Alliant International University : San Diego
Alliant International University : San Diego is a For-Profit, Non-Sectarian, Career, Institute established in 2001. The campus is located in San Diego, California, USA and hosts students with an endowment of .
Website: www.alliant.edu
Address:
Phone: (no local phone number)
Email: (no public email address)
Institution Type: For-Profit, Non-Sectarian, Career, Institute
Established: 2001
Campus Enrollment: N/A
Acceptance Rate: N/A
Graduation Rate (6Y): N/A
Campus Endowment: N/A
Tuition (Local): N/A
Tuition (Non-Local): N/A
Tuition (Foreign): N/A
Mandatory Fees: N/A
Housing (Room): N/A
Latitude:
Longitude:
Tax ID: N/A
Here is a link that may be of interest if you are in debt and did not complete your degree due to fraud and or misleading information that led you to attend.
https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/borrower-defense-application.pdf
You can apply for Borrower defense application
You can print this form out, fill out the questions, attach any evidence or information and send this to the Dept of Education via certified mail.
[Borrower Defense](https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/borrower-defense-application.pdf)
Stuff you need to know to get the Borrower Defense started has been added in the comments!
https://www.bppe.ca.gov/enforcement/complaint.shtml
I attended CSPP the PsyD program at the San Diego program from 2011 to 2013 and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I have waited until now to share my experience because of the networking oftentimes found in Psychology and because at one point, I wanted to finish my graduate degree and feared posting my experience could have negative ramifications. I, however, have decided to begin a career in a completely different field, so now I can share my experience. I hope that sharing my story on multiple sites will help other hopefuls from making the same mistake I did and instead, select another school.
I was very happy to be accepted into Alliant and to give you an idea of my academic history, I attended a 2 year college, transferring with a 4.0 to a 4 year institution and a member of several prestigious honor societies. I had even been awarded an academic scholarship which had funded my two years at my undergraduate university. I graduated from my undergraduate institution with a 3.98 and with highest honors and was nominated by the department to graduate with departmental honors. So obviously I excelled academically. I was a well-rounded student who had fieldwork experience in Psychology, research experience, completed a senior thesis and even studied abroad. Alliant even awarded me with a scholarship. But things changed in my personal life. About 3 months before I began attending school at Alliant, I relapse into a Major Depressive Episode. I had one before but it had been 13 years since my last episode. I didn’t know where it had come from or why, as I had just graduated from my undergrad, was beginning graduate school a few months later and everything was looking hopeful in my future. I began attending therapy to try and get my symptoms under control long before I started Alliant. Shortly after I began the semester at Alliant, my therapist referred me to medication management, as my depression was not improving. I began seeing a psychiatrist and he prescribed me a SNRI, as my symptoms were very severe. Academically, I was doing well and I did well at my practicum, but it was a struggle. I was dealing with depression but also medication modifications in terms of changes in dosages and changes in adding medications and taking away medications. Despite these difficulties, I managed to complete my first year course work with a 3.7 GPA, complete my first year practicum (even completing an additional 200 hours) and I was offered a position at my ultimate dream practicum my second year. Despite all these successes, I was still struggling with depression.
My second practicum began in July 2012 and I continued to struggle. After a few days of training, I was starting to question my ability to perform at my practicum, so I withdrew from my practicum. I hadn’t started seeing any clients so I figured there would not have been any ramifications. My practicum site contacted Alliant notifying them I had withdrew from the practicum. I was contacted by the director and I met with Dr. Neil Ribner, Director of the PsyD program. I had disclosed my struggle with depression and why I had withdrew from the program. He recommend referring me to the SERC Committee and completing a modified program, which I agreed to as I was desperate to complete the program and was open to any options that would help me. About two weeks later, I met with the SERC Committee, which consisted of Dr. Kawahara, Dr. Diamond, another professor, and a fourth faculty member whom I forgot the name. Interestingly, I could hear them as I was waiting to meet with them for the first time discuss my diagnosis, attempting to diagnose me, even though I had never met with 3 out of 4 of them. I thought the meeting went well at first, but a week later, I discovered they had punished me by placing me on academic probation even though I had a 3.7 GPA, no grades below a B (well actually below an B+ if I recall) and I had simply withdrew from my practicum after the second training day BECAUSE OF A DISABILITY THAT WAS WELL DOCUMENTED. Additionally, they came up with “recommendations,” most of which I had already been doing, were not applicable to my situation, had already discussed, or were not feasible. For an example, the recommendations were “no further grades of C or below,” which the lowest grade I had was a B+. Other “recommendations” included therapy and medication management, which I was already doing for over a year – long before I was ever involved with SERC, a moderated academic plan, which the Program Director and I had already discussed and he had already approved prior to my meeting with SERC. SERC had recommended that I relocate to San Diego since I was commuting one hour one way to get to class. I was married at the time and my husband’s work was located near our home. It was not feasible for us to move to San Diego since he had been employed with the same employer for 20 years and it was a solid position, therefore I did not have worries about having to work. The SERC Committee ultimately could not understand that this was not an option. I was required to check back with SERC later towards the end of the semester.
My depression would go through improvements here and there but not fully improve. Nonetheless, I fulfilled all requirements, including moving to San Diego, as my husband and I separated. I jumped through every hoop. The next time I met with SERC, a few of the committee members changed which then included Dr. Stoddard and Disability Office Director at Alliant, Adam Kasarda. I had fulfilled my requirements and all recommendations, maintaining a GPA of 3.6. I had requested that the committee remove me from academic probation, given that I had met all “recommendations.” The SERC Committee denied my request to remove me from academic probation with no explanation and included a new set of “recommendations” which included the same recommendations above, which were either not applicable to my situation (ie “no further grades below a C”) or things I had already been doing for a year and a half (medication management and weekly therapy). They added some new requirements, which included registering with the disability office, meeting with my Faculty Advisor, Dr. Madero to come up with a plan for graduation (which I actually completed on my own and simply emailed to Dr. Madero) and check back with SERC in a few months. I had continued to meet all grade and depression management requirements and I attempted to register with the Disability Office, however, there was one big problem. I went to the Disability Office to pick up the papers to complete to register and realized that Adam Kasarda not only served on my SERC Committee but he was ALSO the Director of the Disability Office. I had a problem with this, especially since this demonstrated a conflict of interest and my Right to Privacy would not have been guaranteed. As a result, I was not able to fulfill this requirement and honestly, I know the disability office would have been a great service. By this time, I was on a total of 6 medications and my cognition was severely impacted. It was quite difficult for me to multi-task and my depression would go through a few months of improvement but I would always relapse back into depressive episodes.
