American Public University System Online Degrees, Rankings, and Reviews

An undergraduate degree is the bare minimum in today's marketplace. Even store managers in retail and restaurants have four year degrees these days. I came to APUS for an MA but discovered that my undergraduate was from a now-defunct college which was... Read More not nationally or regionally accredited. That meant that I had to transfer my accredited AA credits over and redo my junior and senior years. I managed a full-time course load with a full-time job. I periodically thought about quitting or slowing down but I stayed motivated and it paid off. I now have a regionally accredited undergraduate degree and have enrolled in a graduate program at APUS. I had a good classroom experience. Most students were there to do the bare minimum to pass. But I was able to connect with others like me who wanted to do a good job and get an A. That requires work but it can be done. Many of my instructors had a PhD and almost all had been teaching in online and traditional universities for many years. You have to teach yourself but all the resources are provided to you in the classroom. All books are included so you can save quite a bit at APUS. The tuition is more affordable than other popular online universities. The school is regionally accredited by HLC so you can use your degree to get a job that requires one (corporate, commissioned officer, federal agent, state game warden, etc.). I had a very positive experience and I hope that others can enroll, do the work, get their degree, and move on with the rest of their lives. Good luck!

I was meandering away in life, trying to figure out what to do, when one day I dallied around on the computer and entered some information for a degree. This college popped up with some fancy pictures of military people in uniform doing cool stuff like... Read More space program. I was like, totally not fascinated, and just sort of forgot about them. Then they emailed me and said, "Congratulations! You've been accepted....and yada yada." I was still not hooked. I filled out a few easy forms, requested my high school transcript and a few college credits, and BOOM, they wanted me to sign up for classes. Being the kind of leaf that will generally fall where the wind lands, I filled out my fafsa as quickly as possible and then tried a class. Then came the work. Let me tell you, they will take any bum off the street and give them a degree. But they have to earn it. And it wasn't easy. I got a Bachelors in Biology, and had to take some of the hardest courses of my life. It all seemed to revolve around math, which I hated, and yet excelled at it anyway. The teachers were very nice, and very good (except for one, my Philosophy of Science teacher who was a real prick and sent me unprofessional nasty emails. I withdrew from his class late and demanded my money back, and I got it.) Now when I say the teacher were good, what I mean is, they are educated, fair graders, will answer your letters, and will give you plenty of freedom to sink or swim. They won't hold your hand, won't lecture, and won't be mean to you. They expect you to follow the rules set, and if you do that, you'll be fine. They will usually give you second chances if you get the assignments wrong. The longer the courses went on, the more work was involved, and you had to cater to the individual opinions of what qualified as "good" for each teacher. Some were easier than others. Now as for the customer service, I expected nothing great, but they surpassed my expectations. Everytime I called, and I did call often, they picked up right away, was thorougly knowledgable (sp?) in their field, and didn't try to tell me something they didn't know. They had patience. They were smart. They didn't want to rush me off the phone because they were too busy. They wanted to make things right. Even during my fits, my complaints, my impatience, my polite days, they treated me the same. They helped me in every possible way they could. I got 3.76 GPA at the end. I was on the Dean's list twice. I somehow aced all my math classes, like calculus 2 and statistics. Believe me, I'm not sure I could really do that twice. I'd rather get hit by a train than go through physics again. Their used of technology is terrible. I had classes that didn't have the proper instructions for the map program GIS I was using in class. The textbook was completely unclear and confusing, so much so that many students complained. My physics box was missing items that was needed for the required experiments. Some experiments made absolutely no sense, and many students complained about this. Some tests that required a multiple choice answer had no multiple choice listed, and I had to be credited for my answers. The books are outdated at least 5 years. The library isn't as sophisticated as wikipedia or google, yet they won't let you reference wikipedia at all. Their plagarism makes no sense at times. They use turnitin, which isn't always very accurate, and if you manage to repeat like one sentence that was repeated somewhere else, that you never heard of, even a common one, they will write you up for plagarism (or the first time is a warning). The value was the best ever. They make the tuition fair and affordable to match reasonable living expenses while you are in school, so you don't have to work while getting a full time degree. The financial aid people are very good, and can tell you precisely when you will be credited, how much, and you will not have any hiccups. I have been to other schools. I know what they are like. Many schools hire students who have no real experience doing this. This school, AMU, only hires professionals. The teacher was a prick to me? I never saw his name listed again in any classes afterwards. The beauty of this school is that they lure you in with an easy cheap degree that you think anyone with a brain can get through. But it's just a way to give you a chance to fail at your own leisure. I chose at some point during my classes that I wanted to do well. I wouldn't settle for a B, much less a C. I ended up with almost all A's. Yes, this school is super easy to get in. It's actually not hard to get an A. At first the classes seemed ridiculously easy to pass, with easy assignments, forums, and some reading, and an exciting idea that you can get a degree. But try that for four years. It eventually becomes tedious, mind-numbingly boring, frustrating, and believe it or not, things in life can happen to you that you never expected, and yet you are expected to muddle through somehow. It's not that the classes are impossible to pass, but it's not easy to get an A in many of them. And during your four years, you will encounter unexpected stress. This is the true test of your tenacity. The true measure of who you really are. Will you sink or swim?

For the most part I enjoyed online learning and this Institution. I have recommended American Public University to others. Most of the teachers/professors were engaging and interactive. They gave valuable feedback on papers and within the forums. Some... Read More were willing to go out of their way to help increase understanding. The piece I had a difficult time was when students would not respond to forums until Saturday or Sunday not giving time for others to interact. They missed out on additional learning and interaction. I also felt that many of the core classes had much of the same content. I felt like I was writing the same paper many times over and trying not to plagiarize myself. There are many other critical content areas that should have been covered in these classes. All of this said, I for the most part enjoyed the courses.