Officially a Grad Student

[ss20ts]

The day has come! Something I never thought I'd be able to say.....I'm officially a grad student. I started my master's degree in project management on Monday. I had a post last week or so asking about religious colleges. I had already made my decision to apply when I posted wondering what other's experiences were like. As an online grad student I don't have any of the religion courses or chapel requirements. Those are for on campus students. People are free to speak about their faith which if that is a big part of your life then that's probably very important to you. There is one book of Proverbs that will be used in a few classes. I have it this term and it's a few readings over 3 weeks. So nothing horrible. Not sure how it will tie into project management but I will find out. 

The school is Charleston Southern University. I had never heard of them despite driving by their exit off of I26 on my way to Charleston numerous times when I lived in SC. I find them from an article posted on here about the top 25 online grad programs in project management. There are several online master's degrees and bachelor's degrees. They operate on a term/semester schedule that follows the on campus school year like UMPI. It is NOT self paced. You have deadlines every Thursday and Sunday. The terms are 7 weeks long - beginning on Monday and ending on Sunday. Then you have a full week off between terms. There are 6 terms per year. Two terms in each semester. The grad degrees are 30 credits so 10 classes. I'm full time and have 2 grad classes this term. My plan is to complete 2 courses each term and graduate with my MS in Project Management in May. Tuition is $650 per credit. Not the cheapest but far from the most expensive for grad school. There are no additional fees. The tuition includes your textbook rentals which the school store ships to you. You return them at the end of the term. They use Blackboard for the classes. 

I started on Monday and have already submitted some assignments. This first week isn't too crazy with reading and assignments. It doesn't look like there are many quizzes or exams. Lots of papers. In my first 2 courses they are under 10 pages which is surprising since it's grad school. We do have other written assignments such as a short answer essay weekly, discussions and responses, a journal entry, case studies, chapters in the various textbooks to read, videos to watch. So far it's very reasonable especially for grad school. I'll update as the term progresses. 

https://www.charlestonsouthern.edu/onlin...neprograms

[Cofffeee]

Congratulations!!! Wish u patience and luck. I m sure u will succeed. Plz keep us posted on ur journey

[DanielDaCosta87]

The best luck. You can do it!!!

[Kab]

Congrats for the achievement!

Sent from my NX591J using DegreeForum.net mobile app

[park0902]

Congrats on your new path to a master! I'm looking forward to doing the same thing as well. Go Owls!

[Alpha]

Congratulations, it sounds like you're about to get a lot busier.  I'm sure you'll do well.

[bjcheung77]

Woo! That's great! Good job, I love reading your posts and seeing you accomplish your educational goals.
Good luck on your current educational journey, hope it is smooth sailing all the way... Congrats again!

[ss20ts]

Well, it's been an interesting term! Not quite what I expected. I'm about half way through the term now and I'll be happy when it's over. My first 2 courses are MSOM600 Graduate Writing and Research and MSOM640 Project Management as a Business Function.

When I was at CSU Global last year I absolutely hated the weekly discussions. X number of words in a post with citations and 2 responses. That was one of the reasons I transferred to UMPI. Charleston has the same discussions except now they're longer responses and you have to answer number questions that are broken down into 3 sections each week. You also have to respond to 2 classmates with citations and x number of words. I spend more time researching for peer reviewed journal articles than I do writing. Oh and you can ONLY use peer reviewed articles from the last 3 years. That makes it even more difficult! I haven't seen many articles from 2020 or 2021.....wonder why.....

Grading is weird. You get a rubric which is fine. You earn points. Say an assignment is worth 50 points and there's 2 sections to the rubric. You can earn a 26.064 in one section and a 23.5 in the other. .064???? WHAT? It's really weird.

This is also a VERY Christian school. I knew it was a Christian school when I applied and decided I would give it a chance. I've had to read 4 chapters in a book about management using Proverbs and other lines from the bible. The author bounces around to which bible translation suits what he wants to get across. If you're religious or interested in religion this may not be an issue for you. I do know some religious people who would take issue with not using their specific bible and the way the author manipulates the text to use it in a way he sees fit. The Proverbs chapters are part of the discussions and I have spent 3 days trying to answer 4 questions! I'm not religious and have no interest in religion. I try to avoid it.

