VUL DHA First on the list by Forbes as best online DHA in 2024

[KSoul]

Loved the update on VUL: the little engine that might. Still holding out hope they get RA status someday, even if the enrollment numbers suggest they technically don’t need the lift. Would be quite the twist, especially after years of predictions they’d shut down “any day now.” It could still happen, anything’s possible, but if they ever do go that route, I’d put my money on Liberty scooping them up.

Side note: After a year in the VUL forums and plenty of friendships made, here’s the truth: lobbing “leftist” insults without any real insight adds nothing. What does that even mean anymore? Political drive-bys are empty calories in 2025.

[Vle045]

The facebook support group for this program is a bit wild. It is alot of SJW's there with a big leftist bent. I have heard from current students that the same trend bleeds over into discussion boards for the classwork. If any of that does not appeal to you, then  you may want to skip this school. However, it that doesn't bother you I guess proceeding with the degree is fine.

What the heck does that even mean?  Leftist bent?  If by leftist you mean intelligent, compassionate, inclusive, then yes, by all means, sign me up!  Because every time I see someone throwing out “leftist” as a label, it is usually coupled with ignorance, hatred, and exclusion.

[turbotortuga]

The facebook support group for this program is a bit wild. It is alot of SJW's there with a big leftist bent. I have heard from current students that the same trend bleeds over into discussion boards for the classwork. If any of that does not appeal to you, then  you may want to skip this school. However, it that doesn't bother you I guess proceeding with the degree is fine.

What the heck does that even mean?  Leftist bent?  If by leftist you mean intelligent, compassionate, inclusive, then yes, by all means, sign me up!  Because every time I see someone throwing out “leftist” as a label, it is usually coupled with ignorance, hatred, and exclusion.

Bruh, you know what he/she means. Anyone using the term "leftist", as a slur, has already shown you where their thought pattern leans. These people used to be rightly shamed into hiding by more tolerant voices in the past, but with the new "empowerment" forces acting today, we as a country are leaning more towards post WWI Germany in our political majority's ideological leanings.

[newdegree]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the school and the program. He said nothing wrong by saying leftist.

The Forbes article states,
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

This raises a question about the integrity and fairness of the assessments, as Forbes Advisors earn a commission for their reviews of these links.
It could be biased due to money being exchanged for a review. Seems like a pay-for-good-advertisement/evaluation type of situation.

[Sagan]

The term "leftist" is used pejoratively by conservatives. It has no non-biased usage.

[SteveFoerster]

The term "leftist" is used pejoratively by conservatives. It has no non-biased usage.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leftist

This definition doesn't sound pejorative to me.

However, the original poster also used the term "SJW". Now that's pejorative.

[Stonybeach]

The term "leftist" is used pejoratively by conservatives. It has no non-biased usage.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leftist

This definition doesn't sound pejorative to me.

However, the original poster also used the term "SJW". Now that's pejorative.

Wait a second! Do you mean a subsequent poster? I am the "original poster" of this thread!

Please note:
I never once encountered this type of dialogue while engaged in distance learning at VUL. All these anecdotes and group chats on non-VUL sources are not reflective of the DHA program at VUL! I was in the first cohort and thought the program was enlightening, exciting, rigorous, and engaging. The curriculum was solid, utilizing Harvard Business Review and taught by PhD professors with weekly Zoom lectures and excellent student interaction. The accreditation is TRACS, which is not regional accreditation, but it is accredited and has given me the utility I expected. We learned about Kaizen, and it was my hope that the subsequent cohorts would observe this practice of continuous quality improvement. The program requires a lot of reading and writing, and as is most often the case, one gets out of it what one puts into it!

- Stonybeach

[newdegree]

The term "leftist" is used pejoratively by conservatives. It has no non-biased usage.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leftist

This definition doesn't sound pejorative to me.

However, the original poster also used the term "SJW". Now that's pejorative.

Wait a second! Do you mean a subsequent poster? I am the "original poster" of this thread!