During the last SERC meeting, I felt as though the members of the SERC Committee were trying to sabotage my being there, especially Dr. Jill Stoddard. During that same time, I was taking a CBT class with her while she was also serving on my SERC Committee, which I also find to be problematic. But anyways, she decided to take it upon herself to bring it to the attention to the committee that I never took notes during her CBT class but she failed to mention that I always sat in front of the class and I listened attentively, never fidgeting with anything. I believe she was trying to pose my lack of note-taking as a “behavioral” problem, even though the committee was well aware that I had a diagnosis of Major Depression, Severe, without Psychotic Features and was on a cocktail of medications that involved 6 medications, one in particular was known to cause a cognitive fog. None of these “Psychologists” nor the Director of the Disability Office would put this together. I explained that the first few weeks of the semester I had taken notes and could not multi-task between listening, writing and comprehending. I figured out that it was best to come to class prepared having already read the material, sit in front of the class and listen. I also had asked that if this was such a concern, why hadn’t Dr. Stoddard brought it to my attention privately before or after class. Rather she waited to discuss this behavior in front of the SERC Committee.
Despite the headedness of this SERC meeting, I was finally taken off academic probation and I was able to begin my second practicum during my third year. However, more trouble would arise and it involved Stoddard and sure enough the SERC Committee would be at it again. In the class where Stoddard question my note taking, I had missed a fourth absence. Again, I was either a few minutes late coming to class or I was just struggling. She mentioned she would give me an “In Progress” grade, however, I had said that I preferred a “W.” She insisted that an “In progress” would be better so I took her recommendation. According to Alliant, you have one semester to complete the course otherwise the “In progress” turns into F. Fortunately, however the course was being offered the following semester but in the PhD program, so PhD students were given first priority at registration. I was confident that I would be able to get into the class, as I had taken several PhD courses in the past as a PSYD student, even if the class was full. By the time my registration appointment time came, the course was full so I emailed the professor that was going to be teaching the course explaining the situation and even giving her Stoddard’s email address if she had any questions. The professor emailed me back and said that I should not have received an “in progress” and that the course is full and she would not accommodate me. As a result, the course was not completed in the required time and the Registrar turned the grade to an F.
I continued with my second practicum and did very well but continued to battle being overmedicated but at the same time depressed. In March, I decided to take my 2 week vacation, which I was entitled to, because I felt my symptoms getting worse. My supervisor supported my decision and even said I could take a little extra time as well, for I had completed a lot more hours than required. Sure enough Alliant found out why I had taken my vacation and the SERC Committee wasted no time sending me an email ordering me to meet with them. I was at my lowest at this point, struggling to hang on, feeling like the ultimate failure and the last thing I wanted was to go through more and more of the SERC Committee, whom I felt did absolutely nothing to help, increased my anxiety and was always the main topic of my therapy sessions and I was absolutely positive that at least one of the members of my SERC Committee was trying to sabotage my being at Alliant. I responded to their demand to meet with them, criticizing the way the handled my previous case with them thereby refusing to meet with them and withdrawing from the program (Spring 2014).
I relocated immediately to Oregon to be with family, was re-evaluated for my medication and I am proud to say my depression has been in remission for over 2 years and I am only on 1 medication. Despite the fact that I did not want to return to Alliant because of my experience there, I completed a total of 67 units, I do not have a degree and I owe a total of $250,000 in debt. I cannot find a Bachelor’s level job because I am overqualified, yet I do not have the degree to obtain a graduate level position. Feeling desperate to finish what I started, I contacted Dr. Ribner, Program Director of the PsyD program at the San Diego campus about reapplying and he basically said I was more than welcome to reapply but didn’t know if I would be allowed back into the program because of my history. So, it sounds like I am being discriminated against because of a disability. I had decided against applying because of the overall frustrations I had gone through. Once I was involved with SERC, everyone knew. Faculty treated me differently. I had faculty I never had seen before but when I would show up to class they were distant, aloof and I even had one say to me “yes I know who you are.” My cohort were a bunch of judgmental, nasty individuals, not all, but some, so they fit in perfectly with the faculty. When I initially started attending Alliant, I was friends with everyone. Then once my depression became known when I became involved with the SERC Committee, it was like everyone turned against me. One girl in particular, who I thought was at first my closest friend when we started graduate school, said she wanted nothing to do with me because of the way I was. Wow, and you are training to be a therapist then to help people who have problems that I do because….. Why? Interestingly, when we started graduate school a bunch of us all went out to Pacific Beach to go bar hopping and my then husband and I had to babysit that same girl because she was so drunk she was making out with random guys at various bars who were buying her drinks. Yet, she was hired by several professors at Alliant to be their assistant. I guess her behavior is, according to Alliant, the model behavior for a Psychologist in training. Yet, they were too busy discriminating against a person with a disability, me.
