Are DeVry Credits really transferable to a College or University?

Well, technically speaking, yes the credits you earn at DeVry can be transferred to a regular university or college. There are some extra details here that are important though; I found out the hard way when I enrolled at Long Beach Community College to continue my college education.

In junior college, there are core classes which are necessary to take in order for you to receive a degree in the major you are enrolled in (declared). There are also elective courses for you to take in order to 'round out' your education. Students only need a certain number of credit hours from elective courses to fulfill their graduation requirements. Once you complete your electives, any future elective classes you take will not apply to your graduation credit hour requirement. You can still take the electives if you'd like, they just won't contribute to anything except your brain (which isn't a bad thing).

The DeVry courses that I took to receive for my Associate's Degree in Electronics and Computer Technology were useless at Long Beach City, because they were considered 'elective' credit. The only purpose they could serve would be towards getting an AS degree in Electronics from LBCC...which I already had from DeVry University.  There's more to this story too. My DeVry Long Beach curriculum included general ed, non-elective courses like Physics and Trigonometry. When I enrolled at LBCC as a student pursuing transfer to the engineering program at Cal State University, I thought I'd receive credit for these courses and as a result I'd already be two classes down on a bachelor's degree in engineering. Not so. Apparently, the Physics and Trig taught at DeVry is not college-level. Of course, I could receive credit for these as 'prep classes' but that doesn't mean anything or help me in any way.

There is one DeVry class that I was able to transfer and receive full college credit for: Psychology. Go figure.
 

As I've mentioned before, I'm not trying to bad mouth DeVry U and I'll go so far as to recommend DeVry to people meeting certain criteria. It is important, however, that you understand some of the games they play in order to tout their job placement, accrediation and so forth. Yes, DeVry is accredited and their courses can be transferred. However, that doesn't mean that transferring your DeVry courses to another school actually works in a meaningful way.

DeVry University Job Placement (Long Beach, CA)

In my experience as a Devry U graduate (Associates Degree in Electronics and Computer Technology), their job placement is fantastic. And again, please note that I am not involved with DeVry now nor do I let them off without a lot of criticism (see my post on DeVry University student culture). I am simply speaking honestly about my DeVry University experience, and with respect to job placement for Electronics Technicians, the experience was excellent.

In their last semester at DeVry, students attend a career development class which teaches them how to create a resume, perform a mock interview, stuff like that. The mock interview thing is a little lame, but the resume building aspect of the class was good and I assume this experience pertains throughout DeVry, not just the Long Beach campus.

The most important part of the DeVry career development class was, of course, the actual job search / hunt. Nina, my career advisor at DeVry University Long Beach (and who is probably no longer there), was very active in finding employment for all the students in my class. I got the feeling that she was either paid or rated by her DeVry superiors on her final job placement numbers, because while I was weighing all of my employment options, she started to become quite irritated with me since I had not yet been 'placed'. That's a little troubling to the prospective DeVry graduate since you may be pressured into taking a job that you don't really want, but let's face it, nowadays who in their right mind would turn down a job (especially an Electronics Technician job that typically pays better than the average job)?

So I eventually accepted a job as an Electronic Technician for a large aerospace / defense company. My starting pay was $15 per hour (in 2001). I'm still with the same company and am making $31 per hour now. For an associates degree from DeVry U, that's a lot of money. Since then I've gone back to the local community college in Long Beach to continue my education towards a bachelor's degree. Still, without the income generated from the job I received as a direct result of my DeVry University education, I'd be hard-pressed to find myself in the same positive economic position. Yes that's an endorsement for DeVry, but I definitely don't recommend DeVry for everyone (I'll have another post later on regarding who should attend Devry University).

DeVry Graduation (Long Beach CA)

My graduation from DeVry University was cheesy.  In fact, it was so cheesy that I didn't go.  The moment I was told that I would have to pay for my 'cap and gown' (for an Associate's Degree btw), I knew it was going to be lame.  The worse part came later though, when DeVry told us all that the graduation ceremony was being held off-site and we would all have to pay for parking.  Our class consisted of about 20 people, and we have to pay for parking at an off-site location?  Again, this was merely an Associate's Degree in Electronics Technology, not a Master's Degree or even a Bachelor's.  I mean what's next, charging students an internet access fee when they virtually graduate and receive an online pharmacy degree?  My tuition was already high enough, couldn't DeVry have squeezed out a few sheckels to pay for their student's parking?  In the end, I didn't attend my big DeVry University graduation ceremony, opting instead to use that time looking for technician jobs through DeVry's Career Services Department.

Making students pay for a cap and gown in order to receive their Associate's Degree from DeVry University?  Come on guys, you can do better than that.

DeVry University Reviews (Long Beach, CA)

An honest review of DeVry University (formerly DeVry Institute of Technology) from a former student.

I am a graduate of DeVry University Long Beach.  I received my associate’s degree in Electronics and Computer Technology in 2001 and have been working in the aerospace field for the last 11 years.  I have no ties to Devry Long Beach, I am not being paid by them nor do I care to either pump them up or deflate them.  I am strictly giving people who are interested in attending DeVry my real assessment of their education and job placement.

