American Military University

I just recently registered for classes at AMU. The process is confusing and if it could be a little more individually tailored by student type would be entirely better. To start the Financial Aid Office steps are catered more toward gaining loans than actually assisting you. With a name like American Military University you would think that the first question would be about military benefits ie. TA, GI Bill etc. instead I had to fill out an entire form tailored towards federal student loans and borrowing with absolutely no mention on the GI bill until I actually registered for classes. If they could fix this problem than I would give them a 7 overall for now.

Every Professor I reached out to was very supportive. I am my worst cretic because I try to make everything too perfect. My Professors gave me great advice "You are learning and you should allow us [Professors] to grade your work not you". Once I acknowledge to myself that "I am here to learn" then I felt a little better. I still attempt to hand in "perfect assignments". Thank you to all my Professors from 2009-2015. Your constant support gave me the strength to see this program to the finish. Very Respectfully, LBM, 4047000

I graduate with a B.S in Information Systems Security with a core focus in Enterprise Security. I have attended Glendale Community College prior to joining the military with 36 college credits and have had 3 technical schools while Active Duty! I work in intelligence with a communications background, and can say this about (AMU). The school is decent and the instructors are very knowledgeable about what they teach in almost every subject. I am however disappointing about my transfer credits not calculating into my degree plan as much as I thought they would. Between military and civilian schools I have over 169 college credits AMU only took 33 for my degree plan; for that I give poor remarks especially my computer technical schools that superseded some of these courses by far. The staff is more than helpful, technical support is spot on, and I am very happy with most of my education from AMU. Some of the students in the lower level courses a very "special" but, when you reach the upper level courses of the program a light bold must turn on because all of the students have some amazing knowledge and insight to most subjects! I also have two kids and remain active duty as a double full time student. This school fits my schedule very well and I think it is a great institution for any one that has a busy schedule and is looking to learn something new in this degree path! I do however, wonder how the name American Military University will look on my resume when I choose to separate?

The institution and it's staff were very supportive and very encouraging. I was able to complete my B.S. In Information Systems Security despite serving as an active-duty Marine infantryman and frequently deploying to combat zones as well as participating in long field training operations. The flexibility and willingness to help that were nearly universal among the faculty members were instrumental to my success. Additionally, the course of study prepared me thoroughly for the CISSP exam. I believe that APUS offers active military members opportunities for quality education matched by very few other institutions. The online learning environment places significant demands upon students, though. Collaboration and community simply aren't as much a part if the experience as they are at brick-and-mortar institutions. Individual motivation, drive, work ethic, and initiative are absolutely required. These factors notwithstanding, I found the material and the quality of instruction to be top-notch. The Information Systems Security degree path leverages virtual labs in order to provide practical training and experiences. I found these labs to be the most valuable part of the program, and I hope that APUS continues to expand their implementation. Additional assignments concerning current information security event analysis, interpretation of the legal and regulatory environment, and the integration of information security within enterprise policy structures and business practices ensured that the learning experience was well-rounded and comprehensive. As a busy service member, APUS offered me opportunities that I may not have been able to find elsewhere. Completing my degree gave me the knowledge and confidence necessary to become a full-fledged CISSP as well as to seek further education and certification. I feel ready join the workforce or to return to school as a graduate student.

I completed my BS in Information Security Systems this October and have already been hired on by a company to start at a mid career postion. The time spent obtaining this degree was well spent at AMU. I started as active duty and finished as a retiree. Never had issues except with external support of virtual labs. Great school and facaulty. Wonderful for those wanting a self paced school with deadlines to keep you on track. No issues with admissions or the finance department. Going to apply for my Masters program here. Recommend for all.