So now 3 years after my fiasco at Alliant, I am attempting to finish my degree, so I decided to apply at a PsyD program. I decided to contact one of my undergraduate professors, who gladly wrote a letter of recommendation, one of my supervisors from my graduate school practicums, who also gladly wrote another on my behalf. Then I decided to try and reach out to a faculty member from Alliant. I figured that maybe telling them I had been in remission for a few years, I had traveled, learned a 3rd language, leads horseback riding and decided to go back and finish, they would be supportive. I got quite the opposite. I contacted one professor from the PhD program who actually was very supportive but had just started her own practice and did not have the time so I contacted my Faculty Advisor, Dr. James Madero. I could not access my Alliant email so I had sent him a message through the Myalliant program by clicking on the envelope icon. I explained that I did not have his email address so I hoped that he would get the email. Then I explained that I needed a letter of recommendation and what I had been doing the last 3 years. He returned my email with a phone call the following day interrogating me with how I sent him the email if I did not have his email address. He cared more about that than wondering what I had been up to, how I had been doing, etc. Then he asked me what courses I took with him and what grades I got, which I had received A’s in both of his courses. Then he had said that I needed to obtain a copy of the form so he could see if he could write a letter on my behalf then at the end of the conversation he said, “send me an email, it’s the same as your Alliant email.” Yeah well, I hadn’t been on my Alliant email for 3 years! Upon just reflecting on all the experiences I had, I wrote to Dr. Madero a few days later telling him that I already had all my letters of recommendations and I didn’t need one from him. The truth was, I didn’t have them all, I just didn’t want to deal with another person from that school.
The faculty at Alliant is the nastiest, most vile, judgmental, pseudoprofessional bunch I have ever met, and that is the nicest thing I can say. That’s a compliment in my eyes. The emotional and mental abuse I endured is unforgiving and incomprehensible and to think that these “professionals” are in a place to educate the therapists of tomorrow and many are therapists themselves, boggles my mind. The fact that many not only appear to discriminate based on disability during disciplinary action is appalling but it also appears that their “recommendations” which are conditions to keep you in the program or determine fitness to stay in the program are many time difficult or impossible to achieve, at least that was how it was in my experience. Then they use academic probation so openly as a punishment where it really doesn’t warrant academic probation. Additionally, the faculty demonstrated unprofessionalism by gossiping about me, as faculty I had never saw or spoke to before mentioned knowing who I was and my cohort virtually turning against me over the course of 3 years. I withdrew from Alliant during such a low point in my life that I never filed a complaint or lawsuit, for my main focus was to get better and obtain remission. Depression was destroying my life and I didn’t know what to do. I moved out of state to be closer to family and started over. Finally I have overcome my disability and reached a point in my life where I feel capable to continue my studies. Even three years later and contacting two faculty members from that nasty, unprofessional, vile, pseudo educational institution reporting how far I have come and sharing how I wanted to continue my studies, the nastiness, unsupportive and discriminitive attitude still continues, obviously, as evident by Dr. Neil Ribner’s response that I could apply but based on what happened, the faculty will most likely not accept me into the program and Dr. James Madero when I asked for a simple request to write a letter of recommendation on my behalf, he cared more about how I wrote him an email, never congratulating me on reaching remission or asking how I have been. I wouldn’t wish attending this school on my worst enemy. The experience was just that horrendous. I was taken back by this and I remembered two other women (interestingly older women, like me I may add), who were in my cohort, who also went through the SERC Committee and who withdrew from the program as well (A total of 14 people withdrew from the program according to CSPP in the few years I was there and to me, that speaks volumes). I decided to Google complaints about this program and apparently I am not alone. I wish I was alone but at the same time, it is refreshing that I am not alone. While I have passed the Statute of Limitations to file complaints with the governing bodies I have researched, except one and the other may make accommodations for special circumstances, I have full intentions to share my experience. I was going to move forward with my life hopefully finishing my program elsewhere, but the nastiness and lack of support I received when asking for a Letter of Recommendation just reinforced my desire to file a complaint and share my experience. It wasn’t that he said no, he didn’t. It was the overall nastiness that it mattered more about how I sent the email and the conversation was focused on that. It goes to show how nasty, unprofessional and insensitive this faculty is and they have no business teaching tomorrow’s therapists to work with vulnerable people.
My advice is to go elsewhere. Steer clear from this school. They are incompetent – everyone from the faculty to the administration. Nothing gets done on time when dealing with administrative matters. The Myalliant site and email didn’t work half the time while I was there and the few times I have logged in since I withdrew from the program, it still hasn’t worked. The faculty at CSPP San Diego are nasty, unprofessional, clicky and are a bunch of know-it-all’s who really know nothing at all. The only person that has been amazing to work with has been Jeremy in the Perkins Loan department. He is sweet, kind and pleasant to work with, definitely too efficient for Alliant.
What should I do?
They discourage you from working at paid job so you are forced to take out more loans. Some of the end of the year examinations at the PhD and PsyD programs are set up for students to fail .
CSPP Alliant International University uses false advertising to get students into the clinical psychology program, they end up taking your money and dismiss you after being there for 4 or 5 years. It is a highly politicized environment.
They just want to be APA approved and be ranked somewhere on US News and World Report for graduate school rankings. Actually before the APA officials come to visit campus and talk to students they try to groom the students to make only positive statements.
Many students are in great fear from the school’s administration and current PsyD director Dr. Olkin.
Dr. Olkin who has a disability and uses a wheelchair, has actually been found to be psychologically abusive to students with disabilities, particularly students in wheelchairs.
One student rolled herself off the CSPP Alliant building’s roof and committed suicide. This took place sometime in early 2001 to 2005 when CSPP Alliant International University was still in Alameda, California.
This student who rolled herself off the building was known to have called Dr. Olkin for help before her suicide and was complaining to other students that Dr. Olkin was not returning her calls. Dr. Olkin is never held accountable for bullying so many students in the clinical psychology program. I am shocked she has currently become the director of the clinical psychology PsyD program of the San Francisco Alliant International University campus.
If anyone has any disabilities who have been psychologically abused by Dr. Olkin, please contact me or share your story on yelp.
Does anyone know the name of the clinical psychology graduate student at CSPP Alliant international University who committed suicide by rolling herself off the building in her wheelchair when the school was still called CSPP at the Alameda California campus? I was even told there were some classes that just continued the class session even when everyone got the news of the incident. Please contact me or share your story on yelp of you were a student at the time.
This is a dangerous school which will leave you in enormous amount of student loan debt and not take any responsibility for ruining so many lives. Alliant International’s Universty lawyers tried to present itself as “non profit” until the erroneous amount of debts on students were to obvious had to change their status to “for profit” school.
