American Military University and American Public University

Do you have to be in the military to attend American Military University?

 

No - you do not. When you apply, you can either choose AMU or APU. I am faculty there and roughly 2/3 of my students are under the AMU umbrella. Of that number, approximately 1/2 are military.

 

No you don't have to be in the military to enroll at the school. You can enroll at American Public University, so you won't get employers and graduate schools pondering if you're in the military.

What program(s) are you interested in studying?

 

If you are pursuing a security-related degree however, American "Military" University may lend some credibility (yes, that same false perception of being military-related) to your earned degree, in my opinion.

 

I'm a non-military student at AMU. The only difference is the name, and I liked AMU better than APU.

 

When I took my courses there, I did so through APU. Is there any actual difference? Seems to me I had people in all of my classes who were in "AMU" and the syllabi had both schools listed.

-Matt

 

I'm researching AMU's MBA program, does anyone have any experience either good or bad?

 

..

Just wondering, isn't amu for profit?

 

All;

AMU and APU are the same school, they just have different access points. The entire school is known as the American Public University Sytem (APUS). AMU was started by a military member (USMC Officer) for the military. In some ways, the military population is a preselected customer base with good benefits and a better than general population academic record (must be HS or GED). Adding other than military students to the classes is beneficial to the military students, since they can understand other perspectives. I had a truck driver as a student a while ago who would put some PhD students to shame, although I suspect that he may have been a "plant."

Although it is for-profit, APUS does not appear to be "for excess profit."

APUS seems to care about its customer-students, and they have active forums, student representation and the like. They accommodate the deployed military nicely. I am an instructor there. I would not hesitate to recommend this school.

 

I completed a certificate at AMU and although I'm affiliated with the military (reservist) we have a fair amount of civilians as well. However most of the non-DoD students there were either working in local, state and federal government. They should call it "AGU" American Government University since pretty much everyone there is a government employee in some form or fashion.

 

AMU and APU have NO official connections to either the American military or government, I think it's important to again note that (as many have already said). They are both for-profit, and unfortunately they do little to correct the perception that they have some official relationship.

That said, I've heard many good things about their programs. Like many DL schools, they have flexible schedules and have a presence on some military bases (mostly those in the US).

 

That is a valid point. They also have no connection with American University.
Perhaps a disclaimer should be published, to avoid confusion.
However, no one in the military that I know thinks that the school is affiliated with the Military, since it is not in the military course catalogs and APUS competes for military students in the same way that everyone else does.
They seems to be open and aboveboard about things in general, I may bring this up to my boss.

 

Perhaps this isn't the place to ask, so please forgive me if it is not, but has anyone heard any news about APU offering doctoral programs? Is this still in the works?

-Matt

 

I know that they have thought about it, but no announcements are forthcoming. They have just moved to the Sakai learning platform and have been focusing on this. I would not rule it out.

 

I am one of the very few that are enrolled at AMU that is not in the military. I was considering changing it to APU, but noticed that AMU has better reviews than APU. Look at these links for comparison.

American Military University Reviews

American Public University / American Military University Reviews

This makes absolutely no sense to me at all since AMU and APU are the same school! I just thought if employers were to do an internet search, they would see the reviews, and AMU has more and better reviews.

Norcal, I am finished with all of the coursework at AMU for the MBA, and had a challenging experience. There was a lot of writing that included research papers, term papers, projects, final exams and forum posts all in APA format. Some classes were easier than others. What's consistent was the large amount of work to be completed. All I have left is the Comprehensive Final Exam scheduled in Late June. If you have any questions PM me.

 

I recently finished up the MBA at AMU. I found the program to be pretty solid overall in terms of academic quality. It was affordable, and the 8 week classes let me finish the coursework in about 16 months, alternating taking 6 and 3 credits each 8 week term. I feel I take away quite a bit of business understanding from the program, so I'm a satisfied customer.