American Military University : Criminal Justice Reviews

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Anonymous (In Progress) on February 22, 2012 (email verified)

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New to AMU.....cautiously optimistic! I am just starting at AMU, awaiting transfer of credits which should place me just over half way to my BA in CJ. The admissions process was smooth, information provided timely and accurately thus far. Financial aid was fairly easy to deal with, as well as initiating the VA process utilizing the GI Bill (Chapter 30). The only issue that I have with the requirements are related to the required course for online studies. This course is intended to teach you how to learn on line and guage your ability, according to the details, and I am paraphrasing. Here is my issue; I have taken dozens of online courses at two other schools. Having said that, and having transferred my credits which came with a current 3.4 GPA, not too shabby, the argument for me taking this class should not be to guage my ability to learn on line. Now...they DO offer the ability to waive the course. To do this you have to submit a resume, write an essay paper and request the class to be waived. Here is my problem; after you have done this, you do not receive credit for the class but credit as having not having to take that class. What happens next is the class MUST be replaced with another elective class to make up the valued credit hours. I have no issue with making those requirements to waive the class, but if you are forcing me to take a class that my record clearly reflects not needing, at least give me credit for the course in the same fashion you would with transferring credits. Outside of that, I have no problems with entering. After reading some of the negative responses I am entering with a cautiously optimistic point of view and am motivated to finish my BA and move on educating myself from there. Good luck to all.

Brian11380 (Graduate) on June 3, 2011 (email verified)

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Just completed my MA in criminal justice To all of these people who say it is a scam and that if you get deployed they try to scam you is far beyond accurate. All teachers have a biography and most teachers I had in the CJ field have shown their credentials. I completed my program in 2 years and all the courses were relevant and the books I received were comprehensive. Financial Aid, Academic Advisers and the teachers were all great and everything was handled in a timely fashion. All of my teachers were intelligence officers, forensic examiners, lawyer and security personnel with most have a JD or PHD. The fees are not that high (tuition)at around 900 per class isnt too bad. They have many programs in all areas of education. To those who have commented negatively are probably just people who couldnt handle the online learning curriculum and did not so too well in their classes. AMU, I would definitely recommend.

DallasH203 (Graduate) on March 30, 2011 (email verified)

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KUDOS to AMU I just finished my MA in Criminal Justice and I feel it has been such an accomplishment. I am a homicide investigator and officer in the Coast Guard Reserve so free time is limited for me. The program allows for flexibility to maintian such a schedule. Most importantly, the school certainly meets the objectives of providing top notch education, and high standards for completion. I feel I earned my degree and at no time felt any professor wasn't worthy of his/her position. I would recommend anyone wishing to fulfill educational goals to do so with AMU.

Golmerpyles (In Progress) on May 9, 2010 (email verified)

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AMU Undergrad I am not going to say that AMU is the best school out there, nor the cheapest. However I started attending AMU while I was on active duty with the Corps. And I found with my work schedule and the lack of time to attend a traditional school, AMU was perfect. I had no problems with my professors in the criminal justice program, how ever the general education teachers were not the best in the world. If you are a person who needs their hand held during school then AMU is not for you. If you are looking for a school that has constant communication with their professor in regards to class work, then I suggest you attend a traditional college. I enjoyed going to school with AMU because for the most part I was able to complete my required assignments at my own pass. I tried a traditional school and the class was moving to slow for me, because of all the stupid questions about the topic that was covered multiple times. If the student didn’t understand the assignment then he should have stayed after class and not hold up the rest of us. I also liked the fact I was able to complete my weekly assignments when ever I had a free time. Were as a traditional college you have to attend classes two to three times a week and complete any work that is required. At least with AMU online schooling you are just required to turn in the work. For the most part my professors responded to all my emails with in a timely manner. These professors teach multiple classes and could have a semester student load of about 200 to 500 students. With that in mind I was able to accept if a professor took a day or two to respond to an email of mine. I also loved the fact that all the books for my undergrad courses were free. I do not know of any other schools that would pay or have a grant for your books. The only thing I have to complain about is that fact that after I completed all my required classes I had to complete a survey and pay a hundred dollars to graduate. I also think the other reason I did so well with AMU was because I had a plan. No matter if you attend an online school or a traditional school you need to make a plan and try to keep to it as best as you can. You also need to stay on top of your paperwork. If you fail to turn in or update Federal Aid then it will be your fault for not being able to start a class on time.

