Swap S.
Yelp
Liberty University has a few good qualities, like their admission process and enrollment. Most of the people you speak to on the phone are polite and courteous. If you decide to take their 8-week online courses, be warned they are rigorous. As expected, you are condensing 16 weeks into 8, so double the normal weekly workload (reading, assignments, etc.). However, doing so allows you to focus on one class subject at a time per 8 weeks. Unfortunately, their summer semester overlaps the two 8-week sessions.
My thoughts:
**Curriculum (Computer Science, Management and Leadership) **
Does not simulate real world scenarios. Graded assignments do not make good use of industry standards and they tend to be unrelated "busy" work in most cases. The course material didn't align with the assignments.
Graduate level is heavy paper writing with rigid requirements on the format of the paper (APA, MLA), peer reviewed sources, and utilizing their online library. The grading rubric is mostly geared to those items. If you stray from that, plan to receive a bad grade. One bad grade can change your overall course grade drastically.
The Christian perspective is not integrated into the material well in my opinion. They don't show you how what you are learning in your material aligns with Biblical lessons, it is more like students have to go research it to figure that out. All of your courses will feel like you have additional biblical assignments alongside the course material. And there is a lot of research!
**Professors/Staff**
Many of the professors do not appear to have actual experience in the subject they are teaching. Undergraduate professors were responsive and helpful. Out of the two graduate professors I had, one was completely uninvolved, non-responsive to emails and seemed to be too busy with their "day jobs" to be bothered with my questions related to assignments. Many professors have other jobs, and that is perfectly fine. It becomes a problem when you are unable to fulfill your job duties. Professors have 36 hours to reply to student emails. I have had to reach out to other resources at LU to get assistance, and most of them told me to talk to my professor.
** Policies **
Once you complete the first assignment (requirements checklist) you are unable to back out of a class without financial and academic penalty -- and trust me, it is expensive. Sometimes life happens, and LU is very strict on this policy.
If you switch your major/degree program - any courses you took at that same level (i.e.: Undergraduate or graduate) count toward your overall GPA for the new program, regardless of whether it is needed for your program or not. This might be common in other colleges, just pointing it out.
** Personal Perspective **
I feel I wasted my money (I paid out of pocket), as the courses I took did not add to my knowledge base. In fact, many times I felt like I was teaching the instructor and peers. I did not learn anything new. The courses/degree I received did not help me in my career advancement. I left feeling "cheated" like a bait and switch. Be cautious on how you proceed.