I'm a current student at the University of Colorado. I have been very involved in extracurriculars and I have been here long enough that I have seen how awful this program is. Coming here was a mistake, and I don't want younger students to make the same one I have. I am here to offer guidance and answer any questions. I am likely seeking a transfer to another program despite having to graduate a year later doing so. Yes, the program really has been that bad to me. I want to warn students that the interview makes the school seem fantastic, but the administration is absolutely awful and does not listen to students.
I feel this way because of the following:
The administration is extremely unprofessional and I have heard of several cases of discriminatory-like behavior towards students with pregnancies, disabilities, and others. It's been going on for years and the same teachers have been involved. The administration never provides a scheduled syllabus more than a week in advance of the semester. Even when they do provide a syllabus, teachers often don't even follow it. Surprise quizzes and homework are often added to syllabi without notice, quizzes and exams will cover topics you have learned less than 24 hours prior. Also, recorded lectures are added to the posted class schedule without notice. The administration has also implemented a new testing service called "Proctorio". The testing service is mandatory and the legality of its execution is questionable regarding its P2,P3, and P4 students. There have already been at least 2 students this year who have withdrawn because of it. Likely at least 4 by the end of this year considering that I will likely need to withdraw because of it as will someone else I know. The administration doesn't care that it is causing students to withdraw. In fact, the person you would talk to is actually married to the associate dean that implemented it; one of a few major conflicts of interest the school allows to occur. We even have some students that can't use the testing program because they have eye problems. The administration won't allow him/her to take a paper or pencil exam. The school's actual response to this was "This is the way we're doing things now." Additionally, all the cool stuff they tell you that you will do with inter-professional students is all smoke and mirrors. With the inter-professional students, you will solely read fluff papers about ethics and things about "conflicts of interest" etc. that the school itself clearly doesn't follow. Last little detail, the professors have horrible grammar. If you and 1/3rd of the class can't understand what a short answer question is asking because its horribly written, don't expect clarification, credit, or for it to be thrown out. Also, cheating is extremely rampant here and professors don't re-write their exams. So I guess the bright side is, if you are willing to sell your soul, you can still do very well in this program by making friends with older students (or even graduated ones) who will literally drop your exams in your lap.
Additionally, and a very important detail. The school is ridiculously obsessed with scaring students to not cheat. To put into perspective, if Proctorio malfunctions and you get kicked out of your exam (and this happens enough because the software stinks) then you will be unable to go back and review your exam. You will solely get to look at your exam answers that you didn't answer yet because the school assumes that you were looking up the answers during the time when your exam stopped working. And if you decide to write your answers on scrap paper until the last second in order to avoid this from happening, the school assumes you are writing down the answers to give to another student. Also, many students are afraid to provide study guides and notes because the school sometimes views it as cheating. The school provided tutors can't even provide you notes or they can be fired.
Sadly, this is only the most important points of everything wrong with this program. There's a lot more I'd be willing to discuss if people ask. Does anyone have any questions about anything?
