Kaplan University Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Kaplan University full-time for more than a year

Pros – Assisting different people achieve through education. Company provides free education. Diverse co-workers. Great sales training. Academic offerings are very good.

Cons – Business and Academics don't know what the other is doing. Business Leaders from the president down, runs the company like an assembly factory. Individual thought or ideas are frowned upon. This is a job speed bump to most. No career growth. Company values are a show.

Advice to Senior Management – The enrollments you need for your bonus, toys, and shareholders are humans, not projections. Your greatest asset is the ADOA and Advisors. The rules changed, but the culture you drive is still stuck in pre-GAO days. Ready, Shoot, Aim business is a failure.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Kaplan University full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The benefits are very good.

Cons – A constant changing environment without little to no strategic plan or Senior Executive alignment.

Advice to Senior Management – Get aligned....

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Kaplan University

Pros – Co workers are some of the most phenomenal talents in the nation with great insight and compassion for their students

Cons – A business model that shifted too quickly within the industry that is causing major changes within the org has made it a dire place...

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the workers at the lower levels, trim the fat in upper and have compassion...

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Kaplan University full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Excellent Product, a school with a curriculum rigerous and substanial provides real working knowledge for current and future professionals. Great core group of management staff and advisors who truly care about our main mission "Changing Lives", as well as keeping it a great place to work. I have referred friends to Kaplan for both education and employment and I tell you there is no better feeling than to see you friends succeed. Watching a friend walk across that stage knowing that school was the futherest thing from their minds years ago, now they are changing careers, getting a promotion or actually "Have a career now". Or the communication from your employment referrals on they appreciate the opportunity, how they are outperforming their peers, how they are moving up within their departments. Refering the right people makes you feel good all the way around.

Cons – Tough times create some uncomfortable situations. Things have been lean and some tough decisions made. But as tough as those decisions have been, I believe it has put the company in a better position to grow. "Already seeing the positive results"

Advice to Senior Management – We are going in the right direction. Now its time to increase our employee engagement. Remind them how good they are and how much their valued.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Kaplan University full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great pay and benefits.Free continuing education.

Cons – I worked for Kaplan for 3 years. The compensation plan was changed every 3 to 6 months making it impossible to increase your salary based on the goals set for admissions. Very stressfull work environment. DOA's were very subjective to employees.Ask a lot of questions before accepting employment with this company.

Advice to Senior Management – Treat your employees with the same respect they give you. Empower them to do the job that you hired them for.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Kaplan University full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good Health Insurance
decent benefits
good location
nice cafe
technology based

Cons – Constant layoffs
low pay
incompetent managers
Low advancement opportunity
bad policies

Advice to Senior Management – Stop the layoffs every quarter

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Kaplan University full-time for less than a year

Pros – Co-workers (excluding management) were great. Most everyone was on the same page. Pay was decent, but not great.

Cons – Management was very poor. They are big on you seeking out additional training, but never respond to requests. Minimum requirements (usually 3 students per month) are unrealistic. Those minimums are set to the average number of students per year, however you are only allowed to miss minimum requirements 3 times per year. Statistically it just doesn't work.

Moreover the training does not prepare you for the reality of the job. In reality it is hard sales, but trainers and recruiters lead you to believe it is customer service.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't know where to begin really.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Kaplan University full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Nice people, adequate equipment to work with, good benefits, policy that allows you to go to Kaplan University for free.

Cons – Advancement is all political, company claims to have integrity but does not ,company claims to want to leverage talent but doesn't, company claims that its biggest asset is it's employees but treats them like they're inconsequential. In short, a bunch of hypocrites.

Advice to Senior Management – No

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Kaplan University full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – -Decent Pay
-Decent Product behind you
-Interesting Coworkers surrounding you
-Good Pit Stop on your way to another career

Cons – -Can be very stressful
-Leadership (Above the site level) do not convey strength or motivate staff
-Supervisors at all levels tend to be disconnected at times
-Communications has always been and will probably always be a bad part of Kaplan University
-Lack of growth opportunities (has been improved a little as of Summer 2012)
-Misleading marketing makes the job a lot more stressful and even poses internal moral debate when your job (implied) is a bait and switch.
-Non Stop rumors of Orlando getting shut down and layoffs really bring the morale down.

Advice to Senior Management – Change the marketing up. As large as Kaplan is, it does not have enough of a presence nor is it a memorable brand. Stay with the tiered pricing (people most likely to complete college pay less). Call it scholarships, grants, or whatever, but keep the tiered pricing. Just do not forget to properly market the audience you want after.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Kaplan University

Pros – Pay was good. Nice building on a lake. Worked with some good people.

Cons – Unbelievable constant psychological whip cracking to get enrollments. Management made it a noisy "U rah rah" atmosphere (to make it seem like a fun place to work and "motivate us", I guess) with lots of cheering when someone brought in an enrollment. This was often when I was on the phone having a serious conversation with a potential student. Seemed very tacky as I would have to make up some reason for what sounded like a sudden frat party in the background .

Management filled up the giant shiny new building (call center) with 500 + Admissions Advisors and then began to get rid of them all around me for not meeting their quotas. It was like being in a war zone with casualties all around. Then they got me and I was gone, after only 8 months that felt like 8 YEARS! This place is a "people mill." Bring training classes in the front every two weeks with 70 to 80 people while at the same time tossing lots of lives away out the back. I thought this would be a university type environment but I was dead wrong. It was more like a giant indoor used car lot, but instead of selling used cars we were selling online degrees over the phone.

Advice to Senior Management – Hopefully things have changed since I was there a couple years ago. I know there has been a lot of government scrutiny on this "business" since I was there that has forced you to clean up your act. Just remember these are human beings you're playing with and then discarding by the hundreds. Yes, the pay was good but I learned a lot of things at Kaplan that I wish I hadn't had to
 learn.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend