Level with me: how bad is Liberty University?

[NotJoeBiden]

University of Portsmouth has an online MA in Applied Linguistics for £10,900 (~$13,300).
https://www.port.ac.uk/study/courses/pos...nd-funding

[Messdiener]

Here are some thoughts on Liberty from the perspective of social work.

Liberty has a CSWE-accredited MSW program.  I'm not really sure how they managed to get CSWE accreditation (which is very recent) unless they either lied to or threatened CSWE, because, fundamentally, some of Liberty's core values (anti-homosexuality in general, vehement opposition to same sex marriage, various other far-right beliefs) are at odds with CSWE.  Likewise, Liberty, according to several who have graduated from their MSW, incorporates Bible study into nearly every course in the MSW curriculum, requiring each assignment (or at least, most assignments) to be tied back to Bible verses. This is problematic, as CSWE dictates that social workers are not to present with any particular religious agenda, and certainly not to promote any religious agenda.

Comments from MSW students who have been through the program are mixed; some were not bothered by the constant Bible citations. Others found the constant Christian drumbeat to be unmanageable and moved.

What I have heard from practically everyone is that, aside from the craziness (rejecting evolution, backwards perspectives on science), the scholarship of the school seems to be excellent.  The reputation regarding hiring, however, is a different matter, and seems highly subjective depending on which employer you ask.

Thanks for clarifying about the overlap between religious elements and the MSW curriculum.

Out of curiosity, would you happen to know where some of the MSW students moved to from Liberty? It would be interesting to compare, should that information be available.

[studyingfortests]

Here are some thoughts on Liberty from the perspective of social work.

Liberty has a CSWE-accredited MSW program.  I'm not really sure how they managed to get CSWE accreditation (which is very recent) unless they either lied to or threatened CSWE, because, fundamentally, some of Liberty's core values (anti-homosexuality in general, vehement opposition to same sex marriage, various other far-right beliefs) are at odds with CSWE.  Likewise, Liberty, according to several who have graduated from their MSW, incorporates Bible study into nearly every course in the MSW curriculum, requiring each assignment (or at least, most assignments) to be tied back to Bible verses. This is problematic, as CSWE dictates that social workers are not to present with any particular religious agenda, and certainly not to promote any religious agenda.

Comments from MSW students who have been through the program are mixed; some were not bothered by the constant Bible citations. Others found the constant Christian drumbeat to be unmanageable and moved.

What I have heard from practically everyone is that, aside from the craziness (rejecting evolution, backwards perspectives on science), the scholarship of the school seems to be excellent.  The reputation regarding hiring, however, is a different matter, and seems highly subjective depending on which employer you ask.

Thanks for clarifying about the overlap between religious elements and the MSW curriculum.

Out of curiosity, would you happen to know where some of the MSW students moved to from Liberty? It would be interesting to compare, should that information be available.

I don't think folks directly stated. My school, Western New Mexico U, had a good number of students who had transferred from other programs they were unhappy with, but I don't know if any of them were from Liberty.  The sad thing is, so many people choose their undergrad or graduate program on the basis of who advertises the most, so an awful lot of people end up at programs that, at least in my judgment, are expensive and not the best -- Walden, Capella, Grand Canyon, U Mass Global -- when there are so many wonderful  state university programs out there that are almost certainly a better education and less expensive.  But students are either too lazy or too uninformed to go looking for them. And Liberty does advertise. So it would not surprise me if a lot of these folks end up at one of the other schools I mentioned, or at the really spendy ones like Simmons or USC.

[Duneranger]

Liberty’s med school is bottom of the barrel with poor placements. Maybe it will grow, but their overall anti-science viewpoints such as creationism, anti-LGBT+, and other nonsense will make that hard. Heck they even have a Creation Studies program where you can get a whole degree based around the notion that evolution is a hoax. They will never be seen as a serious university for anything STEM since they are unable to teach such simple foundational knowledge.

Pure delusion. 100% match  None of these match rates/specialties deviate from the usual DO school profile. No US med school is "Bottom of the barrel", considering half the docs I work with are IMGs and come from Carribean med schools and or random schools in the Philippines/India...but yeah Liberty is soooo bad.

https://www.liberty.edu/lucom/wp-content...-Final.pdf

Lol okay. Do you work for them or something? OP asked for an opinion about Liberty University so I gave mine.

I will repeat it with more clarity: in my opinion, Liberty University is not a competent school for STEM education.

No, I just like calling out easy-to-point-out BS. My cited source proved that and it's hilarious how you deviate to "opinion" now because you have no counter.

Complain about Liberty all you want but your comment on the DO school is pure fantasy

[bjcheung77]

Nice signature, I remember the Universal Life Church Honorary degrees, they were $25 back then, It's a good or fun vanity degree! Someone mentioned it on this board or the sister board and I decided to jump on it years ago. I think they've bumped the price up to $35, still fun to have a vanity degree of some sort... I think it'll help me boost my desire to actually go for a doctoral degree vs having an honorary vanity degree.

[Jonathan Whatley]

In the era of the largely nonpartisan pastor Jonathan Falwell as chancellor and a normal Christian executive as president, it wouldn't be surprising if rough edges on Liberty's reputation associated with the Jerry Falwell Jr. era moderate materially. Rough edges associated with the Jerry Falwell Sr. era could even moderate somewhat.

[GoBroncos95]

Aside from the controversy, Liberty has a killer football program and I enjoy watching them, during CFB season lol

[Charles Fout]

I LOVE Liberty University. its Educational Philosophy & Mission Statement is clear.

https://www.liberty.edu/about/purpose-and-mission-statement/

It may not be for you. Not everyone wants to be a Champion for Christ 


As an active duty Sailor and, as retired Sailor using the Post 911 GI Bill. I had a wonderful experience as a Student in Liberty's Graduate School of Business.

