UC Berkeley Extension

Concepts of Physics, course PHYSICSX11−004. It is advertised in the description as «a minimum of mathematics». This is complete and utter Bullsh*t and and outright lie. It is absolutely nothing BUT mathematics, with zero instruction in said mathematics. You are basically teaching yourself by reading the textbook and watching youtube videos. The instructor then includes test questions including math that was NOT COVERED ANYWHERE IN THE READING OR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS. I brought up my concerns twice and was given 1 – 2 sentence answers, basically saying «your grades look fine, just do your best» (getting a 75% on a quiz that I spent hours and hours studying for is not «fine»). I feel basically un-​supported. IF you are already a math whiz, have a super solid grasp of all things algebra, you might do okay here. I am now past the 7 day withdrawal limit, so now I am out $ 900+ if I quit. Never ever ever again, and will strongly recommend against, for anyone who asks.

Where else should I look into to take my higher level biology class online if it wasn’t UCBX? Help PLEASE!
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After reading all the negative comments about my cell biology instructor and UCBX program itself. I hesitate to enroll.
I need to take a higher level biology class to REapply for my grad school. I have already failed once I really do not want to fail again…
I am looking to take this cell biology course to boost my application by getting an A, not to hinder it… I cannot afford another bad grade.
What other colleges offer online courses like UCBX? Any suggestions are appreciated VERYVERYVERY much! Please message me PLEASE!

I took some online accounting courses here. They were pretty difficult and I did learn something as I drilled down a lot on the textbook. However, the reason for the low review is it is definitely not a school for just anyone. It’s best to be a very independent learner for this school that can figure out things solely from materials/​textbook and not expect to receive any sort of feedback as from one of the courses I took, I got full credit on some assignments when I calculated a problem wrong. After studying more for the final I realized it was incorrect. This could be a problem as you want to know you are understanding the material correctly as the most important part is passing the final. The final for at least the courses I took are what lets you pass the course. Even if you received A’s throughout the course you can fail if you get a 69.9% on the test. Make sure to be in top condition/​not sick/​etc so that factors such as these don’t mess you up on the test you could have passed if you were feeling better. As courses here are expensive for lack of instruction, I had to give a lower review, otherwise the courses can be manageable.

I took JP Novin’s class in the Leadership and Management program. The class was extremely informative. JP’s real life experience increased his ability to teach and relate to everyone in class. Learning leadership from a leader not the same as learning from a teacher and this class proved that.

DO NOT TAKE ONLINE LEARNING CLASSES. There is no instruction, zero lectures, presentations, webinars, videos etc. What are you paying for? You’re paying for someone to tell you to read a book and do lots of homework. Go elsewhere. I’m going to request a refund and they’ll probably deny me.

AVOID AT ALL TIME!
Look Chem X105 (biochem) online and Rebekah Marsh is NOT fair. Overall online quizzes, I got As (mini paragraph). When it comes to finals… that’s a whole different story. First, they give you a study guide. When it comes to taking the final, you need a professor to watch you (fair!). Well the questions given on the final was not very detail. They would ask what is _​_​_​_​_​. Well, I got points mark off because I did not draw the reaction. WHAT? That was not even on the question. When I tired to petition the score, UCB said it was on the study guide that you need to know the reaction. I KNOW THE REACTION but DID YOU ASK FOR IT? I also got marked off points because I did not answer as detail as the study guide. Let’s be real, study guide is not always covered on the exam. If you want me to be detail on the exam, then ASK the right QUESTION!
Extension SUCKS! AVOID AT ALL TIME. WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!

I took 10 classes to complete my Business Administration Certificate in 2015. There are really good classes with very helpful and expert instructors. On the other hand, they have some useless classes that are out of date and not well designed. You need to research for the instructors very carefully to get much more from it.
I would definitely recommend following classes and instructors!
Essentials of Management — JP Novin
Corporate Financial Management– Bob Coackley
Applied Economics for Business-​Ashish Sahni
Principles of Management Accounting– Gregory Sinclair
Project Schedule and Risk Management — Catherine Pinkas

I took a Calculus course through the UC Berkeley Extension program based off of a recommendation. I wish I would’ve read the Unilocal reviews before I wasted my time and money. I basically had to learn everything myself. There were no videos or power points, only lecture notes, that don’t make any sense if you are not proficient in calculus. 50% of the class was very extensive homework that took a lot of time because the professors notes are not very helpful (I got a 95% cumulative score on the homework). The other 50% was a final that was closed book, no formula sheet and had no practice exam. I felt so unprepared going into the final because we had covered so much during the class and the professor said to know numerous sections that were not a focus on the final at all. It felt overwhelming as I was preparing for it and it was terrible when I took it (I did not do well on the final). Needless to say, I would not recommend anything about this program. As I was completing the end of class survey, it asked a lot of questions about «not finishing the course,» as if a lot of people take an incomplete. I wish I would’ve known that the school/​program is okay with people throwing away their money. Whether you are looking to satisfy a prerequisite or just brush up on a subject, look elsewhere.