Has there been any other students at Alliant International University/CSPP who have committed suicide because they were left in high debt and not being supported to graduate from the CSPP clinical psychology PhD & PsyD programs?
People thought your review was:
In a nutshell Alliant has above average to excellent professors/academics but as one person shared… it’s a joke in some respects.
Compared to National University, National University has at the very least average teachers. One can often tell a poor academic program if the school allows non doctoral degree holders to teach graduate courses as they do at National.
On the other hand, National has a large endowment and has excellent business leadership… here’s my point (as well as a great library… bought for cash).
Alliant has horrible business leadership. Leading a school requires academic and business ability. I’ve sat down with leaders from Alliant several times and their business acumen seems to be non existent. Looking at the facilities… that only devolve and not evolve over time, zero endowment… well it doesn’t take a PhD in business to figure out some changes in leadership are needed. Sorry President Cox… you get an F in leadership. I gotta few suggestions:
1- Dr. Cox if you don’t quit take a few classes from Dr. Michael Cunningham of National University… might make your pride sting a little bit… but it’d be good for ya
2- Don’t employ students for professional office positions… take another tip from national University… it’s problematic to be customer centered when one’s knowledge in a given professional area is weak
3- Sell the trailers to a broker… focus on Hemet… they’ve many trailer parks there I hear
4- Realize after so many years of failure that you don’t have what it takes to run a university or business
5- Change the name back to United States International University… Alliant is pretty cheesy… a poor marketing move (silly really)
Just a few thoughts from a guy that completed programs at the school.
Good professors… laughable/prideful business leadership with an unwillingness to learn
Jack
The courses and the professors are great. Academically, I’m enjoying my experience. It’s every other area that disgusts me.
Housing is a total joke. Alliant housing consists of army barracks that are 20 years past their demolition date. The walls are paper thin, you can hear your neighbor cough or use the bathroom. The windows don’t block any sounds from outside. If your neighbor is talker or smoker, you’ll hear every dumb word they say EVERY SINGLE TIME they walk outside. The buildings are in such poor condition that the floors bounce when you walk over them. In some areas, if you jump up and down hard enough the floors will cave in. The shower stall is disgusting and if you look at the ceiling you see all the dust and decay of many years of uncaring staff. The director of campus life has no clue what she’s doing. She doesn’t even know how to interact with students, must less tell them how to live a successful oncampus life. She looks like Hagrid from Harry Potter, but with a really nasty attitude.
If you plan on studying in your room, don’t bother! You’ll never get anything done. Between your neighbors loud talking or arguing with their significant other, or campus life choosing to have a pool party with a loud dj on Sunday (WHICH UNIVERSALLY IS KNOWN AS A STUDY DAY), you won’t get much done. Parking in housing is a nightmare. So many people illegally live with their significant other, there are no parking spaces.
PS. There are no kitchens in these suites. I have seen government affordable housing (projects) in better condition than this hell hole. There is no refrigerator or microwave. The cafeteria serves carbs for every entree every meal of the day. Healthy eating doesn’t exist to these people.
It’s SHAMEFUL that this school has the AUDACITY to charge almost $6,000 per semester for these dumps. There have been NO renovations over the years. Meaning all of that net profit has gone nowhere. No improvements to campus or housing. The school does not care about their students. These people are here to get monthly checks.
I DEEPLY REGRET CHOOSING THIS SCHOOL. WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE.
***I am writing this review as a warning, if you are considering attending this school please read this review for your sake. I will try to give as many examples as possible. ***
1- Admission:
Without knowing or maybe blindly, I applied and got accepted right away. It was obviously laughable how I received admission responses from another international MBA student, who can barely speak English. It was probably only her who reviewed my application file. I got the admission decision almost 30 minutes after completion of my file. I simply received an email saying I am accepted by the very foreign student who handled my entire application process. Moreover my admission was handled so unprofessionally that the school suddenly expected a foreign student living in a different continent to start attending the classes within the next 2 days rather than placing into the following quarter.. Yet I considered my admission as a new beginning like many other hopeful foreign students, who didn’t know what to expect from Alliant International University.
After my first quarter ( 8 weeks ) I found out more than I expected about the school. The very first time I talked to a classmate was really weird because I was bluntly told to expect the worst. In fact, after a few days, some of the people I met during the orientation started transferring to other schools one by one . I rarely saw local students.
If you are familiar with grad. school admissions, then let me put it this way :
Most of the international students can barely speak English, they mostly give a blank look followed by a nod. Standardized English tests like TOEFL and IELTS are not even a requirement..After admissions students are asked to take a super easy English test at a hut called “Language Center”…
None of the students I met in my graduate program taken a single GRE or GMAT. They were accepted without any test scores. My first question to YOU is : ” So.. what would you expect to see? ”
Okay here we go
Education :
I attended the classes for a year and learned NOTHING here. the education is embarrassing the students themselves because they really feel under-challenged, and they openly joke about it. Teachers mostly try to motivate students at the beginning of the classes with promises of real professional projects for companies in San Diego. But after the second week, instructors mostly decide to choose Alliant International University itself as the professional company subject.. How sad is that ? Group projects are very painful because you will most likely find yourself in a group of 5 people, where only 2 people end up trying to work on the entire project. Most of the time since majority of students can’t speak English, they won’t be able to help with group assignments; even when they really want to .. ( Don’t get me wrong the projects/group assignments are not even all that serious, don’t let the name – project- fool you. They are more or less “google the information, write 5-6 pages long paper, combine it with the other person’s work .. that’s how I had 3.8 GPA before I left)
Difficulty of the classes ? Are you kidding me ? All of the final and midterm tests I took were ALL open-book exams with questions taken from the course book or again Google.. Teachers mostly don’t even bother coming up with a decent test for the students. The problem is, no one bothers, or cares for anything. Don’t be surprised to see people Googling the questions during the exam..YES ! you will see majority of students checking Google for midterm answers DURING the test while the instructor always been right IN FRONT OF US !!! Teachers don’t even care to look to see if people taking the test are copying each others’ papers.. I remember it was 2 weeks before the Final exam, and there was a Chinese student who didn’t even know the meaning of word: Rain. The instructor started making weird noises to desperately continue telling his boring story (which had nothing..literally nothing with the topic)..Oh by the way this instructor became a faculty dean.