I graduated this year with a BS in Information Systems Security. Having taken classes at two brick & mortar colleges, AMU was similar in content and difficulty. I started with 30+ credit hours and finished my degree while attending part-time. There were 2 or 3 classes that had horrible instructors, but I also experienced that while attending the brick & mortar ones. Over all, AMU is a solid and respectable school in my opinion. The tuition price is very hard to beat. While some businesses may want to see degrees from more well-known universities, numerous vendors that do business with the government, Dell, HP, IBM, Cisco, NetApp, Microsoft, Adobe...etc., are familiar with AMU and its quality education. I suspect in the near future that AMU will become more reputable as more and more alumni enter the workforce.

I recently finished and managed to pack 20 classes (3 credits each) into approximately 14 months. Some classes are extremely in depth and took a lot of work, others were not especially challenging (having a heavy programming background). I checked my folder today and I have 131 written assignments that range from 1 page turn-ins to 27 page monsters, with 6 pages being the median. A typical class (in the accelerated 8-week format) consists of a discussion board where you write in a forum about 300 words on an initial topic, then 2 or more responses of 150+ on other peoples posts. You would then typically have 1 written assignment each week. Then where the differences fall are a technical class will have labs, where you use Citrix to load a remote Virtual Machine and follow through your lab manual and online videos (watch the videos, and recommended videos, they really help). Writing heavy classes would include a PPT/Paper where you work on parts of it progressively through the course. Almost all classes have a "Final" paper that is usually 10 pages or so in length on a topic from the class you choose near the beginning. Some classes additionally will have quizzes that range from 5 to 50 questions, usually multiple choice, but sometimes free response. The books are a lot more current, maybe 1-2 years out of date in some cases and the non-required set of classes has a huge selection (where you get your concentration from). There are some real gems in there such as cryptography and the security oriented ones with labs. Between this school and a boot camp I was able to pass the Certified Ethical Hacker course as a first time go. There is a sizeable military population taking classes here, they are very supportive of each other and form a nice community, if you participate. You should always message the teacher at least once, if not more during class, and include the whole class if you can on the conversation, it really helps build that feeling. My GI Bill worked promptly and there were no issues with that, and as some people mentioned, it takes a while to get to their support staff, but they were very helpful when you did get them and that included finding an extra scholarship for me. This school as people have mentioned is certified by several institutions as well as the NSA as a place for learning Information Assurance, this includes their Cyber Security program. 9/10 would do it again (In fact will do a Masters here)

I began attending AMU after transferring from Montana State University. I thought that it would be easier than MSU, but I was wrong... very wrong. I will start with what some people say is "bad" about this establishment. The teachers: There are some bad ones, I have run into 2 of them. I have two classes to go for my BA, so that's not bad. Support: Call early if you need support. I am two time zones away and will wake up at 6 AM MST to get in line at 8 AM EST. I get an operator within a minute or less. If you call at noon... good luck to you. Materials: They did use books before, and now its all PDF files. Some complain that they can only use the materials for 3 days and it "disappears" magically. If you aren't able to find programs online that allow you to save such PDF files or text, or you are not capable of converting one medium to another... maybe the real world isn't for you, much less college. Put the computer down, and find a hobby. This world is getting very high tech, get with the program and deal. Use of Technology: When they changed to Sakai the first time it was bad... real bad. It is getting much better. I know of whole school SYSTEMS that are ten times worse. If you think you can do better, then why aren't you already a millionaire? Its a school, not CISCO corporate. Now to the good stuff. If you are a working professional in the IT field, then you will get something out of this program for Information Systems Security. I am a Network Engineer and have applied everything I have learned so far into my work. I will say that I want the degree to make my move into management, which I have recently done through a promotion. I have written more papers on SONET, BGP, MD5 authentication, Fiber Optics, IPv6, and other related materials than I can count. Some reports I have placed into my work wiki for others to use as reference guides. You will get out what you put into this school. If you are lazy, then you will learn the bare minimum. If you are using what these classes point you towards to the fullest (I have decided it is an excuse for me to write about subjects I care about and work on daily) then you will succeed. I am not a transport network engineer but I can hold my own now. I am not a security IT tech, but I can still hold my own. Heck, I am not the IT guy, but I have made suggestions to IT on how to do things better. Its all because I have applied what I learned at AMU into the real world through lots and lots of research for papers. I even know more about the forest ecology in my state then my friends that work for the Department of Forestry, so what does that tell you? This college will not do the work for you. If you are willing to put in the work, then you will learn tons from this program. Also, someone mentioned certs. If you are going into any IT field, get certs for sure. I am a hiring manager and I will take a highly certified experienced engineer over a college degree holding adult with no experience any day (Unless they amaze me in the interview, which has happened and that 21 year old is happily employed on my team). Those are my 2 bits on AMU and its program.

