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University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

uopeople.edu

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Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#201

Post by yellowapple »

uopeoplestudent wrote: post #30
TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out Western Governors University, it's self-paced.

I'll just add that many UoPeople students in the US transfer to WGU to complete their bachelor's degree. (WGU is regionally accredited, so it carried more weight. And it accepts UoPeople credits.)

That's good to know. I applied for WGU a few years back but they didn't accept my application (not sure if it's because of my poor grades from an early attempt at community college a few years before that or if I bombed the application essay - or both). If UoPeople's a bit more lenient about my past mistakes, then it seems like UoPeople→WGU would be a viable approach. Or maybe I should just re-apply to WGU?

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#202

Post by chrisseaton »

Nginx487 wrote: post #135
reidjs wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The catch is your degree will be from “University of the People” which will send red flags to hiring managers who check. Hopefully one day this will be a normal thing, but it’s questionable whether your degree will signal what you want it to signal.

Graduates work in FAANG companies though, probably hiring managers comsider it trustworthy enough. Btw, what red flags do you mean?

> Btw, what red flags do you mean?

It looks like a lesser education. And it further makes it look like there’s something strange about you that made you pick it.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#204

Post by yellowapple »

BossingAround wrote: post #189
coronadisaster wrote: post #28

They sure ask for a lot of information for signing up, which make me think that it is not free.

You pay I believe ~60USD signing up fee and then 100USD for each class (or 200USD for each graduate class). It's tuition free, not free.

Is that $100/$200 not "tuition"? I mean, it's cheap tuition, but it seems like it's tuition nonetheless.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#205

Post by chrisseaton »

fortran77 wrote: post #56

I looked at their CS degree. Just one semester of Calculus?

> I looked at their CS degree. Just one semester of Calculus?

I have a reputable masters and PhD in CS and don’t recall ever studying a ‘calculus course’, except lambda and pi calculus.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#206

Post by jabits »

BeetleB wrote: post #193
nopinsight wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which field(s) of engineering do you talk about? What are the highest level(s) of promotion the persons who don't write well reach and continue to work in? I would think that writing well is at least a requirement for promotion into a technical leadership role (above senior individual contributors). By writing well, I don't mean in the style of journalists or novelists. Rather, writing clearly and concisely to effect…

> Which field(s) of engineering do you talk about? What are the highest level(s) of promotion the persons who don't write well reach and continue to work in? Electrical, computer, and SW. I'm not saying communicating well is not needed. I'm saying writing well is not needed. What I've seen: A good presentation (including PPT skills) is much more valued than writing. Decisions are usually made because of them, not bec…

You must be joking, or else work with very low caliber people. I don’t consider people for positions who cannot write well, and certainly know that most successful people do write well. Really, can you take a poorly written engineering spec or RFP seriously?

Just in case you are serious, counterpoint for others who may not know, all forms of communication are very important to succeed and move up.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#207

Post by paulmooreparks »

This is nitpicky, I'll admit, but I consider it a canary in the coalmine.

On the MBA admission requirements page (https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/ba/degrees/master-of-busin...):

"As an accredited University, UoPeople has a number of requirements for all potential applicants, to help maintain a strong, intellectual student body. [...] In addition, applicants need to have:

" * Be able to demonstrate undergraduate degree completion

" * Have English proficiency

" * A minimum of two years work experience

" * One reference (from an employer/lecturer etc.)"

The phrasing of the first two bullet points doesn't agree with the preceding sentence. That's a poor example of English proficiency.

If they don't proofread and correct their own admissions page, I'm frankly not too optimistic about the rest of the university.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#208

Post by Broken_Hippo »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #119
khawkins wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is under the assumption that you see college is a program of self-betterment and not busy work for receiving a degree that says you can have a middle-class job. It feels like even the universities themselves see it as the latter these days.

But if you can't do the middle-class job because you can't write, the piece of paper will only get you so far. It may get you an entry-level job, but you probably won't get much in the way of promotions. So even from that perspective, plagiarism isn't helpful.

Most of the jobs don't require you to be able to write well at all - especially not university level writing. Really, all most folks need is the ability to communicate effectively in person or over email. You might - just might - be required to write a letter. Of course, these skills are ones that a store manager at any random retail or dining establishment needs too, and some of these 'middle class' jobs require nothing much at all (if it is a factory that pays well enough).

Besides, plagiarism isn't really about writing. You can lump it into two categories: Cheating, which isn't most folks' intention, and more importantly, giving someone credit for an idea. This last one is something folks need to do in some professions. Don't take an employee's idea and call it your own, same for something your boss has you pass along. Don't pretend something is your own idea when it was implemented at a job you had years ago. This version of plagiarism is vastly more important than writing skills (which can be taught without needing to address plagiarism).

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#209

Post by chw9e »

pugio wrote: post #172
d0gbread wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you willing to share more about what you're working on? It sounds interesting. One language app I tried for a few minutes was a VR app that put you, for example, on a train, and you had to have a relevant conversation. It was cool, not sure how effective because the GearVR I used at the time made me sick too quickly.

(Disclaimer: Most of what I say here has caveats and qualifications – hard to capture full nuance in a comment's space.) One of the distinguishing features of computers is easy simulation. Humans learn well by direct, tight, interaction with a system – poking at a thing to see how it works. Tight feedback loops are how we quickly build intuitions. Explorable Explanations [0] are a great extant example of what I mean,…

I'm 100% on board with these ideas, and I've also been following a lot of these ideas for a while. I'd like to learn more about the startup if possible, my email is in my profile if you don't want to post here.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#210

Post by novok »

BeetleB wrote: post #197
azinman2 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Writing and communication skills are absolutely necessary for career growth. The power of persuasion is directly linked to the ability to communicate your ideas well.

> Writing and communication skills are absolutely necessary for career growth. The power of persuasion is directly linked to the ability to communicate your ideas well. I've updated my original comment to reflect that I was referring to writing and not general communications in general (although I wrote it more broadly). I've seen people really value presentation skills and PPT. Persuasion on 1:1 and via presentation…

At large tech co that pays well, writing is very important for career progression:

1. You often have to write design docs to communicate what you are making and gather feedback. These documents if badly written won't be as well received.

2. At many companies, you have a million things to work on, so in a way, you get to choose who you work with at some level. If someone communicates badly to the point of annoyance, it will take something special for you to decide to work with them or not.

3. To convince execs and managers to approve your project ideas, you often have to write a document explaining your idea. If it's badly written, the exec isn't going to be as interested in it.

4. To get fame as an engineer, you often should write compelling blog articles. Badly written blogs tend not to be read.

5. Good docs make popular libraries, popular libraries get attention.

Which leads to:

6. Promotion is often done by a committee of people who don't know your work, and all they are going to do is review what you wrote. And promo is often based on leadership of projects. And how do you become the leader of projects? You write compelling documents.

Bad writing is not a good sign. It's like saying, at my company, we don't write tests and we don't have alerting & monitoring on our servers.

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