Thread: Another fake (nonexistent) school: Antonius University

Originally Posted by Dr. Schwen Gregor

"I can only presume that the OP is attempting to populate Google search results to legitimize a fake degree."

Untrue. I just wanted to share my experiences.

"There is no school in the CHEA database named "Antonius" Regionally, Nationally, or otherwise accredited."

Untrue. I went to the school, paid my enrollment, studied until my eyes bled and took about 30 of their exams. I should know whether or not such an institution exists. http://antonius.edu. Satisfied?

*sigh* I guess I shouldn't take this personally... my accomplishments are what they are and I am proud of them. I thought degreeinfo would be the last place on earth you'd get gripe for going to a little known college. Anyway, I know most people here aren't like that and hope my story is useful to others.

This school does not exist. This mill shill has been banned.

Looks busted!

facepalm.jpg

Originally Posted by Ian Anderson

If you earned these degrees I would expect you to use the correct abbreviations.

I had assumed his degres wwere in music but I received a PM from Dr. G. with following degree titiles:
BMuS = Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies
MMuS = Master of Multidisciplinary Studies
Mu.D = Doctor of Multidisciplines
I tried responding but my PM response bounced.

Incidentally it is bad practice to include both your title (Dr) and doctorate on a signature line.

Originally Posted by Malajac

University of Antonius, Caesar's Military Academy, Octavian School of Business and Cleopatra College for Girls could have been members of the SPQR university system in an alternate reality. The Nero-Caligula School of Psychology could have been of particular renown at UofA.

Now that's hilarious!! Thanks for the laugh...

Originally Posted by Shawn A

Don't feel silly - I googled the school and can't find it...

I didn't find anything for 'university of antonius' either.

For 'antonius university', there were many pages for people with the last name Antonius at the University of whatever.

And there was this...

http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel.../msg00192.html

I Googled the telephone number from that crude 2006 discussion list advertisement and it seems to be associated with a whole collection of degree-mill ads from around the same time. The names of the "university" were different in each of them, but there's a definite theme.

A few examples:

Marianus Online College
Eugenius Online College
Theodosious School of Knowledge
Palladius School of Experience
Phillippicus University
Demosthenes University
Aemilianus Online University

It's a if somebody was pulling names out of a classics textbook.

Originally Posted by BillDayson

Marianus Online College
Eugenius Online College
Theodosious School of Knowledge
Palladius School of Experience
Phillippicus University
Demosthenes University
Aemilianus Online University

It's a if somebody was pulling names out of a classics textbook.

Interesting. Maybe someone could "establish" a Hannibal & Hasdrubal University and then we could have degree-mill Punic Wars. I hope Carthage wins this time. :D

Well this thread is entertaining. I wonder what he hoped to accomplish... the link provided leads nowhere and you can't even find the school via ANY major search engine. I wonder where he actually obtained his Mu.D (=Made-up Degree? :D).

I'm kinda sore that you banned him... maybe we should quarantine people like this to a single thread (if such a thing were possible) and try to find as much information as possible. At least, for the lulz.

BTW, @Kizmet

Mill shill? I must say, I absolutely love the lingo on this site... that's the first time I've seen that one! :D

Originally Posted by Ian Anderson

Incidentally it is bad practice to include both your title (Dr) and doctorate on a signature line.

I laughed to myself when I read this, because I LEARNED that here :)

Originally Posted by Maniac Craniac

BTW, @Kizmet

Mill shill? I must say, I absolutely love the lingo on this site... that's the first time I've seen that one! :D

Stick around, there's plenty more where that came from. ;)

Originally Posted by Kizmet

Stick around, there's plenty more where that came from. ;)

I have seen the term "unwonderful" in regards to an illegitimate school. Is there a relatable history as to how that term came about? I've been thinking about starting a DegreeInfo thesaurus thread with such information. It's the type of thing that just may deserve the illusive sticky.

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Originally Posted by Maniac Craniac

I have seen the term "unwonderful" in regards to an illegitimate school. Is there a relatable history as to how that term came about? I've been thinking about starting a DegreeInfo thesaurus thread with such information. It's the type of thing that just may deserve the illusive sticky.

Technically speaking, one could get sued over calling a school a degree mill. "Unwonderful" is a subjective enough term that you can cover your behind (lawsuit-wise) if you cannot absolutely prove that a school is a degree mill. I believe it was Dr. John Bear who coined the term "unwonderful."

Originally Posted by Maniac Craniac

Mill shill? I must say, I absolutely love the lingo on this site... that's the first time I've seen that one! :D

A shill is somebody who poses as a satisfied customer when he/she is really the owner. A degree mill is a "school" that offers "degrees" for little or no work. Hence, a mill shill is one who shills for his/her degree mill.

Originally Posted by Ted Heiks

Hence, a mill shill is one who shills for his/her degree mill.

How much shill will a mill-shill shill, if a mill-shill will shill mill?

Ted is right. You can't get sued for calling something 'unwonderful.' Well, you can, but the expressing of opinions is pretty well protected (although movie and restaurant reviewers still get sued occasionally).

When the issue arose many years ago of what, on census forms, to call the person whom one lives with but is not married to, one of the charming suggestions was "umfriend," as in when you introduce this person to your parents: "This is my um, friend, Jeremy."

So I suggested "umschool," which gets used occasionally here, but it usually requires explanation.

Incidentally, that year, the census people actually used "POSSLQ" instead of "umfriend" for that situation: Person, Opposite Sex, Sharing Living Quarters," pronounced "POSS-ill-Q."

Originally Posted by Kizmet

Stick around, there's plenty more where that came from. ;)

"Mill Shill"! That's great. I love it.

There's another term that goes along with this, associated with the apologia that mill shills generally offer up to defend their unwonderful institutions, and that's "Millspeak", as in "The school's page on their lack of accreditation is a great example of classic millspeak."

John started using the term less-than-wonderful in Bears' Guide (and you'll see that used quite a bit on degreeinfo as well), but unwonderful (which he also coined) is shorter and just as clear :)