I have been attending American Public University since 2011 and thought I would share my experience. First of all I have came across a lot of comments calling the school a degree mill; this is NOT correct, the school has its accreditation from the following bodies;Higher Learning Commission, North Central Association (regional accreditation), Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA),The Higher Learning Commission (HLC)of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Next is specialized accreditation; Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP),and Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). My overall experience with the school has been positive, but you have to apply yourself, otherwise you will fail. I have came across comments saying that grades are simply handed out, not true, I have a "D", "C", and two or three "B-" because I did not submit my assignments on time...So they will not simply give you an "A". I have attended B&M classes and I find the course material to be basically the same and in fact a bit harder online. The college class I took at a B&M the classmates were more interested in texting than learning and they passed the class. Another thing, if your going the IT route like me...get your "certifications" a degree does not prove any skills to a perspective employer, IT certs do prove that you at least have a basic understanding of Networking, databases etc. For those seeking to enter the job market with a degree from AMU/APU you will need to ask yourself what type of employment you're going to seek. If you are looking to work in NYC for a prestigious company, I would suggest getting your degree from a prestigious university, because of the competitiveness many NYC based companies pick the schools that have a long established history / name recognition and AMU/APU simply does not have this. Now if your considering government employment or working for contractors, and even IBM, Cisco etc, your AMU/APUS degree will be just fine. But remember to get industry certifications! Hope this helps.

I completed my BS in Information System Security in January 2013. I thought the course was amazing. It prepared me for the Security plus and the Network plus certifications. I was able to successfully attain the Security plus certification a month prior to completing my degree requirements with what I learned from the course. I got a job shortly afterwards and chose to put the Network plus on hold. I have nothing bad to say about the courses because I put a lot into them. If you do the same, you will get a lot out of them. If not, you may not have the same experience I had.

Good school and great program! The courses were really helpful and they really helped me to get a better understanding of info sec. All the courses in the core area relate to the CISSP and the material goes very deep in the different areas. I think some of the material needs to be updated because they still have some courses that deal with UNIX. Teachers are good and they have alot of knowledge in the subjects they teach. Just be prepared to write many papers.

The Information System Security Degree program gives you a broad based look at the information that you will see in the ISS world. These are fast and furious classes that you grow used to after 4 or 5 classes. You get what you put into this and any other school's program and if you put in the time you will come out with a great understanding of the ISS world.

This school is great but some of the books and things are outdated and a couple of the material that are on the test were not on the book or lectures. But it is worth it and the teachers are good with making us fit right in and helping us out when we need it. Overall a 4 out of 5 I would rate it. Not a 5 because of some of the outdated books and material.

I am now in my second year with AMU and thus far the experience has been excellent overall. I have a couple minor misgivings regarding course materials with a some of the courses, but this is primarily limited to presentation and I am generally happy with the quality and depth of material provided. Course instructors are for the most part highly motivated and well adapted to the online learning process, and the technology curve is above average. I am very pleased with the school's reputation and support systems deserve the highest praise. Considering the fact I am paying less per semester than what I would pay at a local community college, the cost benefit value far exceeds my financial expectations. I would gladly recommend this school to anyone seeking a top-notch flexible online learning solution.

