AMU vs APU. Which one sound better on CV?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by datapoly, Jul 9, 2011.

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  1. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    This is a very old thread, so I'm not sure if the OP will see your response.

    The importance of the school name depends on the industry. In the public safety sector and military, American Military University is very well-known because a lot of active duty, veterans, police officers, corrections officers, security professionals, and emergency management personnel attend. I haven't found the prestige of the school to be important in the public sector, and I've worked at the county, state, and federal levels. But, when it comes to law and accounting in the private sector, then prestige might matter. A school doesn't have to be in the Ivy League to be prestigious or well-regarded in a particular occupation.

    I'm usually more concerned about whether a school has a bad reputation. I wouldn't want University of Phoenix, Devry, Everest, Kaplan, or ITT Tech on my resume.
     
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  2. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    There are three positions that hiring managers and HR people take when they see a school.
    1. "Wow, that's impressive."
    2. "Oh" (Never heard of it or other neutral opinion)
    3. "That's a diploma mill."

    The first can be based on being Ivy League but very often is more nuanced than that. The engineering program at Binghamton University carries more regional sway than the engineering program at Cornell, for example. My company will certainly recruit from Cornell, it's a very good school. But we allocate more resources to recruitment at Binghamton. So when we see someone with a bachelors in engineering (or accounting, while we're on the subject) from Binghamton, a manager will usually fall more towards option 1. For HR, we get all warm and fuzzy when we see a bachelors from Cornell's school of ILR.

    Option 2 comes up with schools that are probably all good schools and may have significant regional reach but that they don't have any direct experience or emotional connection to. Here in upstate New York, most hiring managers don't have a strong feeling about Wichita State but we certainly wouldn't begrudge a degree from there.

    Option 3, I think sanantone has a nice selection there. UPhoenix is very polarizing. DeVry is as well. ITT Tech is just a landmine. Though, the Kaplan grads are now Purdue Global grads (confirmed, a former shipmate of mine got his diploma reissued) and so they hit the for-profit school lottery, so to speak. American InterContinental University is often flagged as a "Wait, is this fake?" school by hiring managers because of its unfortunate name and so is probably also problematic. Colorado Tech hasn't caused me much grief because geographic locations seemingly always sound legit when it comes to schools.

    I like AMU/APUS. I took a few grad courses toward the MA in History there but fell away after three or four. I signed on with AMU because I thought it would pair well with my having been in the Navy as far as resume building. In practice, however, I'd say either name falls solidly in number 2 category.
     
  3. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

  4. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    Both names are misleading, in my opinion, but that was probably APUS' intention.

    I don't know if it's still the case, but APUS used to advise military and public safety professionals to choose AMU.
     
  5. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Every time I see that school's name, I automatically think of the old WWF Intercontinential Heavyweight Champion, The Ultimate Warrior. But neither that name, New Charter, Touro, or Trident are even half as awful-sounding as Goucher (pronounced GOW-CHUR). Goucher sounds like a wrestler's special finishing move.
     
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  6. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I've always thought that "Argosy" sounds like a skin disease.
     
  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I'd reverse the Goucher into an Excelsior lock, causing my opponent to scream out in Payne and Argosy.
     
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  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    It's been my experience that the names of schools aren't that big of a deal. Unless they cause confusion, of course. Like the new manager the Pointy-Haired Boss hired in Dilbert, the one with an MBA from "Hurford."
     
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