Instructors and Coursework - DeVry University

Like other schools, DeVry has some good professors and some bad.  On the whole, I was pleased with my instructors.  However, there were a couple of real dogs in there, guys who were completely unsuited for teaching.  I’ve also attended Long Beach City College and the worst instructors there were no match for the instructors at DeVry Long Beach.  I had a DeVry ‘physics’ professor who was so bad at teaching that he ultimately had to walk down the aisle during tests to coach students and work with them through problems since they were all completely clueless (myself included).  To illustrate the point, I took an actual college-level physics course at Long Beach City a few years later and passed it with an A...and my instructor wasn’t coaching us during the test.

On the other hand, where DeVry University’s general ed instructors sometimes fail, their specialized coursework succeeds.  My electronics labs were excellent and worthwhile and nearly all of my electronics instructors were good.  Like most school work, you get what you put in to it.  I put in a lot of effort because the material was exciting, and it truly was very cool.  And the instructors for the electronics-based classes at DeVry Long Beach were very knowledgeable.

Course Costs - DeVry University

The tuition rates at DeVry are about twice the costs of other standard universities, with the difference being that DeVry gets you out much faster than a 4-year and has much better job placement (depending on your degree of study).  DeVry tuition is currently listed at $8100 per semester. For my Electronics and Computer Technology degree which takes five semesters, that would amount to $45k.  I was fortunate enough to have a GI Bill which helped to subsidize my tuition, and I make about $70k per year now from the job that DeVry placed me in.  Still, this is quite expensive for an associate’s degree education so you need to really consider what you’re signing up for at DeVry.  To their credit though, DeVry financial aid tries very hard to assist students in getting what they need to cover the bills (especially the staff at DeVry Long Beach).  They know it’s expensive.

Campus Atmosphere and Facilities - DeVry University (Long Beach, CA)

The atmosphere and facilities of DeVry Long Beach leave a lot to be desired.  Much of this is due to the student culture (or lack therof, see DeVry Long Beach student culture), but some of it is specifically due to the facility itself.  The typical University campus is rather sprawling, with grassy areas and other locations where you can kind of chill out and gather your thoughts. Not so DeVry Long Beach.  This DeVry University Campus is as cold and unwelcoming as you can get.  I’m not sure how much it’s changed since I attended, but it’s basically a two story building paralleling the Long Beach airport runway in the middle of an office park.  The only thing more embarrassing than the cafeteria food is the available seating.  The parking has improved somewhat since they’re now off-loading people to a parking structure, but there’s nothing more annoying than having a DeVry rent-a-cop give you a parking ticket.

The computer lab at DeVry Long Beach is fairly standard, I wouldn’t give it rave reviews but I wouldn’t call it terrible either.  The library on the other hand is completely worthless for studying (or even finding books).  Completely worthless.  You would do better going down the street to study at Cal State Long Beach.

Long Beach DeVry University Reviews (cont)

Job Placement – DeVry U

My graduating class at DeVry Long Beach had a very high rate of job placement.  At the time, I believe the average salary may have been something like $28k or so (this was in 2001).  I am now earning $31 per hour at my job in aerospace (as an electronics technician).  I work with other DeVry graduates and I would guess that their pay is a little bit lower for the same pay grade and years, maybe around $27 per hour.  That’s pretty damn good for a DeVry degree.  I don’t imagine DeVry has gotten worse at job placement, on the contrary they’ve probably refined it even more now.  So, provided you enter a degree course that is promising (and you’re not a retard), you should have no problem getting a pretty decent job upon graduating from DeVry U.

Student Culture – DeVry University

If there is one big problem I have with DeVry, it is the types of students it attracts (especially in Long Beach).  The typical DeVry student is, well, a person that doesn’t want to go to a normal university.  That person is looking for the fast track to success which is all too hard to find, and they typically do not enjoy learning, reading or studying.  These are the kinds of people you find sitting next to you at DeVry.  At the Long Beach campus, it might be even worse.  There was a dirty gangster in my class named Shalabi that openly cheated during tests.  He talked back to the instructor once and was warned by the ‘dean’, yet he was allowed back in class.  This clown graduated and was hired by Boeing, only to be fired a couple weeks later for lying on his application.  In fact, I think he stole my resume off a floppy in the computer lab and used it as his own.  Go DeVry U!

Once one of my fellow students, when asked by our professor to stop eating his nachos [loudly] during class, tell the him “you just teach and do your job, I’m paying YOUR SALARY”.

It gets worse.  At DeVry Long Beach, I’d see guys walking the halls during class, the same way I used to do in high school when I was ditching.  These guys were literally ditching their classes, the same classes that cost $8100 per semester.  I once was in the computer lab helping a friend of mine (she was getting her bachelor’s degree in business information systems) and I saw two big guys looking at me funny.  After a few minutes they walked over to me and started questioning me.  Long story short, they were Long Beach police detectives investigating a guy that was selling some sort of stolen merchandise and I matched the description they were given.  After verifying through my ID that I wasn’t their man, they left me alone.  But that goes to show who your classmates will be at DeVry University Long Beach and most likely any other DeVry University locations.

Would I recommend DeVry?  Are you wondering, "Is Devry University a good choice for me?"  Well, that boils down to what your needs are.  I went to DeVry directly after exiting the military because I needed to make money and support myself quickly.  If you have the luxury of taking your time with an education, you should consider a community college or traditional university.  If, however, you have an urgent need to get into the workforce quickly, or if you find yourself in a dead-end job, then I would recommend DeVry University.  Make sure you do your research on which DeVry career fields provide the best job placement, decide which one of those interests you the most, and go for it