Do not waste your time or money going to this "college". This school is ideal for individuals in the military who simply need a piece of paper that says "B.S. / B.A." on it in order to be promoted. This school isn't a diploma mill but it's pretty close. They are nationally and regionally accredited, however, after taking 5 "upper division" classes, I feel that accreditation means a lot less than I originally thought. I had completed my A.A. at a local community college and transferred to this school in the hopes of earning a degree but not having to pay the outrageous tuition rates of the local 4-year universities. In that respect (being cheap), AMU gets a win...at least until you find out what you are paying for. I began the B.S. program in information systems security and I've completed 5 classes so far. Based on my experience, I can sum up the classroom experience as follows: Read some chapters in the textbook, answer questions on the discussion boards, maybe do a short weekly written assignment, complete open-book tests and quizzes every 3 weeks or so. That is about it. You are essentially paying for the ability to read a book then talk about it with other students. In the five classes I have taken, there has been ZERO practical application. The "professors", while many have advanced degrees, are little more than moderators. The textbooks have material in them that is suspiciously similar...I don't mean material overlaps, but material that seems to have been written by the same author or group of authors, even though the book says otherwise. Furthermore, in two of my classes the "textbook" was a ridiculous DIY book that you could purchase off the shelf at Barnes & Noble. Then there is the issue of grade inflation. At first, I put a lot of effort into my assignments and I was getting perfect scores. Then, I started to half-ass a few, just to see what would happen. On the assignments that is half-assed, the lowest score I received was a 93% and that was usually due to a citation error. To further make my point, I purposely turned in an assignment an entire week late and completely BeeEssed it. I did not cite anything, I did not address any material from the current chapters in the class, I didn't make any attempt to do a good job and it was pure, unsupported opinion. I got a 100% on that assignment which indicates to me that the "professor" didn't even read it, or just doesn't care. In the end, if you simply need a degree to get a promotion and nothing more, then by all means, go to AMU. If, however, you actually want to learn something that would be difficult to learn by simply reading a book, don't waste your time. I believe that any employer who is familiar with the curriculum at AMU would toss your resume in the trash. If you managed to even get an interview, they would laugh at you and you would certainly make a fool of yourself for not knowing the answers to basic questions that any undergrad at a state university could answer. I value the quality of my education and for that reason, I will no longer be attending this ridiculous school and am instead transferring to a state university. The tuition might be high, but the quality of the education is incomparable.

Matierials are probably one of this schools strong suits, they don't charge you for books and the books them selves are very informative. Some of the texts I used were a little out of date but just because they are a few years old doesn't mean that the information provided in them is useles, infact it's much harder to learn much less understand the newer information if you don't have a solid base of previous applications and systems. I liked the teachers here because they are, for the most part, working in the field that they teach. I had one professor teaching a network defense class that actually works on network security for his fortune 500 company. What I did not like about the teaching here was that is seemed too easy to just coast and they teachers didn't really enforce due dates for assignments, and while on the one hand it makes it easy to catch up if life gets in the way for a while but also on the other hand it sometimes felt like I was being babied. I think that the teachers sould consider adding penalties to late assignments, if gives the student flexability when life get hecktic but also holds the student accoutable for his/her assignments. Most of my professors didn't do this, some did to an extent but I feel like it should be across the board. The school it self was easy to navigate and very user friendly which i feel it something that is great for students who, like myself, are to online learning. The school's support staff probably needs the most work. Over all the staff is a very informative and helpful group; the times I have ad to call in to the school and get information or have a question answered they were more than happy to help. The problem I have run into, and this may not even be the school or the employees' fault, was when I would email and ask a question it would take them a while to respond and usually their email alone did not answer all my questions. The value of the school is really hard to beat especially for an online school. Most schools that I have looked at for online degree programs charged around 300-500 per credit hour while AMU only charges 250 which is perfect for those of us in the military whose tuition assitance will only pay 250 an hour. The use of technology that I saw at AMU was probably the best and most effective use of technology I had seen in a while. The majority of my text books were in PDF format which is probably the most widely used document viewing format next to JPEGs, but that would take up a huge amount of data space. Their systems and classrooms were easy to access and easy to move around in which made learning and doing my assignments easy and effective. Overall I think this is probably one of the best online learning institutions that a person, especially a soldier, can go through. This school is regionally accredited, the classes are challenging and require a good amount of work, the value is very hard to beat, the staff is helpful and informative, and they are more than willing to help the students out with anything that comes up. The schol does need some improvement, but at the same time it's nothing major that makes the school unmanagable. I did not feel like this was one of those "on-line degree factories" because the classes were challenging and required a good amount of effort on my part. I will, and have been, recommending this school to several of my fellow soldiers and friends.

