American Military University

I am a handful of classes away from completing my bachelors in Philosophy at AMU and I have been attending classes at AMU back to back for more than 2 years. Most of my experience has been very positive. I always got the materials on time, except for once, however the support staff, for lack of a better word, was very supportive. Professors were hit-or-miss at times. Some professors graded quickly and gave constructive feedback. A few professors however, would take nearly the length of the entire course to start grading items from week 1 and 2. I submitted complaints each time, and it seemed to stop happening. I am looking at grad schools right now, and have heard that since AMU is regionally accredited, there won't be an issue accepting the degree. That being said, AMU is not an especially prestigious school. As far as online-only schools go, it is probably one of the best. TL;DR The program is pretty good.

I only completed by phil courses here having done all my lower division work and general ed. at community colleges. There are no lectures, so what you learn is almost exclusivly from the books and what you figure out writing papers. Most of the books were excellent. My only regret was not having studied Plato in any detail. We read the Kitto book on the Greeks, which is a classic. In general the professors and their grading of my papers was very good to excellent. One thing that was good about the program was their emphasis on ethics. There was no class on epistemology, which was good for me, except their was a class on logic which is standard. If you need a professor to guide you through the readings then it is not a good format, but if you can handle doing everything on your own, then it is great.

It took me a long time to decide that I could actually get my degree, and then decide on AMU. WIth so much exoerience with the nilitary, I thought thy would be flexible conflicts woth work schedules and classes and they are very accomodating. I finished my degree while I was still 49. I found most of the instructors to provide a thought proviking discussion if you ask for it. Philosophy and all of the courses that make up the degree are not toaght like other traditional courses. Your participation helps you, the teacher and all of your class mates see how you interpret the class you are taking. But if you are bent on your personal interpretation and aren't willing to discuss other students or the instructors viewpoint, well I can see where a person may juadge the program to be lacking. But I would have to ask them, when making that statelent if they were being totally honest with themselves. For those who questioned and challenged what they don't understand or accept but ar willing to listen and consider, I think that AMU is as good a school as any Brick and Mortar school as far as I am concerned and I have attended 3 of them. I would srongly suggest this program to anyone willing to take part in all conversations and maybe even provide a little constructive criticism or arguement. On the other hand if you just fill the requirements and complain when you only get a C,then maybe you don't like what you see in the mirror every day either.

Okay. I am the fence-straddler reviewer. My time at AMU has been mixed, but I look at it from the perspective of someone who has in the past attended brick-and-mortar institutions as a full-time student. For the part-time student with a full-time job, crazy schedules, children, or any other distractions, AMU is unparalleled in the support they provide. I managed to eek out 24 hours while I was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom for 15 months, and I traveled within the country extensively! If it were not for AMU's compassionate system and professors willing to give me the time and space needed, I could not have even approached college work while participating as a combatant. For the full-time student, AMU provides an excellent opportunity to finish your degree early. I am taking 9-12 hours per 8 week session which equates to around 18-24 hours per semester. The price is not all that bad either considering the book grant for undergrad's, Lexis Nexis access, and many other perks. The actual academics and workload can, admittedly, seem too easy at times, but there are facets of the experience that make you "earn your degree." Discussion boards continue to be a pain in my side since many of my peers only provide what is required by the syllabus and give no extra effort to synthesize and analyze materials. Non-essay tests are often a joke since they are non-proctored (however, I prefer this) and rarely timed. However, essay tests and timed tests can often be a thrilling challenge. In my particular field of study (philosophy major and history minor) there is extensive writing. I have calculated upwards of 2000 words per week per class to include discussion boards and responses. The science classes I have taken thus far have been interesting, and I have particularly enjoyed the virtual labs. For a final thought I leave you with this - I was going to transfer to Georgetown University this fall (2009) but was unable to due to family issues. Georgetown calculated that ALL of my credits earned at AMU were transferable. I believe it, and I am going to stick out the last 30 hours of my BA with AMU.