Liberty University

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
I hope to provide you with an objective and honest synopsis of my experience at Liberty University (online). I have attended the school since Nov. 2010 and I will graduate in approximately four weeks with an MBA in accounting (May 2012). I took 45 graduate-level and 21 additional undergraduate accounting prerequisite units at Liberty during these five semesters.

I would characterize Liberty University as a vocational graduate school. The reason I say this is because virtually all classes require students to produce some sort of research project, which can be geared toward a personal pursuit. I took advantage of this aspect and researched every aspect of a personal business endeavor from financing and marketing to human resources and policy. The program allowed me to tailor the program to my needs, which is what I wanted. In this way it was money well spent.

That said, Liberty University is not a research-oriented school like some others here have mentioned. It isn't Harvard. Instead of providing opportunities abroad to study the influence of IFRS on Micronesian textile manufacturers, you will probably study the influence of IFRS on American tax systems by studying 20 peer-reviewed articles. You will likely not conduct any original research here, but you will definitely review lots of literature that is relevant to your particular interests/goals.

As I said before, I have attended since 2010. One thing I can say is that the coursework has become significantly more difficult recently. The school is working toward its ACBSP accreditation, and the grading has become much less lenient. You will have to participate in Peregrine Academic surveys, which are part of the accreditation process, and these surveys show you your individual placement compared to students at all ACBSP accredited universities. I usually placed between 75% and 85%, which I think is pretty good. My GPA at LU is a 3.75.

Some classes are very easy and some are very difficult. I believe that some of this depends on the student and some of it is probably due to the limitations of the online environment. For example, accounting and corporate finance were very difficult to learn outside of a classroom environment, but that is not necessarily the school's fault. These are just complicate subjects. Some other courses were pretty easy, but most were about average.

One person commented that the quality of discussion posts at Liberty is poor. This is true…sometimes. If there are 20 students in a class, about 5 will probably be abysmal, 10 will be average, and 5 will be pretty good. After wasting my time responding to poorly written assignments, I found it was better to find the good students. I also believe that the quality of writing has drastically improved with the ACBSP accreditation.

I opted for a master's degree to meet the baseline requirement for my CPA certification. I have been studying for the exam, and I have to admit that although most of the material is familiar from my studies at LU, I am definitely not ready to take the exam yet. I don't know if this is normal, but then again, I earned an MBA in accounting and not a master's in accounting.

I would recommend Liberty for a person who can use the degree to study for an existing profession or endeavor. I used the degree to write many aspects of a business plan and fulfill the requirements for a professional certification. It met my needs perfectly. I have a job waiting for me on graduation in corporate auditing for which I am thankful. I am also able to laugh at the price of some other universities, which can cost anywhere from $60k to $150k. After the military discount, my MBA will cost me $11,250 not counting prerequisites. The GI Bill paid for this and more.

Regarding earlier complaints Liberty University teaches a worldview and does not teach evidence-based education, that statement is not entirely accurate. Granted, Liberty University is the world's largest Christian university. Most assignments will require students to evaluate a subject from a Christian worldview. I generally see as an added task. For example, a recent assignment required students to write an essay examining an AICPA principle from: an accounting perspective, a deontological perspective, a utilitarian perspective, and a Christian perspective. Even though I am not mega-Christian like some other students here, I appreciate this aspect of the assignments. I have used it to help define my own set of values as they relate to various aspects of business culture by learning or incorporating Biblical principles. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. If you do not like evaluating yourself or questioning your values, or if you are just plain anti-Christian, Liberty University may not be the best place for you.

On a side note, I believe that many of those who do not finish degrees at Liberty were unable to adapt to the workload. The school does not require a GMAT, so I am pretty sure that some people get in over their head by not taking the school seriously. If you plan to take 12 credits a semester, be prepared to write an average of 10-20 pages of good content every week, read and absorb 3-6 chapters of graduate-level text, and possibly complete several hours of other assignments. You will also probably become much faster at doing these tasks than you thought possible. Anyway, I hope this helps you.

Good luck and God bless!