For all the "this is a joke" naysayers out there, some facts for you: AMU is accredited by the same commission as Notre Dame, and an ex-astronaut is dean of their technology dept. I'm a grad student and I can tell you first hand, this is a serious school. So keep your uninformed/disgruntled opinions to yourselves. The only complaint I have is that their support staff could be a little more responsive.

AMU's Information Systems Security (ISS) program is still in its "beta" phase apparently. Since signing up for the program in 2008, they changed the program to include a Digital Forensics class (but made the class unavailable to "older" ISS students). The course material is relevant, but most of the books are very outdated. For some reason, many of the core and major classes use CIW training books, which are between 4-7 years old - an unacceptable amount of time for Information Security. It was only with one or two core/major classes that a real up-to-date book was used. Also, there are next-to-no real hands-on labs that can be practiced. AMU does not take advantage of Virtualization Technology to help students practice the labs included in the books. Multiple students have recommended that AMU setup a practice environment for students to practice what they've learned (i.e., setting up a practice server to perform enumeration, scanning, and exploit techniques on, etc.), but the request has fallen on deaf ears. The ISS degree does teach students a lot of theory on the Information Security field - something that can prepare them for a more management-focused position. Where they fail is on the technical Information Security "side of the house." I wish I would have known about the IAE/CAE accreditation before signing up, but I am now just a few months away from graduating. I plan on transferring into a graduate program that is IAE/CAE distinguished, so AMU's regionally accreditation will help with that. Most of my learning came from the final papers I had to write (average of 10-15 pages per class). Since I conducted the research on my own, I was able to learn a lot about specific subjects. Also, some of the students have a good amount of experience in the IS field, and they can be awesome resources for information during the discussion boards. Most of the courses went smoothly, but some classes had exams and quizzes with questions unrelated to the course material being studied. It seems like the instructor(s) copied and pasted questions off of exams they've taught in other courses, leading many students to answer incorrectly. To summarize, AMU's program is acceptable if you already have experience in the IS/IA field. DON'T expect it to turn you into a technical practitioner with penetration and auditing abilities. DO expect it to teach you a broad view of the Information Security field; DO expect employers to accept the degree as being regionally accredited; DO expect flexibility with your military/working schedule. If you want to learn how to be a "hacker," many of the labs included in the books can be practiced on your own time, with your own security lab (don't expect to conduct any teacher-assigned exercises during the program). If you're a new undergraduate student looking for a Information Security degree, try to find other alternative programs that are actually IAE/CAE distinguished.

Another example of ripping off the taxpayer...another UoP. Students have to be hand-carried through the course material just like high school or in basic - which is all most of them know. The program is student/customer focused and taught by adjuncts that are paid per student completing their classes, and is designed to "check the block", and spit them out at the other end with a "degree" and take their military tuition assistance checks to the bank. The graduates tend to focus on government positions that have a veterans hiring preference - they are not competitive in the "real world". As with UoP, the "learning curve" between when they enter and when they leave is not high...and the graduates increasingly have a "WTF" reputation.

Completed my program last year. Good college, no complaints.

I am currently on my 4th class with AMU and have nothing but positive things to say about the institution. Contrary to some recent reviews, the TA system has been quick and flawless for me. I can only attribute others problems to "operator error". As long as you have what you need when you need it they take care of you. The staff and professors are knowledgeable and onpoint. I have always receieved my books on time. Like I said, nothing bad to say at all.