[SarahEGage]

Run away...far away!  Long read...I started with Liberty University for a BA in Psychology in Feb of 2020. My goal was to be a middle or high school counselor.  But once I got my degree, I was hired by a middle school in my district to be an art teacher.  I decided to stick with Liberty to get my masters in secondary education which I was told included the teaching license.  The only thing was, I needed to take art classes for the content area that I was to teach in as if I had of taken a BA in art. I was told by the advisors that I could take the MAT classes along side the art classes. This was true to a point. Because they are not a part of the master’s classes, FAFSA will not pay for them, but they are required for me to get my license and I cannot afford to pay out of pocket Liberty’s prices. I had 7 art classes left that I needed to take as I could not take them all alongside my MAT classes.  I was then advised by their advisory team that I could finish the MAT classes (including student teaching), then come back to school for an Associates degree where I could finish the last 7 classes having then completed the content and get my license. So, based on what I was told, this is the path that I took.
I then went to register for the student teaching as that was the last course, I needed to take to finish this all and was told by student advisors that I could not do the student teaching until all the art classes were taken. A direct opposite what had been told to me before. I had to stop the licensure part of the MAT and finish with a capstone. I was told by advisors that I could still do the associates degree. This last month with a few weeks left for the MAT classes, I went to get registered for the associate’s classes only to be told by the advisors I could not do it that way as I had too many credits that would transfer and would not be able to take the art classes. I was then told by student advisors that I could take another BA in art and it would cover the 7 classes I needed, plus taking two more extra.  This morning I got an email from the content advisory telling me that only 5 of my art content classes would be covered by a BA in art as two of them are graduate level, which I could take with my student teaching, but would have to pay out of pocket.  My only other options according to their advisory team is to start a new MAT and take another 60 credits to be able to get those 7 classes and finish my student teaching.
All of this has cost me close to 80,000 in student loans now, because of their lies or ineptness whichever it is, it is taking me twice as long to get my teaching license which I have already been teaching on a yearly stipulation license for 2 years. I’m about to be fired again as they do each year to those without licenses, because I have not been able to finish this. I was told today that I could be hired back as a building substitute, which is a huge reduction in salary. I cannot live on this as we are barely making it on my teaching salary. (I help support my retired parents and one of my sons who is in school). All of these things are because Liberty has lied over and over again and pushed more classes, most of which are completely unusable. This capstone has us watching a video of a live class each week, but we still have to do student teaching once back in the licensure content. It is a waste of money and my time.  I am heartsick that they are messing up my future because of greed.  My brother also attended Liberty university for his BA and in one class accidentally turned in his notes instead of the essay and got 100 points on it, she never even looked at it, that’s the teachers they have at this school.  

[Duneranger]

Run away...far away!  Long read...I started with Liberty University for a BA in Psychology in Feb of 2020. My goal was to be a middle or high school counselor.  But once I got my degree, I was hired by a middle school in my district to be an art teacher.  I decided to stick with Liberty to get my masters in secondary education which I was told included the teaching license.  The only thing was, I needed to take art classes for the content area that I was to teach in as if I had of taken a BA in art. I was told by the advisors that I could take the MAT classes along side the art classes. This was true to a point. Because they are not a part of the master’s classes, FAFSA will not pay for them, but they are required for me to get my license and I cannot afford to pay out of pocket Liberty’s prices. I had 7 art classes left that I needed to take as I could not take them all alongside my MAT classes.  I was then advised by their advisory team that I could finish the MAT classes (including student teaching), then come back to school for an Associates degree where I could finish the last 7 classes having then completed the content and get my license. So, based on what I was told, this is the path that I took.
I then went to register for the student teaching as that was the last course, I needed to take to finish this all and was told by student advisors that I could not do the student teaching until all the art classes were taken. A direct opposite what had been told to me before. I had to stop the licensure part of the MAT and finish with a capstone. I was told by advisors that I could still do the associates degree. This last month with a few weeks left for the MAT classes, I went to get registered for the associate’s classes only to be told by the advisors I could not do it that way as I had too many credits that would transfer and would not be able to take the art classes. I was then told by student advisors that I could take another BA in art and it would cover the 7 classes I needed, plus taking two more extra.  This morning I got an email from the content advisory telling me that only 5 of my art content classes would be covered by a BA in art as two of them are graduate level, which I could take with my student teaching, but would have to pay out of pocket.  My only other options according to their advisory team is to start a new MAT and take another 60 credits to be able to get those 7 classes and finish my student teaching.
All of this has cost me close to 80,000 in student loans now, because of their lies or ineptness whichever it is, it is taking me twice as long to get my teaching license which I have already been teaching on a yearly stipulation license for 2 years. I’m about to be fired again as they do each year to those without licenses, because I have not been able to finish this. I was told today that I could be hired back as a building substitute, which is a huge reduction in salary. I cannot live on this as we are barely making it on my teaching salary. (I help support my retired parents and one of my sons who is in school). All of these things are because Liberty has lied over and over again and pushed more classes, most of which are completely unusable. This capstone has us watching a video of a live class each week, but we still have to do student teaching once back in the licensure content. It is a waste of money and my time.  I am heartsick that they are messing up my future because of greed.  My brother also attended Liberty university for his BA and in one class accidentally turned in his notes instead of the essay and got 100 points on it, she never even looked at it, that’s the teachers they have at this school.  

Lol I think there is more to the story being told here....