Assignments are no different, the assignment questions are also taken from the books ( which is understandable to a degree but don’t expect anything else other than writing meaningless essays..) My friends from different faculties always commented on how assignments were only given to keep students busy, really, they ask nothing creative for assignments. Most of the students write a few sentences rather than essays in Tarzan English , locals sadly copy paste whatever they find on Wikipedia. There are a few good students but you will either find them trying to transfer to a real university or get their degree while relying on easily given 4.0 GPA
Student Resources : They simply got the money they were supposed to refund and kept me waiting for months. It’s been months, I just learned I am not getting any..for the classes I NEVER attended in the first place.
If you are a current student, check your account; you will see many -50, or -60s for no reason and when you ask about them, they… suddenly disappear. Where’s the honesty in this institution ?
If you are an international student trying to make a payment, oh you are screwed, it will take decades for people working right next to each other to get together and process a single file. It’s funny how many times I ended up signing the same payment plan enrollment forms at the beginning of each quarter.. after all, there is no professional coordination or what so ever there. If you don’t believe me just visit the campus.. There’s not even a single security waiting at the entrance.. Anyone can enter the campus, almost like a barn in middle of nowhere. Before I left, The School of Management had a new dean from Harvard, yet shortly after a year he left Alliant.
Popularity ? No one knows this school in San Diego and from what I can tell San Diego campus is supposed to be one of Alliant’s biggest campuses. Oh.. if you show your student ID in San Diego to attend a student event or a party, people ask if it’s an online school. Same goes for student discounts, people will give you a puzzled look when you show Alliant school ID. That’s only because people really have no clue about the school’s existence, some even think you are trying to undertake them with a fake school name / ID . How do you think you can land on a job after graduating from such school anyway?
Internships ? The professional connections ? Students need to find an intern position at a local company on their own. I had a friend ended up doing her internship at a local pet shop as a cashier.. Such a vast network for a Business School huh? LOL ! OH by the way.. she had 4.0 GPA from the MBA program. Did it help her at all ? no.
Post-Graduation Experience: I did not graduate from here and I will have to depend on my friends’ experience
My friends who got their MBA and Psychology degrees from here ended up with nothing other than regret. In fact, you will mostly find foreign students who had no clue about this school and a very few locals show up. Foreign students who went back to their countries mostly decided to go with another Master’s degree program at a different ( and accredited !! ) university.
If you are a local : Most of the locals are here for two reasons : either financial ( school is very cheap compared to real universities in USA), or getting a “PHD” in very short time. Half of the locals I met, either left the school shortly after attending a few classes. The other half say it took them 3 to 4 years to graduate from Master’s degree programs because the so-called flexible course schedules at Alliant International University only offer very few core classes, so you will have to wait 1-2 years to get your electives . In other words students end up waiting for some of the classes they need to take in order to graduate. Before graduation if the class you need to take is not on the available class list, you may really end up skipping semesters just like others have been doing.
They already came up with a non-academic remedy this situation for foreign students . Academic advisors fill foreign students’ schedule with unreasonable course substitutions; I myself did not need to take the Managerial Finance class because there was only another marketing class that was available at that time. Simply put I was considered having knowledge of Managerial Finance by taking Marketing Communications class.. whaa… ??
Campus : I must be honest, Alliant’s San Diego campus definitely has a unique character for sure. There is no visible student body like in regular universities, the cafeteria area is where you can see at most 15 people hanging around. Master’s degree classes are always offered between 6-10:30 pm, after 7 pm you can see raccoons and other type of wildlife. For me it was a very strange experience; because there are literally “huts” in the middle of the campus, which are used as classrooms and offices. Each hut was one classroom. Campus itself is really far away from San Diego downtown. Don’t expect a typical university campus like those of UCSD, SDSU, and USD ( even University of Phoenix’s campus right next to I-8 highway looks better..) The Business School building is actually the library building with few classrooms. In other words School of Management does NOT have a separate building. Apparently cost-saving is the only thing they learned and trying to teach..
Student Life: Try to meet as many people as you can because compared to regular universities in San Diego, you will not find a single crowd ( at least I never saw one during the entire year ). People only come to school, park their cars, attend the classes, and leave the campus immediately as if the school is plague.
SHORT VERSION : For your own sake, AVOID this school, just be patient and work on your test scores and do whatever it takes to get into a REAL school. The amount of time and money you are going to spend on Alliant International University is definitely not worth it. Ask yourself this, would you really be okay with an educational environment where people who can’t write a full sentence in English are getting A’s for free from master’s degree classes? Do not expect to see a regular university here, because it is truly so far away from being one.
In my case such disappointing experience through-out an entire academic year pushed me to get into one of the top 50 B-schools :) I will never forget the way I *gulped* when I saw that orientation, it was such a big shock and a good lesson for me..
Want to be clear, not disgruntled at being layed off in fact welcomed it,
got more money than if I had quit a year ago
Never in my life have I worked for a company that was so lame
Not enough clear proceedural policies, upper management fighting for power, and overal badly managed
I can not list all the bull s**t I have witnessed at AIU for last 12 years ( Not enough beer or time on this planet )
Why 12 years? Good question.
Year after year I kept believing their bullshit things are going to get better
Then wow 12 years are gone
AIU good luck with that reorg thing and shame on you for lying to everyone
It is amazing how good life can be after AIU
Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire
CHORUS:
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher
And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire
The Taste Of Love Is Sweet
When Hearts Like Ours Meet
I Fell For You Like A Child
Oh,But The Fire Went Wild
CHORUS
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher
And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire
Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down (down), Down (down), Down (down)
And The Flames Went Higher Higher Higher
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down (down), Down (down), Down (down)
And The Flames Went Higher Higher Higher
Staff are overworked and can not attend to student’s needs. Even needs we are paying for such as mentoring dissertation.
