Hellenic American University MBA: Overview of $3K RA MBA

[collegecareerstudent]

Did anyone start the program 03/29?

Yes, I did.

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My experience at TESU was a joke and I learned nothing from either of my classes. I'm considering a Masters/cert degree from a state school because I'd really like to learn I/O Psych or project management. I don't feel educated having done the online route from a scammy sounding school. But hey, I have a degree to check the box!

Well, the TESU cornerstone is making sure you know enough to succeed at college level courses, not so much about teaching you , the capstone is about pulling together and testing your knowledge of the subjects in the degree you choose, so again, not about teaching but testing. If the are the only two courses you took at TESU, then framing in what the courses are for may help you not feel it was so much a joke.

I posted earlier in this thread about how some folks will not be happy with a degree that isn't a brand, for a variety of reasons, from your posts, I really think you may fall in that category (and that is Ok), but may I offer that feeling good about your accomplishments and degree with the confidence that gives you will help more than a brand name?

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I wouldn't call my research "poor". I did more than most would do because I thought the program was intriguing. It is confusing and to the untrained eye or schools not familiar with this process it could cause issues. Someone else on this forum already stated that transcripts may be an issue. These are things that must be considered. I had to check additional websites, several, as the link on their website where they list they are accredited leads the reader to the exact same page and not to a separate website that proved accreditation.

This is not an attempt to smear the school or make ethically ludicrous claims. This genuinely made me take pause and needed to be addressed as we run into fake schools, or schools at risk of losing their accreditation, or schools that change their names all of the time- some of whom have been brave enough to post on this forum. Keep in mind, I don't post often but I've been on this forum since 2012, lurking.

I saw some things here  I didn't like, attempted to look into it, and then reported what I found. I'm not upset that I am wrong about this- but let's not make it a personal thing. I was trying to help people here.

This all being said, I'm going to stick with my gut and stay with Capella, personally. For those of you embarking on the program, good luck and let us know how it goes. I'm sure it'll benefit many people if someone can report back details so that we can make a super post to benefit others dealing with this. A lot of folks don't know how to approach a university with double accreditation.

To the transcript issue. I paid the 15 bucks to have my TESU transcript sent to HAU, they got it and accepted it without any issues at all. It was the little money and less than 5 mins to do. I really am not sure how that became an issue and credibility hurdle for HAU.

My 2 cents, as far as brand and degrees go for employment or status reasons, a degree from a literally unheard of RA University that people don't have an opinion or notion about is likely better than one from one that is well known and has a poor reputation such as Univ of Phoenix, AIU and Capella. End of the day however, knowledge and job performance matter more.


I wasn't aware that Capella had a poor reputation. I didn't think it was a fabulous one, but certainly not poor, and the school is situated in my home state, so I thought why not. The issue isn't the accreditation- it's how many websites and the length of time it took to find all the necessary information. Those of us on this forum are usually better about finding out details about accreditation but the average person does not know and may be misinformed-including HR representatives. I'm concerned about other people getting the schools confused and not knowing how to dig deeper to find the accreditation details.  I basically almost went ahead and applied but then had the thought to double check those details on the website. I work in the TEFL industry and am currently in Beijing. It could really hurt me personally to get the degree from the institution because the accreditation is harder to track down and I do worry about the school being confused with the college.

Yes, I understand they are at different addresses and have different websites, etc., but that doesn't mean regulators here won't get it confused and I couldn't face problems because of it. For that reason, I'm passing though the program looks intriguing.

In terms of transcript issues, I've detailed my journey from Patten which failed and got bought out by JFKU only for JFKU to also fail amid this pandemic now rendering me a "MBA nomad" so-to-speak.  Both of my prior MBA schools got shut down. When I applied to Capella, someone had to physically send a fax asking for transcripts and hoping they'd get a response since the school no longer exists. It was a massive pain in the rear end, and I never want to have to go through that again. I'm glad you don't have to go through that and aren't concerned about it- but it is a concern of mine. I can't go to WGU because they require you to be within the US to take their programs. I was on haitus from JFKU before they shut down because they have the same requirement, and I didn't know that until I was already in China and my advisor told me when we were casually talking in conversation and it got brought up.

And just to clarify- I'd never seen this issue before where I had to do that much digging and get so confused about a school. I apologize for my post seeming- I guess I should say dramatic because of the caps lock. I wasn't actually yelling at anyone but super confused and trying to emphasize how it appeared to me. I still have my concerns that if someone is working in TEFL abroad, that this program may not be right for them.

In my prior role, I used a variety of methods to validate educational credentials as people try to submit degree mill diplomas for positions here in China all of the time. I've never come across a school with double accreditation and one that was accredited but not appearing in the Database of Post Secondary Institutions, and I don't recall reading about this school in my Bear's guides, though, to be fair, they are back in the states, so even I learned something new today. I'm grateful to know that. However, it was wrong of me to say you should not go and that the school is not fully accredited- clearly, that was in error- but it was an honest mistake, and I did my best to do my due diligence to the best of my ability. I do apologize, though, for getting the facts wrong. Clearly, I was blatantly wrong, but of course, I'm happy to be wrong. I really don't want to crush anyone's educational dreams. I've just been on this forum a long time. I care about the people here, so I just gave my unfiltered thoughts in that moment based on the information I knew at the time.  I think I panicked because I almost applied without researching the possible accreditation issues and it could have been a bad situation for me because of how China works, so for me it would not have been a good fit.

While a degree is often what you make of it, there is something to be said for a name brand school. I'm practically the Blues Clues of China now, a TV teacher. You don't need a Harvard degree or any degree to do my job - but they still require a top 20 school degree- and they pay good money for you to have it, better money than I was making stateside. It's really helped me in a lot of ways just being associated with a name brand school. But - there is value in ALL education.

It's all a matter of what you're looking for and your priorities. 

It's not too late for me to choose another program instead of Capella, but I really haven't found one suitable for me for my situation at this time. I had my heart set on WGU but they told me until I come back to the states, I'm out of luck with their program. I'm not sure why being stateside is a requirement.