I really miss the competency based program UMPI has. I will be transferring at the end of this term. I don't want to waste too much time and complete a bunch of grad credits that I can't transfer. Grad transfer is not like undergrad at all. So I am now searching for a MS in Management or possibly an MBA which is competency based. I'm shocked at where I'm leaning towards applying....nothing will transfer and I know this. I know I'll have to deal with Examity a few times but I may just suck it up. I'm seriously considering WGU's MSML and then maybe the MBA in IT Tech Management. I've looked at PUG and Capella's competency programs but they have far more credits and cost much more. Most of the WGU MSML courses will be a review from my undergrad so I believe I'll be able to complete the MSML in 6 months. I have also spent more time reviewing the MAOL at UMPI but after talking to ashkir it's VERY heavy in writing and no way could I complete it in 6 months. Walden isn't available in my state which totally stinks because they have a Tempo MBA w/ project management and I would love that but they're not licensed here. I really hope competency based programs continue to grow. I know they're not for everyone but as we've seen on here there are a lot of people who have successfully completed their degrees from WGU and UMPI.


ETA: They use Blackboard which is fine. Compared to other online learning platforms Blackboard feels very old outdated and bare bones. It may just be the way the school has it configured. I haven't used Blackboard in ages. You don't get an email alerting you to responses in the discussions which is annoying. You don't get an email when your assignments are graded either.

[cerich67]

Well, it's been an interesting term! Not quite what I expected. I'm about half way through the term now and I'll be happy when it's over. My first 2 courses are MSOM600 Graduate Writing and Research and MSOM640 Project Management as a Business Function.

When I was at CSU Global last year I absolutely hated the weekly discussions. X number of words in a post with citations and 2 responses. That was one of the reasons I transferred to UMPI. Charleston has the same discussions except now they're longer responses and you have to answer number questions that are broken down into 3 sections each week. You also have to respond to 2 classmates with citations and x number of words. I spend more time researching for peer reviewed journal articles than I do writing. Oh and you can ONLY use peer reviewed articles from the last 3 years. That makes it even more difficult! I haven't seen many articles from 2020 or 2021.....wonder why.....

Grading is weird. You get a rubric which is fine. You earn points. Say an assignment is worth 50 points and there's 2 sections to the rubric. You can earn a 26.064 in one section and a 23.5 in the other. .064???? WHAT? It's really weird.

This is also a VERY Christian school. I knew it was a Christian school when I applied and decided I would give it a chance. I've had to read 4 chapters in a book about management using Proverbs and other lines from the bible. The author bounces around to which bible translation suits what he wants to get across. If you're religious or interested in religion this may not be an issue for you. I do know some religious people who would take issue with not using their specific bible and the way the author manipulates the text to use it in a way he sees fit. The Proverbs chapters are part of the discussions and I have spent 3 days trying to answer 4 questions! I'm not religious and have no interest in religion. I try to avoid it.  

I really miss the competency based program UMPI has. I will be transferring at the end of this term. I don't want to waste too much time and complete a bunch of grad credits that I can't transfer. Grad transfer is not like undergrad at all. So I am now searching for a MS in Management or possibly an MBA which is competency based. I'm shocked at where I'm leaning towards applying....nothing will transfer and I know this. I know I'll have to deal with Examity a few times but I may just suck it up. I'm seriously considering WGU's MSML and then maybe the MBA in IT Tech Management. I've looked at PUG and Capella's competency programs but they have far more credits and cost much more. Most of the WGU MSML courses will be a review from my undergrad so I believe I'll be able to complete the MSML in 6 months. I have also spent more time reviewing the MAOL at UMPI but after talking to ashkir it's VERY heavy in writing and no way could I complete it in 6 months. Walden isn't available in my state which totally stinks because they have a Tempo MBA w/ project management and I would love that but they're not licensed here. I really hope competency based programs continue to grow. I know they're not for everyone but as we've seen on here there are a lot of people who have successfully completed their degrees from WGU and UMPI.


ETA: They use Blackboard which is fine. Compared to other online learning platforms Blackboard feels very old outdated and bare bones. It may just be the way the school has it configured. I haven't used Blackboard in ages. You don't get an email alerting you to responses in the discussions which is annoying. You don't get an email when your assignments are graded either.

The MBA at HAU you can get a project management certificate with the MBA. May be worth a look. Not exactly a PM masters, but close

[ss20ts]

The MBA at HAU you can get a project management certificate with the MBA. May be worth a look. Not exactly a PM masters, but close

Really?? Oh I will definitely have a look. Thank you!!!