American Public University?

I will be finished with my Bachelors from WGU in August, and am looking for an online MBA program. I stumbled upon American Public University from an online ad, and see they're accredited and their Bachelors program was ranked by US News as 34th best online degree in the country. It seems legit, has anyone graduated from this school?

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ratbuddy

It's a for-profit school aimed at members of the military. It has a crummy accreditation (ACBSP, who also handle UoP and Devry) and probably isn't worth any more than a WGU MBA. Why not just stay with WGU?

naclh2onaz

I probably will stay at WGU, I was just curious about this school as I've never heard of it and it was in the same price range as WGU

Iristheangel

Isn't APU like $325/credit hour for graduate course? Ouch

ajs1976

$325/credit hour for grad work is pretty cheap.

Iristheangel

I guess it depends on who you ask. I got spoiled on WGU where I could move faster through my credits and pay less for college. With APU, you're stuck paying a certain amount no matter how fast you progress from the looks of the fee structure. If it was a brick and mortar school with some prestige, that tuition structure makes sense but given that it's an online school with the same accreditation as UoP and DeVry, it's a big more expensive and if you commit to it, you're committing to $11K.

AverageJoe

I can't speak to their IT or business courses, but I have one class left for an AMU MA in History, and I think highly of the school.

I have a B&M undergrad and a B&M master's, but I've always loved history and wanted to take some classes mostly for fun. I didn't start out pursuing the MA, but after really enjoying my first few classes I decided I may as well get the degree. I've enjoyed the courses, the format, the readings (mostly), the instructors (mostly), and my fellow students (mostly). It's really opened my eyes to the benefits of DL programs.

I've read great things about WGU here, but have no first-hand experience. AMU is different in its approach in that most master's classes are a fixed 16 week term (some may be 8 weeks, but none of mine were), but they're rolling terms that start at the beginning of each month. For me this worked well as I would sometimes offset classes, starting one in July and another in August, for example. This meant I was overlapping for most of the semester, but didn't have to worry about both end-of-term papers being due at the same time. Another term I started two classes at the same time and that was more challenging because they did both have the same timeline. Another set of classes I offset by 8 weeks and that worked great--halfway through one class as I started another. I was never in more than two AMU classes at any one time.

History is a lot of reading, analyzing, and writing, and that, I think, works great in a DL format. I don't know if other subjects work as neatly, but I'm sure some do. The experience has been pleasant enough that I'm considering doing their political science program after I finish history.

Oh, I am military, but interestingly enough most of my classmates have not been military.

Joe

AverageJoe

Good points, Iris, but there's a trade off involved with moving faster through a program. It sounds like you invested more time up front and were able to leverage your technical experience in doing so, and that saved you money. From my perusing of WGU's site, it seems that if you're not able to dedicate as much time per semester or don't already have a good experience base to draw from, you could easily wind up spending much more at WGU.

For an IT program I can see those with experience and willingness to dedicate more time up front getting a great deal. I'm not so certain an MBA would work out the same way for most people, but I could be wrong.

I may also be wrong about this, too, but to me it appears, mostly from perusing their web site, that WGU basically allows you to pay to self-educate yourself at your own pace while AMU is a more of a traditional instructor-led environment that happens to be DL.

Both look like great options to me, but some students may work better in one environment than the other, especially depending on the subject. For me, I've thought about taking one of WGU's IT programs mostly for fun, and I think I'd fly through it pretty fast, but I don't think I could even bring myself to consider trying an MBA in that format.

Joe

aftereffector

I used AMU (part of the APUS network) for my bachelor's. I was taking classes while deployed, on TDY, in military schools, etc., and the flexibility and understanding from the instructors - many of whom were former military - was very helpful. The coursework was almost trivially easy and I definitely wouldn't say that it is any more prestigious than DeVry or University of Phoenix, but for the military and many employers, a degree is a degree. I doubt that I will be returning to AMU for a graduate degree but I don't regret choosing them for my undergrad.

Devilry

I graduated from APU with an A.S. in February of this year, I am currently enrolled again for a B.S. in InfoSec.

I enjoy APU, they have flexible paths and good courses, with generous transfer policies. All of the professors for my courses have had backgrounds in the particular classes they are teaching, so its nice to be taught real world tech. I tried WGU for a term, and failed miserably. I needed more structure and support, APU provided that for me.

As far as tuition goes, for a regionally accredited school it is hard to beat in price for what you get. For a graduate degree though, especially a MBA I think I would go to a school with AACSB merit. Just my 2 cents.

Feel free to ask anything about the school, i'd be happy to help.

ratbuddy

Devilry wrote: »

generous transfer policies.

That's an understatement, they give you 6 credits for working as a cashier at Walmart

Devilry

They also will give you credit for most known certifications (MS, Cisco, Comptia..etc)

petedude

Can't remember off the top of my head, but I APU accepts nationally accredited coursework as well.

Doyen

ratbuddy wrote: »

That's an understatement, they give you 6 credits for working as a cashier at Walmart

I don't know if you were being sarcastic, but APU is quite generous with work experience with Walmart Associates. With the 15% off tuition, book grant (for undergrad students), and work experience credit, it allows associates to advance past a standard retail career. With the discount provided, I have been looking at their Master of Science in Cybersecurity Studies as an alternative to WGU.

ratbuddy

I was being 100% serious. Any school that will award you 6 credits for being a Walmart cashier loses cred in my book. Of course, they're also for-profit, so they had none to begin with

Doyen

ratbuddy wrote: »

I was being 100% serious. Any school that will award you 6 credits for being a Walmart cashier loses cred in my book. Of course, they're also for-profit, so they had none to begin with

I can understand that outlook from those that work outside of the company. However, Walmart does have a rigorous training program as well as computer based learning program that I can understand why they would be counted as credits through their partnership program. As to your point about cashier credit, the computer based training for cashiers is a long program that basically takes at least a work day to learn when hired or reviewed every year.

For profit schools can be good and bad. The notable bad is the increase expense on tuition. The good that I've had experienced was the accelerated learning and not having to wait for classes to "open up". I've also noticed they are "year round" in contrast to traditional academia of seasonal semesters. Profit schools also seem to be more specialized in concentrations than public schools. It is up to the student to determine whether it is worth it or not.

ratbuddy

If you're happy with it, more power to you. At least it isn't UoP, right?

ComputerForensics

The good that I've had experienced was the accelerated learning and not having to wait for classes to "open up".

Devilry

ratbuddy wrote: »

I was being 100% serious. Any school that will award you 6 credits for being a Walmart cashier loses cred in my book. Of course, they're also for-profit, so they had none to begin with

The school only gives you credit for the experience as an elective, nearly any school has bogus [minimal] elective credit transfer policies. WGU has CIW cert classes and/or transfer credit for goodness sake.

Devilry

Doyen wrote: »

I don't know if you were being sarcastic, but APU is quite generous with work experience with Walmart Associates. With the 15% off tuition, book grant (for undergrad students), and work experience credit, it allows associates to advance past a standard retail career. With the discount provided, I have been looking at their Master of Science in Cybersecurity Studies as an alternative to WGU.

All programs at APUS (APU/AMU) receive free books as part of the tuition cost.