Need Input on My Amberton University Master's/HR Certification Plan

[Claudia P]

I need some advice.
I was able to take some time off to complete my BABA at UMPI.  I am now considering the following Master's options:
WGU - MBA or MSML (I prefer papers over exams, though)
HAU - MBA
Amberton - MA Professional Development with HR Cert or the MS in HR Management

I am leaning toward Amberton because they offer a stand alone graduate certification in HR Management, and my target job is an HR Specialist or HRIS Specialist.
I am hesitant to jump right into a Master's program until I get into the rythm of working full-time and going to school, so here is my plan:

Enroll at Amberton for the HR Management Certificate (it's 4 classes) and take one class at a time.  Hopefully, by then, I will be employed and will qualify for tuition reimbursement.
Concurrently work on the four VESi courses recommended in KevinMane's thread for credit through Augustana University. (Learning Disabilities, Understanding Aggression, Why DI and Try DI).

If I decide to pursue the MA in Professional Development, I can transfer the VESi courses to Amberton, and hopefully they'll accept them.  Then I will only have five courses left to finish my Masters.  I believe one of the courses from the HR Cert counts toward credit for the MA in Prof Dev degree.

If I decide not to move forward with a master's, I will still have my bachelor's degree and a graduate certificate in HR Management to my name.  By that point, I would be crazy not to finish my Master's, but I need to leave myself some breathing room.  I have a lot of family commitments and working full-time plus pursuing a Master's is daunting.
I would love input on this plan, especially from those that have attended Amberton.  Did I assume anything incorrectly, or would you recommend a different approach?

Questions:
1) Do I still need to submit my UMPI transcripts to Amberton so I can enroll in the HR Certification?
2) Do I need to be aware of pushy enrollment salespeople (like UMPI has) if I call Amberton with questions? 
3) Has anyone had recent success transferring the four VESi courses in to Amberton?  or problems transferring the courses?
4) Can the four VESi courses be applied to any of Amberton's other Master's degrees (besides the MA in Professional Development)?
5) Is there a minimum amount of time in which I must complete the four classes for the HR Cert, or is taking one class at a time even an option?

Thanks in advance for your input. 

[allvia]

KevinMane's thread is older, but the information (other than costs) is current.  I was pretty sure I was going for the MAPD at Amberton, but in the final term switched to the MS Human Relations and Business (it came down to changing one final planned course).  I have nothing but good to say about my time and experience with Amberton. It has served me well since I graduated. 

With that said, the $3k HAU MBA wasn't an option at the time (and I was too close to the end of my master to make school/degree changes, yet again, when it became available) - but it is such an amazing value. The HAU MBA did however come available just as a family member was looking at graduate options, and they have only positive things to say about their experience with HAU (and have had a very positive response and ROI now that they've completed the degree).

Now I did attend WGU at the graduate level as well (this is where some of my Amberton transfer credits came from, others came from Eastern), but it just wasn't a good fit for me. The WGU program (MSITM) was not where my heart was, and I wanted the go at my own pace; one course a term, or maybe two, or just take a term or two off - then return. Amberton (& HAU) offer the more flexible take courses as you wish vs WGU value being in the push to get it done. Once I had my bachelor, I didn't feel the need to rush and 'get it done'.

[bjcheung77]

Hmm, if I recall correctly, you may be able to get a certificate on route to the HAU MBA without extra costs. I don't think there is one for HR specifically, but several interesting ones are available that is somewhat close to HR (or not). Here's the Cert link: https://mba.hauniv.edu/academics/certificates/ and the grad programs link https://mba.hauniv.edu/academics/all-graduate-programs/

[Claudia P]

KevinMane's thread is older, but the information (other than costs) is current.  I was pretty sure I was going for the MAPD at Amberton, but in the final term switched to the MS Human Relations and Business (it came down to changing one final planned course).  I have nothing but good to say about my time and experience with Amberton. It has served me well since I graduated. 

With that said, the $3k HAU MBA wasn't an option at the time (and I was too close to the end of my master to make school/degree changes, yet again, when it became available) - but it is such an amazing value. The HAU MBA did however come available just as a family member was looking at graduate options, and they have only positive things to say about their experience with HAU (and have had a very positive response and ROI now that they've completed the degree).

Now I did attend WGU at the graduate level as well (this is where some of my Amberton transfer credits came from, others came from Eastern), but it just wasn't a good fit for me. The WGU program (MSITM) was not where my heart was, and I wanted the go at my own pace; one course a term, or maybe two, or just take a term or two off - then return. Amberton (& HAU) offer the more flexible take courses as you wish vs WGU value being in the push to get it done. Once I had my bachelor, I didn't feel the need to rush and 'get it done'.

Thank you Allvia, your situation sounds very similar to mine.  I don't want to rush to get it done.  I want the flexibility of taking one course at a time.
Thank you, BJCheung, I will check out the HAU graduate certificates.

[ss20ts]

I LOVED my time at Amberton. I also attended WGU and didn't enjoy it. Wasn't a good fit for me. I didn't find their grad level courses to be on par with the other grad level courses I had taken at other universities. At Amberton, you have a 10 week term which is nice. You get a break between terms. They are closed for holidays so nothing is due on a holiday which is nice. Other online programs aren't like that. When I was at CSU Global, we had assignments due on the 4th of July and Thanksgiving which was a total nightmare.