The amount of money the school costs is oppressive, especially when compared to the average income of a psychologist. Good luck having a life after school.
Especially when this school notoriously does not compete for APA internships which are mandatory at many jobs. You can invest 300k and have no work prospects afterwards!
MiseryLikesCompany- the undergrad experience is very different than the grad. Are you staying in their program? I would talk to more people that are a 4th year or above. We all started starry eyed in the field and were extremely disappointed by the time we got out.
If anyone has any doubts, check out the pass rates for the licensing exam. Good luck getting a job to pay that 100k plus debt.
attorneys are pricey but go to this website if you believe alliant discriminated against you. Alliant is not under the BPPE. bUT i AM IN THE PROCESS OF FILING A COMPLAINT
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/complaintprocess.html
Can you please provide me with the names and contact information of the attorneys you are referring to? I am in a similar situation and am beyond astonished at how AIU run their programs and something has to be done.
Please post all and any info you have re: lawyers.
Thanks so much
I’m a “G3” in one of the psychology programs in Northern CA. At Alliant, you are essentially buying a degree. And paying an arm and a leg.
I gave up trying after the first semester when they required an obscene number of credits. I got an A in a class that I barely attended and when I did attend, I was stoned out of my mind and just stared at my computer paranoid that the professor could tell. I failed every quiz and there were no additional assignments that could explain the A. On top of this, one of my classmates got a lower grade and she actually did the readings.
Yes, I’m ratting myself out, but this is not fair to other students and shows that Alliant is not giving grades based on performance.
Oh, and the students looooooove to gossip. Yes, in a doctorate program.
I am stuck in this lousy program because I already have $125,000 invested in it.
They stick you with these stupid comp exams every year. Luckily I ended up passing the third time around. No, they probably won’t tell you about those when you apply. They didn’t tell me.
AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!
I am looking for a lawyer to see because I am in the process of writing an appeal.
I think we can get alliant to loose their accrediation if there are enough lawsiuts against them. Everyone with complaints please go to https://www.bppe.edu to submit a complaint throught the department of consumer affairs. If the accreditation board is aware of these issues then everyone can be fired and the school will be restarted with new faculty and staff. Please please write complaints, grievances, and there is also a bias committee…these complaints go to human resources!!!!!
i don’t want anyone else to get scammed by this school
Dissertaion, and practicum placement is a joke. When you tell them you are not being placed they blame you and give you permission to do things they will later deny.
If you go here document and make copies of everything. Doubt it will do any good because even with proof their goal is to find you responsible for everything.
I don’t know if its a race thing, age, or what but for some reason certain students will get picked on constantly by faculty. I am contemplating sueing the school for harrassment and unfair treatment.
PS–Obviously my rating only is reflective of everyone else’s here–I had to leave it to make a comment. I have not had personal contact for years.
In addition some teachers are very very incompetent. They don’t even understand the subject they are teaching. So they are often struggling within the lectures and you only think “oh my god”. A guy with a Alliant (!) Master in Business Administration is e.g. teaching “International Economics” and he really has no clue about it.
Well some teachers and classes are fairly okay under the bad circumstances, but when you keep in mind that every lecture costs you about $200 and your time, you often get very angry about the whole situation.
Furthermore they will be almost no student life at this university. There offer no sports. They even claim to be “international” and don’t offer any language classes except English composition ones. Terrible!
And one IMPORTANT thing: When you find positive reviews about Alliant on the internet you can be 90 % sure that they are fake, because they have been made by students within classes encouraged and graded by their professors! Alliant also pays students to make acquisition for them. Be very careful!
I also know another person that applied to Alliant International University in Irvine, and she is also a drug and alcohol recovering addict, and she said that they admitted her to their doctoral program right away. She applide for 2 of their doctoral programs while Alliant International University accepted her right away (almost instantly) even when they knew about her “previous drug and alcohol addiction.” My family,co-workers, and friends had a discussion about Alliant and how they are admitting primarily people from drug and alcohol addiction backgrounds, and that are still addicted to their drugs and alcohol, which makes me question how ethical and moral Alliant is. Alliant International University’s practices are apparently unethical and immoral because how can they admit people that say “they are recovered drug and alcohol addicts” when they aren’t recovered and are still abusing and using drugs and alcohol? I know too much about who and what Alliant International University admits into their programs, and it is appalling to see that they admit alcohol and drug addicts into their program that are still currently using and abusing right behind Alliant’s back. What is even more devastating is that these therapists are supposed to be “helping” the drug and alcohol addicts recover when the therapist is not even recovered himself. This is incredibly unethical, disappointing, and saddening.
It doesn’t surprise me that Alliant International University in Irvine (or whatever city they’re located) admits students that are currently drug and/or alcohol addicted individuals. Alliant is not a good school. If you’re thinking about applying to graduate schools to be a counselor/therapist/psychologist or for anything then you’d benefit more by applying to a better school. My co-workers, family, and friends, and I have discussed this topic at length and have come to the conclusion that it may be difficult, but study and work harder to get A+ in classes that you think the admissions team will care more about. It is also wise to study and take the GRE because many of the graduate schools still require those scores simply as a formality, but don’t factor them into the admissions decision making process. In other words, your GRE scores don’t matter, yet they are still required in the admission decision making process at many universities.
Basically, attending Alliant International University is not advised! Run away from this “school”! Run far away! Save yourself their lack of ethics and morality!
Thanks a lot, any info would be much appreciated!
Even though professors are practicing psychologists– many of them being clinical psychologists, they are quite abusive and are not concerned about students’ success. Just because they can do so, as there is no system in place to make them accountable for their misbehavior, those licensed psychologists will emotionally and psychologically abuse you; they are manipulative and actually dangerous. One should realize that if a number of students or people have already expressed similar concerns, one would want to stay away from such school.
