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I'm exploring some online options for a quality education and came across the American Military University which is part of the American Public University (APUS).
After a lot of reading about them ,it seems that the get a good rating and are fully accredited (same accreditation as the Air Force Academy.
Has anyone taken courses with them and what are your feedback?
Being accredited, that makes it very appealing since credits could be transferred to other universities if needed.
Back when I started there (I graduated with an MBA in 2010) in 2008, there were not quite as many options as there are now. The classes, for the most part were easy. Mostly a lot of writing. Lot's of 25 page papers, yech.
I would advise against it. With nearly every single B&M college offering online courses and degrees there's absolutely no reason to attend any online only college at all.
Look for the same program at the school closest to you with a B&M campus. Skip any and all online colleges. You can find better and cheaper options with some decent google-fu.
I researched the place a number of years ago; it seems to be a place that a lot of military officers go to to get their ticket punched so they can check the "graduate degree" box.
I am looking into International Relations and although there are B&M schools offering this there are 2 things.
1. They seem to be generic in t heir approaches whereby AMU seems to dig deeper in them from what I have seen
2. Cost: UMASS offers only 1 course in Global Affairs and it's $410 per credit compared to $270 with AMU. My total cost would be $41000 at UMASS and $27400 at AMU
AMU is Regionally Accredited and also Nationally accredited (Higher Learning Commission) whereas UMASS is regionally accredited.
I'm torn since it looks like a lot of people rave about AMU and their credits are transferable.
There is also Southern NH University but AMU gets better ratings than them. I'm not sure what the best solution is.
Regionally Accredited is what you want. That's the accreditation for real colleges. National Accreditation has little meaning outside the for profit distance learning racket.
There are plenty of real colleges these days that offer distance learning. Your degree from those is the same as if you were on campus and receives the same reputation. Degrees from the other "colleges" do not.
What kind of degree do you want, and what do you intend to do with it? Some employers won't have a problem with an AMU degree, some will look at it side-eyed since it is a for-profit on-line only school. The smart choice is always a B&M institution with an on-line component.
Re. post #1, it is up to the receiving institution to determine what, if any, credits are allowed to transfer from AMU or anywhere else. If an institution feels the credits that are being evaluated for transfer are not comparable, or they are lacking in academic rigor, the receiving institutional is permitted to refuse to accept them.
....... The smart choice is always a B&M institution with an on-line component........
I agree 100%!
There have recently been some notable failures of on-line universities. These news stories further clouded the already fuzzy outlook on degrees from on-line only schools.
Some Brick & Mortar schools offer distance learning in addition to the on-line classes. The difference being the Distance Learning classes may be taught in a classroom with other students and periodic visits from the university professor.
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