Teachers--Why GMU for grad school?

[Anonymous]

This is a bit a vent and a bit of a PSA. I am currently doing a Master's program through GMU, but I have taken 5 grad school classes through UVA (one distance learning, and 3 at the satellite campus in Falls Church). UVA appeared to only have a certificate program in the area I'm pursuing, which was why I chose GMU. However upon further research, I now realize I could have done the the complete Master's through UVA. While I'm too far into my program to make the switch, I wanted to put some observations out there in case it can help other teachers deciding between local programs.

Price: GMU costs at least 1/3 more than UVA for in-service teachers. At first glance, UVA is only a bit cheaper, but they give a much bigger discount for public school teachers.

Summer Options: GMU's summer is an accelerated May/June semester, which is also one of the busiest times of the year for teachers. UVA has tons of 'real' summer classes online and through their satellite campus. My program doesn't offer any summer options that occur in July/August.

Course Work: While both equally rigorous, GMU seems to be more geared toward pre-service teachers in their course work. UVA's classes seem to have more application types of projects, whereas GMU seems to love their 20-25 page research papers.

Field Experience requirements: The program I'm in requires 20 hours of field experience for each class. This is great and important for pre-service teachers. While not a big deal for in-service teachers to simply fill out the log and get a coworker to sign it, it's cited as the reason they can't provide "real" summer classes (July/August-when teachers aren't stressed out and can devote more time to professional learning).

Of course, some of this could be program specific such as the Field Experience requirements or the dearth of summer options. Prices are also different if you are part of a cohort. I just thought I would share this as I know many teachers think GMU is the best local option, and GMU recruits heavily in local school districts.

[Anonymous]

I have Master's from both UVA and GMU. I concur with much of your assessment.

I would like to add a point about the customer/student service perspectives of the two schools since the schools have two very different "schools of thought". One puts up major roadblocks and makes accessibility to the registrar's office or technology services or any services virtually impossible; the other school seems to think that it is their responsibility to be helpful and do whatever it takes to ensure that the student is receiving the help s/he needs.

If you have to call GMU, go to the bathroom first and make sure you have plenty of food and water stockpiled. You also might want to take a Valium. It will be a long hard process and you will not ever get to speak with a real live person until you leave about a kazillion messages and claw your way up through the directory.

UVA oozes customer service. They will go far, far out of their way to make sure that the needs of their students are being met. Whether it is a technology issue or class payment issue, the staff at UVA is accessible and proactive.

I have overpaid once at each school. At GMU it was some additional fee that applied only to on-campus students and the fee was over $150. At UVA my overpayment was a technology fee that did not apply to me.

It has been 5-6 years for GMU and I still haven't received the refund despite countless voice mail messages, emails and letters with copies of documentation. I have subsequently given up. At UVA I did not realize I had overpaid. Some perky woman called me and apologized (!!!) that I had paid online 2-3 weeks prior, I had overpaid, no one had caught my error and she was so terribly sorry that I had not received my refund yet. She was really upset. I asked her if she was joking because I was so startled. I truly thought that I was being pranked. But sure enough the refund arrived just two or three days later. It was a check for about $30.

I have had good instructors and instruction at both institutions. But I would gladly pay more, a lot more, to UVA because of its outstanding customer service.