Jamesdep45 (In Progress) on March 26, 2010 (email verified)

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Fantastic, Fire UP! I am presently enrolled in the Masters program at AMU, and I think it is great. Some classes are a much more detailed than others, and this is normal. I value what I hvae learned, and I am not looking for an easy way to get a diploma. AMU is not easy, and you will earn your diploma by learning and working.

Mendez.de.russell (Graduate) on January 15, 2010 (email verified)

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Wonderful School I completed my BA in Legal Studies from AMU in November, 2008 and, after carefully researching several universities, I recently started my MA in Criminal Justice at AMU as well. I began AMU in 2004 while I was active duty. When I registered for both my BA and Masters I have gotten and immediate response from AMU staffs either by e-mail. Considering it is an on-line school I believe this practice to be perfectly acceptable. While in active duty I deployed and went TDY several times; I never had an issue getting an extension or dropping my classes. The professors where extremely knowledgeable and experienced on the materials they were teaching, often challenging students to do well. Discussions were posted by the professors and all students participated. I was able to contact my professors frequently if I had personal issues or if I had questions about my assignments. English is my second language. Professors where understanding of that. I never felt that I was put in the back burner for not being an English native speaker. When you register for a class you are provided a list dates the classes are offered and the names of the professors who will be teaching the class and their biography. This is an outstanding practice since everyone has different personalities, thus you might work better with some professors than others. I’ve never had my schedule or professors changed out on me. One great perk with going to school at AMU is that text books are included in your tuition. Not only did I get my text books deliver to my home, they also got delivered to my places of deployments and TDY’s. I’ve even gotten my books in Puerto Rico while I was there on vacation. You get good quality text books that you sell back to the store they buy them from. Yes, you get a free text book that you can sell back and get some cash in your pocket. The same text books are provided to you online at the library. I am not saying that everything was perfect all the time, but it was at least 90% of the time. The negative was overcome by the positive. I was setting my own schedule, going to school from anywhere in the world, having my books delivered at my door (wherever that was), not having to schedule vacations around school, having the flexibility to manage my military and civilian life (I am now in the reserves) and finally graduating from a bachelors program and now having a degree that makes me more marketable.

Anonymous (In Progress) on January 14, 2010 (email verified)

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Great Program! I'm just about done with my MA in Criminal Justice and overall have enjoyed my learning experience with the University. With one exception, all of my instructors were knowledgeable and very helpful. The one who wasn't I believe is no longer with the program. If I ran into any issues, I always felt as though if I couldn't resolve it with my professor directly, I was able to go to the Program Director. She has a great open door policy. Going to school on-line is like everything else in life - you get out of it what you put into it. Really hoping that they decide to pursue a CJ PhD - if so, I will definitely sign up!

Anonymous (In Progress) on December 28, 2009 (email verified)

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Wow... I have been attending AMU for 9 weeks now; and so far, I have been far from impressed. I wrote my final paper and received the feedback from my professor stating that my paper was too short. I pointed out to her that the final paper requirements stated that the length of the paper was to be the amount of pages I wrote-so she kindly bumped me up a couple of points. Then in my other course, I had the same problem. The professor wrote: "Paper should be two-three (3-5) pages in length". Okay, so what is it, 2-3 or 3-5? Then to top that off, there was no emailing her because she took it upon herself to take the week off for Christmas. I know I am not the perfect student, and that there is no such thing as perfect professors. However, I would think that we can and should expect a little more from a UNIVERSITY. I recently earned my BA from another online university, I took 14 courses there, and not once did I have these types of problems. I guess you really do get what you pay for! I am presently looking into different colleges and I am hoping that I can find one that lives up to the same type of standards as my previous college. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, you make your own schedule here, choose the professor you would like to take the course with, and they change it on you without even telling you. You log into your portal and tada! It has been changed!!! This has happened to me twice in 9 weeks. What is the point of choosing your courses and professors if they are just going to change everything to how they want it anyway? I should have known to stay away from this university. I had applied and no one bothered contacting me about how to go about the rest of the process, and I tried calling and I got a voicemail, left a voicemail, never got a call back. So I withdrew and then they called wondering why I withdrew I let them know, and they asked if I would give them another chance. I did, and now I regret it...

Anonymous (In Progress) on November 6, 2009

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disagree I'm very surprised at the comments about AMU. I have not had any problems and frankly think the instructors are great. Also, it is an accredited school. My employer would not pay for it otherwise, and they do very through checks. I am curious to hear an example of the problems you have had, other than the reimbursement for deployment issues. My only issue is the shortened course time, most classes are now 8 weeks and I do not find that beneficial.

