Korean Job Discussion Forums

[LPKSA]

For anyone considering an MA related to TESOL or Business, I want to send a firm warning out about:

Concordia University, Irvine, California, and their MAIS program in International Studies, which has been advertised in the job forums here.

http://www.cui.edu/academicprograms/graduate/international-studies

This is a bogus MA program which will have you doing surveys while overseas in a foreign country. Surveys, surveys, surveys.

I was part of this program, and luckily I did not follow through with it, and pursued a REAL program.

This program is a farce, many of the students in the program whom with I was studying, are not satisfied with their degree after having completed the coursework.

You will be left to work in a shady hagwon, and you will find zero support from the staff if you run into any problems. They started sending teachers to Shanghai but have branched out into Korea from what I hear.

They are not a University faculty who are looking out for your best interests while in Korea, or China. They are merely a recruiting agency hiding under the guise of Christianity, collecting a profit off of every teacher who they send to Korea, China, and wherever else.

Trust me, I am an MA holder in TESOL, with extensive experience in the field. This program which is advertised in the job forums is a SCAM, putting out an illegitimate degree which will get you nowhere.

You have been warned.

Any questions, PM me. I would be glad to share with you some of my experiences as well as tell you about others in previous programs who have experienced similar situations.

All the best.

[ttompatz]

And not to be confused with Concordia University - a public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada .

[Keeper]

There are in fact many legit Concordia Universities. It's too bad the OP's title wasn't more specific as to which one. (Maybe you can edit it?) Thanks though for the heads up.

[Ginormousaurus]

[LPKSA]

I mentioned in the OP that it is Concordia Univeristy, Irvine, California. I am well aware of Concordia University in Canada and no, this isn't in Canada. It's in Irvine, California, about an hour south of Los Angeles.

If anyone considering this program wants to know info about the program, ask me directly in a PM.

Making statements about this University program in an open forum can be considered libel, which could potentially lead to an attorney twisting this to make a profit, which this school is out for, money. They don't care about you as an applicant to their program. They care about making money, that's it.

Either you want to know about why someone thinks it's an illegitimate program or you don't. If not, don't worry about it and move on. If so, ask. That simple.

[Ginormousaurus]

Why such hostility?

[LPKSA]

[Kepler]

If it's a scam then how is the university is regionally accredited?

http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation

[LPKSA]

[NohopeSeriously]

[RangerMcGreggor]

[naturegirl321]

I went to both Concordia River Forest and the one in Irvine. They are legit. CURF now Concordia University Chicago is the oldest one. Been around for over 100 years. I got my undergrad there. Though I have no experience with the masters prog. Def not the Uni of Phoenix. Though the OP Is right about the fact that unis pop up all the time so check accreditation. Regionally is usually better than national. Excuse typos. I'm on my phone.

[elquainn]

I'm in the Concordia MAIS program now, and just want to chime in that the program is legit. It's definitely not Harvard, but it's also definitely not a scam.

LPKSA obviously had a terrible experience, which sucks. It sounds like LKPSA had some problem that prevented going to China, which would definitely be big problem for the MAIS program, since most of the program work takes place in China.

This is all available online, but here's the basic outline of the Concordia MAIS program:

Summer: intensive on-campus program in California consisting of Chinese language, a TEFL certification, a Chinese culture class, and classes in your chosen concentration: business, education, or development.

Concordia helps students get jobs in China. The jobs vary in pay, hours, and quality. My job was good and I think that's true of most students in my cohort. Of course, the people who hated their jobs and/or China were the most vocal and did seem to blame Concordia for this, which I don't really understand.

For both Fall and Spring terms, MAIS students take a Teaching Practicum class, thesis preparation classes (Ethnography and Data Analysis), and two classes in their concentration. It's almost all done online.

After the Spring term, there's just a Thesis Writing class with a thesis advisor, and then you're done- 12-18 months total for most students. The thesis must be original research conducted in China. Most students chose a topic, survey a targeted population, do quantitative data analysis, and report the results in a 25-40 page paper. I'm doing a case study on a company in Shanghai, but you can research whatever is interesting to you. My girlfriend is studying Chinese wine consumption.

That's the whole program. You don't have to be a genius, but it does take a lot of work. It is expensive. I've put a lot of work in, learned a lot, and enjoyed my experience. The program is unique in being a U.S./China and in-person/online hybrid graduate program. It's not for everyone, but I think it's wrong to say that nobody should do it. Feel free to email me if you have any questions, I'm probably done here.

Kyle Quinn
[email protected]

PS: I'm not registered for the China boards, but if someone wanted to copy/paste my message to the LPKSA flame thread there, that would be cool