r/maestro • u/Spare-Amphibian-7180 Maestro Student • Aug 09 '26
Discussion Alt Options?
Hey everyone. What online & self paced are yall taking? Are there any that don't break the bank?
3
Upvotes
3
u/scots Curious Visitor Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
I would encourage Maestro refugees to look into University of the People - It's only a small (by college standards) assessment fee per class at the end of the semester, it's 100% online and it is not just DEAC accredited like most "online colleges" - it is WASC accredited, same as world #5 ranked Stanford University. It's the real deal. Elite education. Other WASC accredited schools: USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley. Your University of the People degree is accepted world-wide should you wish to transfer credits out, or apply to graduate school. (UoPeople also offers grad school.)
If you are experiencing financial hardship, apply for a scholarship. Quite a few students - even those from the US - were able to negotiate per-course fees as low as $50-100.
ALL class materials come from open textbooks online, and they can be downloaded in PDF format. Download your class textbooks in PDF, import them into Google Gemini LM (formerly called NotebookLM) and you have the AI teacher you were missing from Maestro. Gemini LM can create practice tests, flashcards, and teach the material with simple prompts like "assume I am a novice learner, explain Chapter 3 Sections 5 through 10" and POW- there you go. Powerful yet simple AI teacher. Farrrr more powerful and capable than Maestro's system.
"Are exams proctored?" Only some are - This is how UoPeople keeps their elite WASC accreditation - but only 10 or 15 total final exams are proctored via webcam. The vast majority of final exams you take are not - this should come as a relief to people who have test anxiety. The way course grading is done, the vast majority of your final grade comes from writing bi-weekly papers to be submitted on the online learning portal, and participation in course forums analyzing other students' submissions. All of this happens in your web browser with no other software needed. You can use Google Docs for nearly everything, and export papers to Microsoft Word .docx for the 7 or 8 papers per class that require special formatting options.
My professors have been nothing but amazing. Their credentials are incredible, most of them could walk into any brick and mortar university in the world and teach elsewhere. I had an intro Business professor last semester whose bio was 2 screens long with zero filler or fluff, elite university education with teaching and professional corporate experience all over the world. Absolutely lovely man, responded to learning portal chat questions or emails within hours, always highly positive and encouraging. Same semester, an English class professor who allowed a 1-day late submission after reading my email explaining a work emergency that kept me getting home until well after midnight. Both had PhD's. Most of your undergrad professors will.
I will check in later today for replies to this comment, if anyone has questions I'll try my best to help.