Jeffrey.dale (In Progress) on October 1, 2009 (email verified)

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. im well 2nd yr at AMU and have found the overall process outstanding. Books ARE free and an online version is available as well. Ive had to break from class for two reasons 1 Emergency leave for 6 weeks Got a 1 month extension after I got back to finish (no penalty) and 2 wife was having surgery Im still in that class but received an extension to turn in the test and homework (no penalty). Also if you want to look up your instructor go to the link meet our faculty I have had no problems seeing you my professor is most of the time thats how I choose my prof. while im registering.

Anonymous (In Progress) on July 25, 2009 (email verified)

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Challenging, if you want it to be I began pursuing a B.A. in Criminal Justice at AMU after a ten year hiatus. I had dropped out of a local community college that I attended immediately after H.S. graduation and I had intended to but been unable to return to school until three years ago. When I began pursuing my degree at AMU I was shocked by how challenging the classes were in contrast to my C.College experience. Although it seemed you could get decent passing grades with little effort, achieving an A- or A at AMU is quite challenging and forces you to study hard. I thought perhaps it was my absence from college that made AMU seem so challenging, until I attended two classes at a local major public school at the behest of my employer (both business management classes). They were much, much easier to achieve an A grade in. I am convinced that by striving for high marks AMU will offer students an exceptional educational experience. Students who wish to simply "graduate" may also find AMU a decent diploma-mill that they can put marginal effort into and still achieve passing grades. If you're looking to continue your education beyond a four year degree, put the extra effort into AMU and you'll be rewarded.

Joeynguyen1124 (In Progress) on June 23, 2009 (email verified)

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Great Criminal Justice Program I am currently pursuing a bachelors degree in criminal justice from American Military University and think it is a great program. I love that I can earn my degree online while I work full time. I am half way through the program and have found my professors to be very knowledgeable and skilled in what they teach. They use a combination of textbooks, lecture notes, and videos to help the students understand the course. All of the professors I have had so far have bachelors and masters degrees related to criminal justice and have a great deal of background in the field. All of my textbooks and course materials are provided and I receive all my physical textbooks through the book grant (absolutely great!). When I first started with AMU, I thought the courses would be easy since I would be taking them online. I soon realized that was not the case. The courses are demanding and require hard work and effort. You have weekly discussion boards, quizzes, and exams like you would at any university. So far, I am very pleased with American Military University. I look forward to completing my criminal justice degree online and would recommend the university to people out there who are looking to earn a degree online. The school is accredited and affordable!

Anonymous (In Progress) on June 5, 2009 (email verified)

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Scam! APUS is just another college scam. None of the instructors are supervised, none of their credentials can be checked out(so you might be getting "educated" by somebody who has an AA, best case scenario). Department of Education can't do anything about them because they are a private college,a business and not an actual school. Any private school can get accredited, i is not based off quality of education. The books they claim to give for free as often just low quality pdf files. Somebody needs to report them to the publishing company. Now instructors at AMU do whatever they want to do. They give assignments that are not related to class, they will fail you if they do not like you or your ideas, they will not explain anything, not mentioning teach. If you try to complain to school officials, they will try their best to cover up for the instructor and convince you that you are either : 1) an idiot 2) a foreigner and therefore an idiot That being said - not foreigner friendly. You will be filing discrimination complaints like there's no tomorrow. Not military friendly as it claims to be either. If you will get deployed and try to drop out of classes - good luck getting your money back. You will keep fowarding copies of your orders and they will keep having "system errors". I love the PR team though, so many great comments that sound way unrealistic. Good job guys! Anybody who had a bad experience with AMU please do not "let it slide", file a complaint with the "office of civil rights" or at least create an online blog describing your problem. People need to know the truth and the school needs to get shut down.

Sharrod_2000 (In Progress) on May 18, 2009

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Great for me so far Overall I have had a great experience with AMU. The classes are not a walk in the park, and I do actually learn. As with any educational institution I have had some bad Professors and classes that I did not learn much from...on the other hand; I have had more classes and professors that were worth my time. I noticed a few people bashing AMU after they took 5 classes and such!? Doesn't say much for you to quit after such a short time. Also, I am convinced that anyone who has problems with this school administrative wise...its probably not the schools fault, as I have found them to be more then helpful.

Anonymous (In Progress) on February 6, 2009 (email verified)

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Good Program for military This school is great for military and as you can already see is 100% accredited. For those skeptical, I have used my military TA and VA benefits here and those institutions wont pay for non-accredited degrees.

Anonymous (In Progress) on June 27, 2008

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M.A. Criminal Justice Very pleased with my decision to attend AMU. Exceptional bargain.

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