Please note:
I never once encountered this type of dialogue while engaged in distance learning at VUL.  All these anecdotes and group chats on non-VUL sources are not reflective of the DHA program at VUL! I was in the first cohort and thought the program was enlightening, exciting, rigorous, and engaging. The curriculum was solid, utilizing Harvard Business Review and taught by PhD professors with weekly Zoom lectures and excellent student interaction. The accreditation is TRACS, which is not regional accreditation, but it is accredited and has given me the utility I expected. We learned about Kaizen, and it was my hope that the subsequent cohorts would observe this practice of continuous quality improvement. The program requires a lot of reading and writing, and as is most often the case, one gets out of it what one puts into it!

- Stonybeach

I am a graduate from the second cohort (the hardest cohort) because our research practicum we had to do it alone, the first cohort and all other cohorts did theirs as a group project. I will say the work not not much harder than a masters degree, it does not require much rigor or studying. They encourage you to use Grammarly and quilbot to enhance your writing. My current doctoral program they are very strictly against AI writing tools. The assignments for VUL were usually not longer than 10 pages, from what I remember. Some classes even gave you a shorter page limit. The only real challenge class was the research practicum, but again, they made it easier by allowing groups to do it. Independently, my research practicum IRB application came to 40+ pages of straight research.

[SteveFoerster]

The term "leftist" is used pejoratively by conservatives. It has no non-biased usage.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leftist

This definition doesn't sound pejorative to me.

However, the original poster also used the term "SJW". Now that's pejorative.

Wait a second! Do you mean a subsequent poster? I am the "original poster" of this thread!

Sorry, my mistake, I was referring to the first response. No libel intended!

Please note:
I never once encountered this type of dialogue while engaged in distance learning at VUL.  All these anecdotes and group chats on non-VUL sources are not reflective of the DHA program at VUL! I was in the first cohort and thought the program was enlightening, exciting, rigorous, and engaging. The curriculum was solid, utilizing Harvard Business Review and taught by PhD professors with weekly Zoom lectures and excellent student interaction. The accreditation is TRACS, which is not regional accreditation, but it is accredited and has given me the utility I expected. We learned about Kaizen, and it was my hope that the subsequent cohorts would observe this practice of continuous quality improvement. The program requires a lot of reading and writing, and as is most often the case, one gets out of it what one puts into it!

- Stonybeach

Thanks for the firsthand account.

[dietcenter]

Things may have changed some since the first and second cohort. It honestly surprised me to see the leftist SJW bent on the student facebook support pages, but in the long-run it doesn't really matter as I am simply summarizing my outsiders opinion, and my opinion on this matter is relatively unimportant to anyone else but me. I have seen this school progress since initially offering this program in 2020-2021 and the program and school is designed to serve historically vulnerable population groups. The proliferation of DHA degrees is making the healthcare administration job market god awful, and unless you have a clinical degree to go along with it or are well positioned in a healthcare job already with experience then a DHA degree is a big risk.

These DHA programs love talking about, teaching, and the idea of serving vulnerable population groups and addressing health inequity issues, so it is not surprising. In the search for higher education and degrees I personally prefer more politically neutral professors and programs that can explore leftist and rightist ideas and concepts in the literature and application in the areas of healthcare access, funding, addressing inequities, etc. because these are real problems that need real solutions otherwise they become an ineffective money pit for society.

If you go through Linkedin and look at the job titles and experience for VUL DHA grads, OSU DHA grads, MUSC DHA grads, Walden DHA grads, etc. there is seems to be a trend of VUL DHA grads getting stuck in their current roles with little upward mobility or trapped not getting an applicable high level job within a healthcare organization because the healthcare administration job market is generally apocalyptic for people working in the wrong types of healthcare organizations without experience before getting this degree or not having a clinical degree to boost up their chances of getting promoted to a great HA job. If you need a DHA degree just for fun it really doesn't matter what school you goto or the political leanings there-in, but if you need to have get this degree just understand that where you go and how you network and where you already work at is important to maximize the utility of a DHA degree.