The administration should take these concerns seriously and look into these matters to improve the program; that is, if the school cares about its reputation and students at all. It would be very difficult for students to grow as genuinely caring and emotionally as well as intellectually competent clinical psychologists in such abusive environment that the clinical program has created. It is also true that the program director seems to have Bipolar. Everyone knows about it, and students are so afraid of saying anything to her for fear of retaliation.
Furthermore, there was a caring Hispanic professor before, but he left the school because of overt racism among professors. The aforementioned comments should be a warning to any decent students who are doing research to find out about AIU-San Diego.
Even though professors are practicing psychologists– many of them being clinical psychologists, they are quite abusive and are not concerned about students’ success. Just because they can do so, as there is no system in place to make them accountable for their misbehavior, those licensed psychologists will emotionally and psychologically abuse you; they are manipulative and actually dangerous. One should realize that if a number of students or people have already expressed similar concerns, one would want to stay away from such school.
The administration should take these concerns seriously and look into these matters to improve the program; that is, if the school cares about its reputation and students at all. It would be very difficult for students to grow as genuinely caring and emotionally as well as intellectually competent clinical psychologists in such abusive environment that the clinical program has created. It is also true that the program director seems to have Bipolar. Everyone knows about it, and students are so afraid of saying anything to her for fear of retaliation.
Furthermore, there was a caring Hispanic professor before, but he left the school because of overt racism among professors. This should be a warning to any decent students who are doing research to find out about AIU-San Diego.
My impression of Alliant is that it has some good intentions, but the stories about this being an old boys club is sadly true. The quality of professorship isnt there – apart from some rare and very shining examples. But from my experience there are many students enrolled in classes who could really make it on any course in any uni. From a student perspective, we put the academic staff to shame.
I have been studying at the School of Management, and I get the feeling that it really wants to at least try to hold true to the USIU principles. USIU went bankrupt 10 years ago, and was bought out by the school of psychology, to create this new entity called Alliant. The vast majority of international students are in the school of management, there is a concerted effort to get student club numbers up, and the classrooms have been modernized.
Sadly, as others have said, they are dealing with excessive political infighting (sure, they’re probably just as guilty of it themselves) which is just a load of egos.
In short, this place could be so much better. Such a shame. I’d like to say i’m a better-than-average student, and I would love it if the School of Management recruited more quality students, but I appreciate that people need to do what’s best for them. Coming from abroad, I didnt know better and didnt do my research. Alliant, especially the School of Management, has great potential, it just needs to get over the bitterness from the merger, and put its energy into one course of action rather than the confused divergent courses it seems to be taking at the moment.
The professors will threaten to send you before a committee if you begin to fail a class or they don’t like something about you. Rather than speaking to you first, they send you to be ambushed… very unprofessional of a school that prides itself on unprofessionalism. Not to mention I’ve heard several professors talk about other students. Even if names aren’t dropped, you can generally figure out who they are talking about as it is a small school and program.
The campus is infested with women in the program and in general— too much estrogen and not enough men. The minute I leave campus and enter the REAL WORLD, the ugly men actually become attractive. The men that actually go to the campus are typically fighting feelings of homosexuality, “little man syndrome (short men)” or “small penis syndrome”. The women are self-absorbed bitches and think they look better than Megan Fox. Many of them are virgins who put their pussy on a pedestal. What I want to say is they should go out and get a good lay. Then maybe they won’t continue to have the personality of a rock as they all take themselves too seriously.
The school should not call itself “international” as the only internationality that I see is rich white Europeans (the EF’s-international students) who’s claim at being at A-lliant as they pronounce it, is purely for fucking, spreading STDs, and partying. Many of them are extremely rude and stand in the middle of the street when people are driving, daring you to run them over. There have been some EFs that have been caught fucking in the laundry mat and swimming pool. None of them are here to learn English as they say, which wouldn’t bother me if there wasn’t such an infestation of them here on campus. There are also very very few colored people. The only time I see colored people is when I see the cleaning crew and employees in the cafeteria. I also think there are racist people here, both students and administration. Heaven forbid your skin is naturally tan… after all, colored people were only meant to carry a leaf blower and not a textbook, right?
Also, many of the administration, i.e. financial aid, are so inadequate at their jobs, primarily a financial aid adviser named Paul who constantly fucks up your financial aid. Financial aid has a reputation for overcharging students and adding on fees right before graduation. They also hold your diploma hostage until the remaining balance is paid. The director of admissions is also very unprofessional, often using a condescending tone and sarcasm when he speaks to you.
What keeps me here is knowing that this is one of the few programs in the country and one of the few that never turns down any applicant. I could go on and on but I will not… you get my point.
I didn’t realize that this was the case with SD as well.
I went to the Sacramento Alliant, and we had the same problems. It was continually ridiculous and that first post really resonated with me and it felt like I was reading about Sacramento’s Alliant.
If I had to do it all over again, I would have gone to a state school, or a UC.
And I 100% agree that if you are into politics, want to learn about them, want to see politics play out, and continually see teachers back stab each other with mind games then it’s the place for you.
I am just so relieved I graduated, and am out because it was the worst experience I have ever had. Being a therapist has been a wonderful experience! And I thoroughly enjoy seeing my clients and doing work with them! However, the Alliant experience made you really think is this worth it, all this money spent, politics, and unreasonable constant discrimination. (I have so many stories, it’s sad.)
The actual therapist job for me was worth it, but like I said if I had to do it all over I would have picked a different school. I also would have talked to actual students from lots of different schools. This is instead of advisers, and school specialists who are looking to make a buck by recruiting to make their commission and numbers. Also, I would have looked into being able to sit in a lecture class, to get a feel for things, and to talk to the cohorts to see how they felt about everything. This is without having the teachers pre-pick which students they would like to talk to the future potential students (of course students who will say only positive things). I would want to hear the good & the bad not just information from a student who is on fire about the school, and gets to present at a conference with the teacher because they have been buddy buddy.