Amberton also allows you to see the course syllabus before you register for a course so if you're not sure if you can handle the workload that term, you know it in advance. You also know what books are needed so you can budget for them and order them. I purchased or rented all of my books through Amazon's Kindle app. I loved digital books as I could read them anywhere. Many professors have weekly Zoom calls. Sometimes they're optional. Sometimes they're not. But you'll know if they're required because it's on the syllabus. I was just looking at taking a couple of courses and the professor has mandatory Zoom calls on Mondays and they're 45% of the grade. This didn't work for me so I knew that I couldn't take that course this term.

You'll still need to apply to Amberton to enroll in the certificate program. They will need your transcripts to confirm that you have a bachelor's degree. They don't have sales people like UMPI did (UMPI doesn't have that third party vendor anymore). There's like 2 people who handle admissions and they're not pushy at all. Also you know how UMPI was slow with everything? Amberton is also slow. It's a small university. The campus is an office building basically.

For the VESI courses, make sure you only take courses that are 3 credits. Amberton only accepts 3 credit courses. These don't work for all degrees as each degree has different requirements. Most degrees don't have any room for what are essentially electives. You can absolutely take 1 grad course per term. That's really normal!

[Vle045]

I LOVED my time at Amberton. I also attended WGU and didn't enjoy it. Wasn't a good fit for me. I didn't find their grad level courses to be on par with the other grad level courses I had taken at other universities. At Amberton, you have a 10 week term which is nice. You get a break between terms. They are closed for holidays so nothing is due on a holiday which is nice. Other online programs aren't like that. When I was at CSU Global, we had assignments due on the 4th of July and Thanksgiving which was a total nightmare.

Amberton also allows you to see the course syllabus before you register for a course so if you're not sure if you can handle the workload that term, you know it in advance. You also know what books are needed so you can budget for them and order them. I purchased or rented all of my books through Amazon's Kindle app. I loved digital books as I could read them anywhere. Many professors have weekly Zoom calls. Sometimes they're optional. Sometimes they're not. But you'll know if they're required because it's on the syllabus. I was just looking at taking a couple of courses and the professor has mandatory Zoom calls on Mondays and they're 45% of the grade. This didn't work for me so I knew that I couldn't take that course this term.

You'll still need to apply to Amberton to enroll in the certificate program. They will need your transcripts to confirm that you have a bachelor's degree. They don't have sales people like UMPI did (UMPI doesn't have that third party vendor anymore). There's like 2 people who handle admissions and they're not pushy at all. Also you know how UMPI was slow with everything? Amberton is also slow. It's a small university. The campus is an office building basically.

For the VESI courses, make sure you only take courses that are 3 credits. Amberton only accepts 3 credit courses. These don't work for all degrees as each degree has different requirements. Most degrees don't have any room for what are essentially electives. You can absolutely take 1 grad course per term. That's really normal!

This sounds a lot like my experience at JWMI right now.  I really like the 10 week terms. While it can seem like a long time, it spreads out the work load and each class has 3-4 bigger assignments but they are spread out.  So, I still have a life. I don’t know if I will go for an additional degree in the future, but from what you describe, Amberton seems like a good option. ?

[Claudia P]

Thank you very much ss20ts for answering my questions re: Amberton. Yes, I have poured over many of your, and Allvia's posts regarding Amberton, and it really does sound like the right fit for me now. It sounds as though you have completed your degree. Do they offer online students the opportunity to walk at graduation? Do you plan on participating? I won't be walking at UMPI's graduation this May, but if I complete the Amberton Master's, I may want to participate in graduation.

Vle045, I'm not familiar with JWMI, but it sounds like a similar program. It's amazing how many options there are for graduate programs now. Love it!

[ss20ts]

Thank you very much ss20ts for answering my questions re: Amberton.  Yes, I have poured over many of your, and Allvia's posts regarding Amberton, and it really does sound like the right fit for me now.  It sounds as though you have completed your degree.  Do they offer online students the opportunity to walk at graduation?  Do you plan on participating?  I won't be walking at UMPI's graduation this May, but if I complete the Amberton Master's, I may want to participate in graduation.

Vle045, I'm not familiar with JWMI, but it sounds like a similar program.  It's amazing how many options there are for graduate programs now.  Love it!

Yes, you can walk at graduation. The Commencement ceremony takes place twice a year - November and May. Students graduate at the end of each term regardless if there is Commencement or not. I did not walk because my last class finished the day before Commencement and it wasn't possible for me to travel the last week of classes as there was a great deal to do. I had 4 classes my last term and didn't have time to sneeze. I've completed 3 degrees since 2021 and haven't gotten to walk at all. I'm kind of annoyed about that! 

[Claudia P]

Thank you very much ss20ts for answering my questions re: Amberton.  Yes, I have poured over many of your, and Allvia's posts regarding Amberton, and it really does sound like the right fit for me now.  It sounds as though you have completed your degree.  Do they offer online students the opportunity to walk at graduation?  Do you plan on participating?  I won't be walking at UMPI's graduation this May, but if I complete the Amberton Master's, I may want to participate in graduation.

Vle045, I'm not familiar with JWMI, but it sounds like a similar program.  It's amazing how many options there are for graduate programs now.  Love it!

Yes, you can walk at graduation. The Commencement ceremony takes place twice a year - November and May. Students graduate at the end of each term regardless if there is Commencement or not. I did not walk because my last class finished the day before Commencement and it wasn't possible for me to travel the last week of classes as there was a great deal to do. I had 4 classes my last term and didn't have time to sneeze. I've completed 3 degrees since 2021 and haven't gotten to walk at all. I'm kind of annoyed about that! 

Oh, that is a bummer.  I'd say you're such a go-getter, you're probably already working on your next degree, and hopefully you'll get the opportunity on the next round.