Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Comments

I graduated from Embry-Riddle in 2003 with a B.S. in Professional Aeronautics and have no complaints. I transferred in 69 credits which were a mix of state schools and CCAF credits.  The remaining 51 credits were done in a mix of in-residence (night/weekend) and online courses through ERAU. 

My wife completed her B.S. through a large state school and my program was neither easier nor more difficult than her program.  For me, it served the purpose of getting into a decent graduate program which I finished in 2008.

Upper Iowa University is a good one too. I got my BS there. I want to try ER for my masters.

I knew a guy who graduated from Embry Riddle with a BS in Professional Aeronautics who was given about half of his credits based on military schools he attended and for an A&P license.  Additionally, he was able to Clep out of many of his classes and only had to take about 5 classes directly from the school for residency purposes.  Also, he was able to somehow have his requirement to take statistics waived and was not required to take any foreign languages.  Total time spent taking classes from ERAU to earn a BS with a 4.0 GPA?....About 12 months.  He then qualified for OCS/military flight training and is now with the airlines as a pilot.

Guess where I am going to school at?

PS: This guy even flunked out of community college.

I received an A.S. and B.S in Professional Aeronautics at a satellite campus on a military installation. Most of the people attending those satellite military ERAU classes are military members that work 10-12 hours a day, are constantly away from their families, and have to deal with stresses that most people will never know (I know because I am one of them). We sacrifice a lot and ERAU is a great avenue for military members to pursue a higher education while maintaining their professional career. ERAU was an easy way for me to get a degree that would not interfere with my military obligations. I would have loved to get an engineering degree from somewhere like ASU or UCLA, but I dont have the time to go to school full time, so I settled for something less and it has progressed my career in the military significantly. As far as Bruces' comments; The "work credits" that you refer to are actually credits that were obtained from sitting in a military Tech School for several months to over a year, where the students spend 8+ hours a day learning their job. This is a lot better than a college student taking a course to learn about that same topic in theory or in an air conditioned classroom and receiving 3 credits for it. As for the CLEP tests, I passed the 6 I took which were all undergraduate basic courses such as English, College Algebra, Basic freshman sciences, and some management courses...I cant speak for eveyone that CLEPs, but I checked out the text books from the library and self studied until I felt comfortable enough to take the exam (it almost sounds like College homeschooling). Would I recommend ERAU, yes, to someone that has a drive to pursue a degree but doesnt have all the time in the world like Bruce to go to an Ivy league or tough school that gives you 20 page weekly papers and 15 text books to read in a semester. You get out of college what you put into it, so Bruce try harder next time and you might learn something and dont hate.

I took some classes from a satellite campus in Hawaii on one of the military bases.  From my experience at ERAU, I decided to enroll in another school because I felt as if the education was little more than what one would find at a diploma mill.  There were many people attending, and getting A's, who couldn't make it at a junior college.  Although the most popular degree granted seemed to be the BS in Professional Aeronautics, there was actually very little math and science required to graduate.  Many credits were being given to people for their work experience and there were a lot of CLEP tests being accepted.  The only problem seems to be when the school sets these graduates loose in the workforce, they are competing with people who went to real colleges and had to actually burn the "midnight oil" in order to obtain a passing grade.  Most people at ERAU satellite campuses seem to be either getting an A or a B depending on whether or not they were good about showing up for classes.  And we shouldn't forget that they make a whole lot of money by accepting tuition assistance so it would pay them to overlook the shortcomings of some of their students.

I completed my BS in Aero at ERAU in the mid 1980's, in the days of no computers and internet research. Started the Masters program at a resident ERAU campus and finished three classes before being activated and deployed shortly after 9/11. The online Masters allowed me to actually be in Afganhistan, and take numerous classes ( was lucky enough to have internet access at Bagram Air Base). You will do LOTS of APA-style papers and be on the "Blackboard" for class interaction etc. The absolute best thing about ERAU is the Professors; they are the leaders in their respective fields! I mean instructors that have/or are working for NASA, Lockheed, Boeing, Sikorsky, and a few test pilots. They are not a cheap institution by any measure, but a GREAT online school, with  GREAT reputation. Their Professors and the Blackboard staff are flexible and always available for assistance. I had only one problem in the entire program, and it was something that caught the staff off-guard. I use only Macintosh/Apple computers, and one course (believe it was a statistics class) I was sent a CD that didn't interact well with my MAC Powerbook. We could not get this worked out, but through other means was sent a compatible CD. I would attend ERAU again without hesitation. I am a air traffic controller and aviation buff. In your online classes you'll have a wide array of students in your "Blackboard", mostly all are in some type of aviation profession, both military or civilian. This makes the learning better IMHO.

Does anyone have any experience with the physiology certificate?

I graduated w/ a B.S. in Technical Management. My degree has gotten my foot in the door with many different companies, including my current position as a production supervisor in a fortune 100 organization. The classes were difficult, but worth while, and the online courses available were easy to navigate and even allowed me to take one class while I was in Iraq.

What is the other school you applied to?

ERAU Flight Training is a Giant Money Pit.

I am an '03 ERAU Alumni, with a BSAS.  Today ERAU is currently charging more than $1,000/credit hour for tuition, and astronomical fees for flight training.  The problem is, after graduation, with more than $150K in debt, it will be about 5-7 years before ERAU graduate gets hired for a job making only $20,000/year.  Though there will be exceptions from time to time, this is just how the industry is, during all economic periods.  It will take a long long time to build the hours needed to be marketable.  Then once those hours have been made, it may take another 10 years before they start seeing a paycheck that will actually support their studetn loan debt.

However, the ERAU staff poorly advises the students/parents of this, and instead focusing on boasting about how great they are.

Meanwhile, they continue to drive their costs through the roof, while the industry's salaries reamain unchanged, and meager at best.  The average AS student may never see enough money to support their student loan debt, before they have to abandon their career for a more lucrative direction.

The point is...the cost for this flight education is horribly disproportionate to any amount of income you can hope to earn with it.

It is no wonder the classes cost around $800 each at Embry Riddle because it takes 10 admin employees to screw in a light bulb.  EVERY COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY I have taken classes at (5 schools minimum), ALLOWS a student to register on-line - get a student ID and IMMEDIATELY sign up for the class you want to take.  Embry Riddle lets you register on-line and then you SPIN AROUND for 48 hrs waiting for an ID number AND THEN YOU CANNOT TAKE A CLASS until the counselor at a SPECIFIC location where you want to take a class SIGNS you up for your very first class like you are a 3 year old.  After that a student can add/drop classes on his own.  WORSE, they won't let you sign up for ANY CLASS until they get your High School diploma and CCAF transcripts.  I wanted to take ONE CLASS - sociology which is NOT on my CCAF transcript and that class starts in a few days.  NO OTHER COLLEGE I have taken courses at or the colleges my friends go to throws up so many roadblocks and ER is NOT even that great a college.  I demanded my $50 registration back and got it back.  Luckily for me, during the time I wasted getting the runaround from Embry Riddle, I signed up ON-LINE with another college and registered for sociology with them.  I will also finish my degree with them.  Embry Riddle is "riddled" with bureaucrat inefficient rules and do not utilize the internet efficiently.  NOTE: The reason other colleges don't force students to wait to take classes until all transcripts are received is because they won't release their transcript of you taking that class UNTIL they get your high school transcript and other transcripts.