(All of this is not to mention that it took 4 months to get my diploma posted, just posted on the internet, after I was gone. Then after it was posted I received it in the mail 2 months later followed by another 2 diplomas a month later randomly. I had also requested 2 transcripts which were 2 months late and did not have my degree posting on it as I requested. So I followed up continually working on it, received 4 transcripts in the mail a month later. Also, when I submitted my paperwork for education certification to the director, even after following up the director got back to me 3 months later. By this time I had already been out of school for 6 months. Of course, because of the constant trend of un-organization I had already picked someone else to sign it from a different alliant, and she got it back to me within that week.)
Basic summary, pick another school. And be thorough with your research.
The “so called” leaders of the university have no clue as to what they are doing. Each year they raise tuition and make it more difficult for students to go to Alliant. Then they boast about their “small class sizes.” What they don’t get is other universities make small class sizes to better a student’s education, not because they cannot fill a classroom. They removed the student book store and now require all books to be purchased online. There are no student activities on campus, the classes are not getting any better and all you get is a shady blanket email from the president telling you how University costs keep going up which is why they need to raise tuition. You can guarantee one of those every year. Just do not expect the president to actually break down where this money is going because that will never happen.
The administration is a complete joke. If you ever want a tour of the university, just ask someone for help. After getting the run around and speaking to 5 or 6 different people telling you to go somewhere else, you will most likely have covered the entire campus. Just don’t expect a straight answer from anyone.
For those of us on financial aid, they conveniently take about $1,000.00 out each year for some ridiculous medical insurance. It is up to you to prove you have it before the deadline or those funds are gone forever. I had no idea they did this the first year until I went to register for the second semester. They told me I owed $1,000.00 and could not sign up for any classes until I paid this amount. Money I would not have owed if they did not take out these funds without my knowledge. I swear going to this University is like having another part time job. You have to keep up with your financial aid and monitor it line by line to make sure they do not make mistakes. Trust me, I have to go there every semester to have them reverse some unfounded charge or another. No one knows what they are doing so you pretty much have to figure everything out on your own. So unless you have a lot of free time I do not recommend going here.
Long story short, if I knew then what I know now, I would have applied somewhere else. There are much better, and more affordable, universities in the area. Your money will be better spent at one of these.
I feel badly for anyone who has invested time in Alliant at the graduate level. It continues to use many of the claims that USIU at least tried to achieve, e.g. internationalism. The claims that many of its students are from other countries may have been true when it was USIU and offered e.g. Anthropology and Sociology, but now? Why would people from abroad come to graduate in clinical or marriage counseling?
The above reviews are so sadly right in almost every respect. For instance: Compared to universities in New York City, where I received my Master’s, Alliant is hopelessly inadaquate. Compared to the intellectual and cultural life of San Diego, I much prefer TX, particularly Dallas. But regardless where you go or how well you do at the university (and I was made a member of Psi Chi Honorary Society and had a high GPA and did an excellent dissertation), Alliant all but sees to it that you fail, afterwards. My dissertation has been uploaded to the Internet and everyone uses it without a single citation. The university further destroyed the worth of my doctorate. They took my double doctorate and changed it to two fields they did not even offer so that I would have no psychology background. They encourage plagiarism, in part because the current professors are so bad and in part because they, and the administration and library do not care about copyright infringement or plageurism.
The worst thing besides the unethical behavior of the administration and now faculty at USIU/Alliant is this: The university never intended anyone to graduate who did research.
Professors: Most of the Professors are too busy to give you the time of day . . . good luck finding your advisor. They spend most of their time quoting themselves. A lot of the professors are graduates of the school who couldn’t get a job anywhere else.
Practicum/Internships: They offer very little help when it comes to finding any internships/practicums. It boils down to: Here is a list of place we will let you work at . . . good luck.” very bad match-up with APA internships, mostly CAPIC. They manipulate their statistics on their website to make it look better. Most APA Internships won’t consider you if you go to a professional school like this.
Student Life: What Student Life? No one spends time together. We all hate each other or are too stressed out writing a paper that our professors will publish with their own name on it (with no mention of the real authors)
Administration: Old boys network anyone? The top professors are all good friends and alternate who will be director for a few years. Most are very grumpy and see you as a cash cow that should be more stressed out so you don’t talk to them as much. The current director is bipolar.
Classes: Weird. From super unorganized stuff you should have learned in undergrad to complicated subjects that are breezed over.
Assessment method: This all depends on your prof and the mood that he/she is in. Could care less about your life. One of the people in my program had cancer and they said “too bad” 2 c-grades and your out.
Politics: Do you like politics? If you do this is the place for you. All of the schools at Alliant International University (marshal Goldsmith, CSPP, Undergrad,) and all of the programs, Clinical, forensics, business, Marriage and Family, PhD, PsyD and Masters hate each other. it’s like watching a cock fight over resources. If you complain they will find a way to have you “drop out” of the program.
Campus/Resources: The campus I know (San Diego), is horrible. Most of the classes are in portables. It’s $40,000 a year per student and they refuse to build a new building. The buildings they do have are old military buildings from 1970. The resources are 2 computer labs with ancient computers, 1 lecture hall (scipps theatre) with mostly broken seats and a really laking library.
Finances: There is no way you will get a schoolarship going here and it’s $40,000 a year. Hello $200,000 debt. Students aren’t there to learn . . . they are there to pay tuition.
Time: 5 years for a PhD, 4 years for a PsyD, 2.5 for a masters. They seem to do anything that they can to stretch out your stay here, and then blame you.
I have been going here for a long time and regret accepting. I went into my program with an open heart and an eagerness for my subject and this school could have cared less. They are so poorly managed and see students as obnoxious cash cows. They have “I wish I was” syndrome. They wish they were stanford or berkley so they ride their students to the brink of insanity so that the faculty’s reputation will improve. They don’t care if you complete your degree. It almost seems like they push people to quit so that they can get as many students to pay as much tuition as possible. I love my field (used to anyway), but I do not love this school. Do yourself a favor apply somewhere else, anywhere else . . . Siberia University sounds much better to me.