M.A. at American Military University

Hi Folks

Can you give me your input of American Military University? I just completed the application and would like to hear from anyone with experience on this institution. I am interseted on a M.A in homeland security with a mayor in security management. Thanks in advance for all the help.

Carlos Lorie

 

I am currently a student at AMU studying towards an AA with a concentration in counterterrorism. Upon completion I intend to pursue a BA Intelligence Studies majoring in Intelligence Analysis.

I have found the administrative staff and teaching staff to be professional and interested in the student. AMU is nationally accredited through DETC and recognized by USDoE and CHEA. AMU (APUS) is a candidate for regional accreditation. Hiopefully, they achieve RA status before I complete the AA degree later this year.

You will find the coursework challenging though not impossible to master. If you choose the 8-week format be prepared for a lot of reading every day and in a masters degree programme I would expect there to be a significant amount of writing.

 

How close is American Military University to getting RA? They are stating they are candidates on their website, and at $750 per course for grad level, quite reasonably priced.

They seem to be quite serious, as I've read on this board that they even moved their address to be considered by an RA board that is more likely to grant them accreditation.

 

It is impossible to say "how close" a school is to accreditation. There's no progressive scale we can see applied to it.

AMU will go through a site visit this October, which might result in accreditation. Or it might not. They're hopeful it will.

AMU's candidacy came quickly, and this visit occurs about 2 years after candidacy was achieved. I believe already being accredited by DETC and operating in a tough state--Virginia--helped to hasten the candidacy process. (They moved to West Virginia right before going for RA candidacy.)

 

I am just over half way through with the MA program in transportation management. All the courses that I have taken are 15 week classes (they are now 16 weeks instead of 15 weeks). I have thought all of my instructors were pretty good at giving you a detailed syllabus, grading assignments quickly and responding to questions.

Note that this school does not have a cohort structure. I have not had one group assignment in any of my classes. Some may feel that as a disadvantage, but that I one of the reasons I chose them over another transportation management program locally.

Also, you should take your research methods course first and just get it over with. Not saying it was completely awful, I really enjoyed the instructor and his feedback. However, I just found the course material so boring. It is just the nature of the course.

 

I just reviewed AMUs offerings and it looks very interested.

And here I was, all set on Heriot-Watt's MBA program.

AMU is very tempting, especially since they have an entrepreneurship and global business emphasis.

Would a DETC program that might go RA be better than Heriot-Watt?

 

APUS

Carlos,
You can't go wrong with APUS. The Course Management System they use is Educator which is very user friendly for students and faculty. Some of the majors are unique. The courses are offered in 16 week semesters and 8 week compressed semesters. Even though we are not on the quarter credit hour system we do offer 4 quarters to start courses. Some 8 week classes start every month so there is usually no wait. As mentioned APUS received regional candidacy status and is already accredited by DETC. Good luck.

 

Thanks, Rich Douglas.

For those interested, I found a statement from the APUS President dated December, 2004:

heehee. Can you someone named "Wally" be taken seriously?

 

Thanks to all who replied, I will use the advise you have given me.