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As single who works a full time teaching job as well as a part time job in the afternoon, I find the work load of this program manageable. I have never been the most organized person or the greatest student (I did my undergraduate degree at the same university) I currently have a 3.89 GPA at the midway point of my M.A. That doesn't mean the classes are easy, just that the professors are clear on information and expectations. The parking situation on campus is dire, but I find that to be the most... Read More troublesome part of taking classes on campus. Thankfully, I have the option to take any classes I choose to online, as every class in the program is offered this way and in person. I tend to learn best in person, but have had fabulous experiences with the online classes. This allows me to only face the stresses of parking on campus once a week. Overall, the program is great and I have had no complaints about the professors I've had or the classes I've taken. It is a top 10 program in the country, and I am proud to be a part of it.

I learned a lot from my professors and enjoyed many of them. I felt the level of support given from advisers was not very great. Most of the time I was finding out things on my own and after the fact. I was not informed of an alternate route for licensure that was applicable for me and my adviser was aware. This could have dramatically affected my graduation had I not found out from another student I am still very upset about that. Other than the poor advisement I have enjoyed my graduate program... Read More very much.

Pros: Teaching professors who are incredibly passionate about their profession, multiple opportunities to collaborate with peers, amazing Adaptive Technology Lab and class, many future job leads, and extremely affordable tuition for in-state residents. Mason's Special Education program is truly a hidden gem on campus! I already have a graduate degree from a "top tier" school (that was much more expensive) and Mason has definitely proven to be an excellent value proposition in my professional life.... Read More Cons: Fairfax, VA is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. so Mason remains a "commuter school" (although this has improved recently) with parking that's scarce/expensive, and not much name recognition for Mason in the wider world (although this seems to be improving as well) despite a large international segment of our student body.

I am so very lucky to be a part of George Mason University's Special Education Graduate Program. Built into the masters is your certification to teach in Virginia. One of the best things about it is that every teacher I have had so far has also been a K-12 special education teacher in one of Virginia's wonderful school counties so we wind up having a lot of connections to multiple schools and districts. All of the classes align perfectly with what we need to know for our work in the field. It even... Read More gets into teaching how to communicate effectively with your coworkers and the students' parents. The only downfall is that often times, it is easiest to take classes over the summer (being that as teachers we have off that time) but the summer semester has us double booked for about three weeks before the public school systems in VA let out. It also can be frustrating because the college's Spring Break doesn't align with the surrounding school counties Spring Break so we wind up having to take a week off of work or a week off of school in order to have a spring vacation.