Thoroughly research the instructor for the course. Try to take the class in-​person, you’ll get much more from it.

Like many others, I was sold on the reputation of Berkeley being one of the leading universities in California… I graduated from a prestigious UC in Southern California and I expected nothing less from Berkeley.
I was wrong with my decision. I took Advanced Accounting online there and the instructor Gary Bong was COMPLETELY disengaged with whatsoever. The instructor did not respond to my emails (I also contacted other students, and confirmed of the same thing) and even when he did, he was about two weeks late in providing a response. When I asked him a question about a concept, he would restate the question and ask me to read the textbook. At one point, I had to make a telephone call to UC Berkeley Extension office and talk to the program representative to see what was happening. The person contacted the professor and about a week later he was responsive… for a while.
Okay, the class now, we cramped through four chapters in the last week of the course. The course was very poorly structured. Along with a non-​responsive instructor, the students had a stressful and difficult time to gauge the final exam, which you have to pass in order to pass the class. We literally went through the textbook days and nights, no tips were given about the exam.

Great experience in the Essentials of Management business class with JP Novin. Pertinent subject matter and real-​world examples/​applications.

First time taking a class at UC Berkeley extension and appalled by the quality of instruction. The instructor not only does not know the material but what she mostly does is read her PowerPoint slides which are a «copy and paste» from the textbook. She can’t answer most of the questions asked, assigns exercises/​homework from the book she doesn’t understand and we have to subject ourselves to being graded by someone who has to be educated by the class. I would totally drop this class if my work hadn’t paid for it. Just a waste of time.

⁴⁄₅ starts: «Yay! I’m a fan!»
About ME: pre-​medical student who has already taken a year of General Chemistry, Organic Chemisty 1, Physics 1, Online Genetics, Statistics, and all associated Labs through this institution.
The PROS:
–getting science labs is as easy as buying an airline ticket. This is what made me leave SF State’s Open University for UCBX.
–all of the teachers I’ve had have PhDs, which will help them stand out when I use them for letters of reccommendation for med school applications.
–Multiple class locations, which helps for those of us who work part-​time in other locatons.
–I genuinely feel like I am learning everything I will need to know for the MCAT.
–Some of the teachers are friggin’ awesome!
–You get to know other students term to term, as you all follow the same educational trajectory.
–Class sizes are reasonable.
–Many class time offerings to help with people who works days and/​or nights.
–I have witnessed, on one occasion, an (attempted) improvement in a teacher after various complaints were written to those higher up. She was eventually transfered out of the subject she was teaching. Therefore, I believe this institution cares about quality. There has been a long, recent sreak of dissatisfaction on Unilocal.I believe this comes mostly from frustrations with teachers. As with any institution, there are good ones and bad ones.
NEUTRAL:
–The Post-​Bac Health Certificate Program: I am not aware that a medical school requires any certificate. I had originally applied to SF State’s Post-​Bac program (which rejected me on the basis of a lack of prerequisites. Ironic.). When I didn’t get in, I realized there would be NO WAY for me to ever get my labs. So I cannot emphasize how valuable it has been to guarantee my labs in UCBX months in advance. Worth the inflated price. And you do not need to be in the post-​bac program. Students I know who are in it are happy with it, but I struggle to see how they actually benefit. It seems like they end up paying more money for it (extra required seminars). But they do get counseling services and access to the next term’s class schedule before I do. It doesn’t hurt to have the Post-​Bac certificate. UCSF med school admissions officers spoke favorably of both UCBX and SF State’s post-​bac programs and said it’s really up to the student’s discretion, and let the matter rest.
The CONS:
–High variability in quality of teachers. Some have been incredible and helpful, and others have been draconian, impersonal, useless, downright terrifying. I declare that the least helpful teacher I’ve ever had in my life was my physics teacher. That being said, I worked myself to death and still got an A, but other equally intelligent students were not so lucky. Sometimes I feel like the teachers couldn’t get jobs anywhere else. I feel very lucky to have had mostly competent teachers (I learned to do due dilgence). But I also hear lots of horror stories.
–You should know how to teach YOURSELF a subject from a textbook. Teachers are good at sticking to the syllabus and curriculum, but my successes came mostly from my own hard work.
–Labs are EXPENSIVE.
–Online Genetics: DON’T TAKE THIS CLASS ONLINE (unless you are already familiar with the subject). Tests and quizzes do not reflect coursework in a predictable way; there is a lot of emphasis on knowing your subject inside and out with multiple-​answer multiple choice quesionts (be wary of complicated semantics), as well as applications of statistics and difficult pattern recognition problems. I’m a 4.0 student that cannot master this class online and feel like I would need a photographic memory to ace all the quizzes and tests. I’m disappointed by what may very well be my own shortcomings; still, I cannot fathom how anyone feels that a subject of this complexity can be taught online. Special note: my disappointment in no way refects my opinion of the instructor. I have no knowledge of who developed the curriculum. My frustrations stem mostly from my inability to understand test questions as they are written. There is no instructor at the front of the room to ask, «I’m sorry, but can you please clarify the language?» I wish someone anywhere on the internet had reviewed this class before I decided to take it.

