Hello everyone, Let me start by saying thank you for your time in reading this. Here is my predicament. I am Prior Service Army. I'm 21. I work a full time job and have two children. I am considering pursuing a career in National Security/Intelligence. (CIA, FBI, DHS, DIA, etc.) Reason being because of my background in the Army and my Force Security experience in the civilian world. What I am looking for is a school that holds Regional Accreditation. I would like to make sure I get credit for my military training also. As far as degree programs, I am open minded here. I know there is no certain degree that will secure a position with one of the previously mentioned agencies. I am considering a few different possibilities in this aspect. Homeland Security, International Relations, Criminal Justice, etc. I have a friend who works in the Private Sector doing something similar, and he is currently enrolled in a degree program with AMU/APUS. My recent conversation with him led me to do some more research on this school. I actually applied a while back, and have a student ID and all but I never registered for any classes, picked a program, etc. I understand that AMU holds Regional Accreditation, which is on my list of required criteria. I also noticed they have a lot of interesting courses in this career field. For example, I could take the BA Intelligence Studies, concentration in Counterintelligence, and a Minor in International Relations. Does this sound like a reasonable option? The tuition is affordable and meets my criteria ($250/credit hour). My only concern with this school is that there is no B&M campus. Will a degree from this institution hold any weight, or will it just be a piece of paper? I will post a short review here of my situation: - AARTS transcript from the Army - Completed all DOCNET courses - 18 FEMA Courses - Bunch of other Certificates that are not worth credit - 0 Traditional credits - CLEP may be an option in the future, but not now due to certain constraints - Considering AMU for the Course content related to what I want to do - I speak fluent Spanish, Arabic, and Farsi (Persian) - Open to other options that could help me progress towards my goals Has anyone had any experience with AMU that they would like to share? I am interested in hearing if anyone has had success in gaining admission into respectable graduate programs with a degree from AMU. Anyone had good/bad experiences with their transfer credit department? Anyone taken any of the before mentioned courses? If so, we're they informative? AMU is only a consideration at this point, so if anyone has any alternative suggestions please do share. Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to respond. TClayton
It is tough to recommend you on the program. As far as American Military University is regional accredited school without B&M campus. You have done good job on school research. I don't have first hand with AMU experience for graduate school admission; however, it is regional accredited school. I don't think you have any problem. Other option you have is Eastern Kentucky University's BS in Homeland Security, also Liberty University has Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice with Homeland Security concentration. I believe LU's price tag is the same as AMU as Military/Veteran pays only $250.00 per credit. Between these schools: 1) Eastern Kentucky University 2) Liberty University 3) American Military University
Would you consider attending an international conference in Kingston, ON in November and asking some expert folks yourself? http://www.iusafs.org/partners/canada/2012ConcurrentSessions.asp http://events.sps.queensu.ca/cgi/page.cgi?event_id=108&_id=3&action=viewdetail Shawn
First, I have no experience with AMU. If you have that many credits (military and FEMA) and "Bunch of other Certificates that are not worth credit" (what certs?) you may want to look at COSC, TESC, or Excelsior. You can test out of them or transfer in a lot of credits and get a degree must faster and cheaper. They are all regionally accreditied.
Someone help me on this one.... Doesn't Excelsior College offer some kind of special assessment for languages? Something that goes above and beyond the CLEP exams for Spanish, etc.? If you are fluent in Spanish, Farsi, and Arabic, I'm thinking you might be able to earn quite a few credits for your fluency. Isn't the FBI, CIA, etc. constantly looking for Farsi and Arabic translators?
I'm not familiar with the career field you are considering. However Excelsior College has probably the most flexible degrees to earn. You can save a lot of money by taking courses from any regionally accredited college and though CLEP & DSST challenge exams. Excelsior is very military friendly and has many service members enrolled. I'm not sure if Excelsior accepts FEMA credit but TESC does. I'm sure members of this panel can locate courses/exams for your language skills, but if not you could take the portfolio route.
