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The Master in Science program for biology students needs some serious work for their online pedagogy. For a school that offers so many online options, they need to either eliminate some professors from the pool of online teachers or give them lessons in how to run an online class. The professors are condescending and do not know how to use the online platform. They do not scaffold or structure their lectures and assessments in a way that is useful and helpful to the student. I also feel the level... Read More of academics is lacking for a graduate program. There is an excellent way to teach online classes. In the 5 classes I have taken, only one professor has done it well.

The program is not as advertised. The Online Master's in Biology was advertised to me as a working persons degree program. There is a tremendous amount of focus on "busy work", such as discussions, that are run by students and not the professors. There was very little feedback on these discussions and one is always left wondering if the information posted was accurate since the professors did not weigh in or lead the discussions. There were several times when students posted incorrect information... Read More or there were competing ideas with no final word on what was accurate. The program is highly based on research, reading papers, busy work, and offered very little practical knowledge or skills. If you did the "busy work" and participated you could get a B in most classes without actually gaining much knowledge or understanding. The information presented was mostly based on regurgitating that information back for a grade without understanding mechanisms or how to apply that knowledge in a practical way. If you are wanting to go into a practical job and not into academics, choose another program.

(Disclaimer: my classes have been online and I can't speak to student diversity on campus or campus safety, but I couldn't move on in the survey unless I made a selection). I'm currently enrolled in an online master's program at University of Nebraska Kearney. It has been a great experience for me and has allowed me to further my education at a pace I can manage. The online biology program at UNK really works for me because I am able to take classes while still working. I was worried if online classes... Read More would make me feel like just a number and I wouldn't get to know my professors or peers, but that hasn't been the case at all. I have had great relationships with my professors and classmates in each of my classes through phone, email, discussion boards, and lectures. The curriculum is challenging, but still interesting and engaging. I feel like I made the right choice with my online program at UNK.

I was really excited and lucky to find the online Master's of Biology program at UNK. The program is accredited, has a large range of classes from wildlife to genetics, and is very affordable. The main thing that drew me into the program was the fact that it is exactly the same as the on campus program (same classes, professors, curriculum, assignments, etc.), except the online program requires a research project and the on-campus program requires a thesis. I am three semesters into the program and... Read More both the classes and professors have been wonderful, helpful, and extremely knowledgeable. I am really looking forward to the research project as well because it will allow me to apply my education and degree to real-world scenarios and research, which is the entire reason to obtain a degree in the first place. Pursuing an online degree is difficult sometimes because you don't have the in-person connection and interaction with the professors and classmates, which definitely takes away from the experience. But for people like me, who have full-time jobs and family obligations, this online program is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone looking to further their education at a great university.

I was really surprised to see that no reviews for UNK have been published yet, and that is the main reason I wanted to post. I attended UNK's online Biology Masters program from August 2013 to December 2014 and was highly impressed with the level of the program. The reason that I chose this school was due to my military service, as a matter of fact prior to attending this school I had went through a MS in Biology program at a brick and mortar school. I had completed all the course requirements for... Read More that degree, however I was unable to complete my thesis before leaving to attend basic training in the spring of 2011 and as such was unable to graduate. I was wary of the online program at first, simply because I had heard so many bad things regarding online degrees and the inability to actually use them to gain employment. The one thing that was a deciding factor was the fact that this school is actually a brick and mortar school with an online component, NOT a school that is entirely online. With that being said, when you get your diploma it looks just like any other diploma from the university, and as such it isn't glaringly obvious that the work was completed through online means. Applying to the program does not guarantee your acceptance to this university, they require that you have certain academic requirements (GRE, GPA minimum, statement of purpose written) before you are accepted. They do accept transfer credits (9) which was helpful since I was basically doing an entire MS again. The course load is HARD. Do not be fooled into thinking that you can mess around and graduate with this degree, as a matter of fact several of my courses were courses where the professor had live students in addition to those of us attending online, he/she would simply record the live lecture (you could see the backs of the heads of the students) and post it to the interface known as blackboard. As such, we were held to the same assignments, same tests, same research papers as those students the ONLY difference was that I was not physically sitting in that classroom. In some ways that made it more challenging as I could not just raise my hand and interrupt the professor to ask a question, but would rather have to take extra time out to email or jump on the discussion board to get those questions answered. As for the department itself, the biology staff is simply amazing. Everyone from the coordinator to the veteran liaison is extremely prompt about answering any questions you may have, whether it is degree related or financial aid related. When I started this program I was in Afghanistan deployed and I didn't have a single issue with getting in touch with someone if I needed help. Do be advised that some people will make a big fuss out of the current director of this program and how she is this, that, or the other however I had no problems out of her during my stay in the program. During my research portion (more on that in a minute) my research advisor left the school for another position at another university so she took over the oversight of my project. She was nothing but helpful to me, I think she can just be short sometimes with students because she is extremely busy with her own academic work, mentoring students, in addition to teaching. As I mentioned, even as a distance student you are required to perform graduate level research in order to earn this degree. You are not doing an actual thesis (in that it is not required that you publish so understand that if you are looking into a future PhD program this may not be good for you) but you are doing everything else that leads up to this- writing a proposal, gaining understanding of IACUC approval, getting funding, gathering data and using statistics to back your findings. This portion is broken down into six core classes over the course of your program, and your advisor can help you determine what research would be feasible in this timeframe. Understand that they are there to ADVISE you not actually come up with your research and make it happen! One of the most beneficial components of the program is that each summer they set up a biology trip to some other country, and many students that are online go to do their data collection as there is at least one faculty member who goes with them. Last year we went to Brazil, and while this is an extra cost and not necessary to graduate I was able to meet other students (from both on and offline programs) as well as get my data collected for my research under the supervision of my advisor. This summer they are going to the Galapagos Islands. I wouldn't trade my experiences in Brazil for anything. While my tenure in the program was short (I came with 9 hours to transfer, and attending full time in the summer) the expected length of completion to the program is 2.5 years if you go full time. I was there 1.5 years and would recommend this program to anyone.

The class sizes are small and all students are personally guided by professors. There are several interesting class choices in the Biology program, and I love that it is one of the few Biology graduate programs that is available entirely online. Obviously for my ratings any campus categories don't apply to me, but I have heard good things about their campus. Being in Nebraska, it is centralized more on agricultural and wildlife biology, so for my direction in forensics it has limited class choices,... Read More but the overall instruction and knowledge of the professors is great. I'm not disappointed at all in my choice of UNK.

I am in a distance Master's of Biology program at UNK. It is described as the only one of its kind in the world. I am loving my experience with the faculty in the Biology department. There is a wide variety of courses offered for the distance program. This allows each student to focus on their area of preference and career requirements. The classes I have taken are rigorous, and the facutly have been supportive and helpful. I would highly recommend this program to anyone needing a masters degree... Read More in biology without the ability to take on-campus, live courses.