I was enrolled for a hot second for two classes and dropped due to the cost. They don’t give a crap if you were dying and your kids are going to starve they will charge you for the «labor fees» for those seconds or minutes or hours you were enrolled. $ 100 for somebody to just remove you it takes that much money to do it. They don’t give crap how broke your family is they will take. No exemptions they need to pay the person that cancelled you. Won’t even consider this place for any future educations. They do not encourage or help or are simply not interested people who are in need. Disgusting.

Organic Chemistry Nightmare!
I had to take a non-​lab Organic Chem class for my degree, and chose this because of the ease of schedule (finish in less than 6 months, online). The Berkeley reputation gave me the impression that the course would be well-​taught and thorough.
I was wrong.
The instructor (Weiwei Gu) was completely disengaged. An example: I asked how a certain chemical reaction occurred, and her answer was: «It just does». Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s not helpful to me. She is supposed to write responses to discussion posts, and she (presumably accidentally) copied and pasted the same exact answer onto two of mine. I wonder if we all received the same responses.
Common sense would dictate that you should receive your grade from one chapter exam before moving on to the next, to be sure you understand the material. I did this for the first half of the course, but she took SO long to get exam grades back (wrong answers with zero explanation, and questions were brushed over or remained unanswered), I forgot what the chapter focused on by the time I received my grade.
The book is decent, but she only tests on certain parts of the book, so before you read the chapters, go through her chapter notes and you will see what to focus on. Scrap the rest. You won’t need it. I made the mistake of studying everything, and wasted countless hours.
Khan Academy got me through most of the class. There are other lectures on YouTube that will help a lot, too.
Your final is worth 40% of your grade and covers nearly the entire book. If you receive less than 70%, you fail the whole course, no matter what your other grades are. As I said, go through her notes and focus on the points she makes. ALL questions on the midterm and final are near-​replicas of what are on the chapter exams.
The final is proctored and closed-​book, and a basic calculator is allowed (I didn’t use mine).
I ended up with an A– in the course, which made me happy. It was not due to the instructor at ALL. It was due to my countless hours scouring Khan Academy, YouTube, and the great O-​Chem websites out there.
If I had it to do over again, I’d take it from a JC or Uni, in person. I would definitely NOT recommend this course with this instructor.

TOTALLY HORRIBLE.
They do collect money greedily with worthless classes.
Some classes are ok, but still bad classes are held
For your reference, they never ever refund money even if they have breach of contract. OUGHT TO BE MO DECENT

I almost didn’t attend UC Berkeley Extension because of all the bad reviews on Unilocal.But I’m very glad, that I enrolled for my first class: Strategic Brand Mgmt with Scott Worthge.
I can strongly recommend his class, as it is very oriented to real life situations. I learned a lot!
I can only recommend to check the teachers online through Linkedin. Depending on what you are looking for — if your goal is to improve your skills for a job, you should look for an instructor who is experienced and worked in companies.

I took one project management class and its really poor.
I can not recommend it.

I studied at UCBX in 2013 for the certificate in Entrepreneurship for International Diploma Program. Back then it was the first cohort of students attending this particular program. The program was great. The teachers were all extremely skilled and knowledgeable. I am glad I went to UCBX and learned this much!

I was one of the last students to get the Unix/​Linux certification; the program ended in 2013. Most of the courses were informational, with cursory lab work. But several courses offered by an original member of the BSD Unix group (unfortunately he’s no longer teaching there) were kick-​ass. They were rigorous, fast-​paced, and totally hands on with daily homework assignments.
There were a few students from the undergrad UCB CompSci program in these classes who mixed with the work-​world folks like me from companies like Google, Ask, Yahoo. It was a lot of fun. The consensus was, these were great courses taught by a great teacher. Too bad UCB extension decided to end it in favor of a IS management oriented program. There are excellent teachers at UCB Extension. You just have to find them.