanswered emails and questions which have resulted in a negative affect on my grade.
The teachers give little to no feedback on assignments to let you know whether or not you performed the task correctly. The only assignment that should be given with zero feedback is a perfect grade. They pretty much just log in once a week to put a check in the box and dole out grades. Other than that, they’re utterly uninvolved.
It feels like the university hires teachers just to have a staff. They’re not concerned with how much the professor already has on their plate which would effect their level of dedication to the students they’re teaching.
The only nice thing is that you can easily get a hold of student advisors when you need to. Though they’re only helpful about half the time.

I love UMUC also! I graduated with an A.S. in Business and a B.S. in Management (May 2004). I never had problems with staff or teachers, ever. This is not the only university I’ve gone to either, teachers are the same everywhere, personality issues and clashes are going to happen.
Teachers I’ve dealt with at UMUC are intelligent people, I learned a lot in the classroom and in the online classes. Once, I took an online Econ class and dreaded the day it started. The teacher was so helpful and interesting I took the next Econ class and got an «A». This school, for me, is about getting the not so interested or qualified student up to speed and earn, really earn, a great degree. Because of these teachers I’m almost ready to start a graduate program. I’ve been promoted to a management position and I feel good that I accomplished the hard work. All the negative feedback I’ve seen here is probably true but it was not that way for me. This is not a school where you go and get hand fed, you have to take care of your own business and study hard.

I love UMUC! I graduated with my BS in Cyber Security in 2013 and then went on to pursue my Masters at a different university. I had a lot of issues with my new school (i.e. being signed up for classes without my knowledge, non-​responsive instructors).
I have never had a problem with UMUC’s education system or customer service and when I found out that they compete in the Cyber Olympics, I definitely wanted to come back. I ended up returning to UMUC. Also, they have a lot of education grants for military, women, minorities, other groups and those who are able to maintain good grades (which isn’t hard if you apply yourself).
I am so happy to be back at my school. I’m never leaving again! Honestly, after I graduate, I’ll probably seek a career at UMUC.

Wasn’t too pleased with the school so I withdrew from the class after a week.

I am not sure if UMUC admissions or administrators read these reviews, but if they happen across this page — message me and I will be happy to further share what my experience was like trying to enroll as a graduate student at your institution.
For those of you reading this and not affiliated with UMUC and maybe thinking or enrolling, try getting correct and timely information from anyone in Admissions before spending your money on application fees and tuition.
There are far too many options for customer service to be this poor.

This school and all of its departments are run by complete imbeciles. Financial aid will take over a year to process because they requested different documentation ever so often. They have greatly inconvenienced my life. I have been dropped at least 3 or 4 times due to their unprofessionalism. I called the financial aid department and they can’t explain to me why they request this information last minute. Most of the customer service reps are not knowledgeable and their explanations sound scripted. This is my life. I was supposed to graduate next year but now it looks like another 2 or 3 and I solely blame it on this school. If UMUC was a person I’d slap it across its face for all the BS they put us all through.

I have been enrolled in umuc for almost a year and their administration is terrible. I had a financial aid hold on my account which is supposed to mean that your classes don’t get dropped. My classes have been dropped twice with no warning whatsoever. Granted I have not yet started the classes but still, they should have given me some kind of warning. I’ve also had other administrative difficulties and would warn anyone to go somewhere else.

Be cautious! If you owe anything and try to work with them they will request a ridiculous payment plan ($ 700 a month for mine!) Then when you request a smaller plan they ignore you, send you to state collections (which instantly add 17%) then contact you back days later after doing so and say it’s too late to work out a plan.

I took one distance class with UMUC while I was overseas back in November 2012. The class experience itself was good, but that’s about the extent of it. On February 4^th I applied as a transfer student to another college, and I requested UMUC send my transcript as apart of the application process. On February 18^th, my application status reflected that my transcript did not make it to UAB yet so I gave UMUC a call and was told «Due to the bad weather, we didn’t get a chance to send it. We’re sending it now». The transcript wasn’t delayed… it was NOT SENT at all until I gave them a call and nudged them along. It’s now February 24^th, and the transcript still hasn’t arrived despite being told 7 days ago it’d be there in 2 – 3 days.
This is the second school in less than a year I’ve had problems with a UMUC transcript being successfully sent. It’s been an aggravating and stressful experience merely completing an application and updating other college transcripts.

I am a current student at UMUC in the MSM Nonprofit Management program. I have taken both online only and hybrid classes and I can say that without UMUC earning a graduate degree for me right now would be impossible. The class subjects have been relevant, timely, and updated; the recent update to LEO from WebTycho proves to be a drastically improved experience.
Furthermore, due to the amazing foresight and collaboration of the University System of Maryland, the Universities at Shady Grove location provides amazing opportunities for collaboration in one convenient location.

Great school, especially for someone with a job and other responsibilities. The class schedules are great and they offer a variety of online classes.
The professor and advisors are all there to help you. The financial aid staff are also great.

Just graduated with a B.S. in Criminal Justice/​minor in Gender Studies. I enjoyed my time at UMUC, for the most part; most of the classes weren’t that challenging for me (a couple of them, however, were big surprises and you want to watch out for those), though. Tuition wasn’t any more for me than other colleges; what was important here was the ability to study full-​time while also working full-​time. This place did it for me. No problem.
Where the real handicap is for UMUC is the administrative end. The financial aid department is, in a word, a fiasco. Completely disorganized and can’t seem to get things right. I ended up having to pay them 500 dollars because they screwed up on my financial aid — only to get a grant AFTER I graduated. What the eff?
Graduation Services was a complete screw-​up. I applied to get my last name changed because I’d gotten married — I did it as SOON as it happened! — and they couldn’t even get that right. Guess who graduated under her maiden name? If you say «this girl», you win a year’s supply of Rice-​a-​Roni.
Great school, but a horrible administration. You’ll get an education, but you’ll also get a crap-​ton of stress to go along with it.

Helped me out a lot!
Attending here the last summer of my undergrad, made the difference between me graduating that year or having to go back to my full time undergraduate institution the following spring. This school really came through for me when I didn’t do so well in a few classes during my undergrad. Most of the summer courses matched the courses of my full time undergraduate institution (
), so there wasn’t any problem with the credits earned from UMUC transferring over. All of my professors were very empathetic and worked closely with students to make sure they understood the lessons and concepts being taught. The variety of programs and class types they have are very impressive and convenient for all types of students. Because of the credits I gained from UMUC, I was able to graduate that summer and go straight to grad school in the fall! Thank you UMUC!

The University is so-​so. I completed two online courses at UMUC to expedite my college experience at another school. Customer service was lacking. Once enrolled I had trouble getting answers about transferring courses. Prior to my admission I specifically asked a counselor if courses were 100 percent online– he said yes. I found out after I started taking classes I needed to find a proctor to administer my exams and pay the proctors fee.
Of the two courses I took one was good, the other was pretty bad. The first professor was hands on and added a lot to our discussions. The other wasn’t so good great. He posted material and dissapeared. Also, their leaning system was difficult to use. A number of bugs and discussions were hard to follow. I’m partial to blackboard.

I have to admit I’m a huge fan of UMUC — I take the on line courses and have found all but one professor really engaged and dedicated to the success of the students. Where the univ. loses a star is with the on line book store — I have been able to find the same books significantly cheaper elsewhere.