AMU: withdrawal letter

[winterbadger]

I have become more and more disenchanted with AMU as time goes on, and my second attempt to take OC570 is the final straw. The professor doesn't know her own syllabus (assigned reading for one book included pages that don't exist in that volume), doesn't clearly communicate her goals with students (left assignments off the syllabus and the online assignment tracker), doesn't seem to understand or wish to use the instructional software properly (all assignment dates are given for August/September, even though the class is running in November/December, and the professor did not correct this after it was pointed out), and can't even confirm what students are active in the class (since the class assignments include responding to fellow classmate's postings, this is important, but persons not listed in the online student tracker as active are posting to the discussion boards, and some who are listed as active have never posted).

The student body is also a terrific disappointment. I have gone over the past few years from taking classes with fellow defense industry professionals whose standards of analysis and writing were high to people who, judging by my current class, are unable to write at an undergraduate level and who are in some cases unable to to more by way of "analysis" than copy sentences out of the assigned reading and rearrange the words. I do not derive benefit or insights from working with such students, and I question what they are doing taking part in a graduate-level course.

Add to that the fact that AMU seems to be unable to sustain a catalog of course offerings in my field and specialty that offer any sort of broad range of options, and I would have to say that I question whether I wish to continue my degree program. Tuition continues to increase, but I feel I am getting less and less for my investment.

regards,

Jan Spoor

Comments

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

:0(

[dativesingular.livejournal.com]

Given what I've read of your experience, I kind of think even this was too polite!! ;) Still, I'm sorry that this ended up being a time and moneysink for you.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Good letter. I hope they get the hint.

[tispity.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you definitely did the right thing. Yours is a good letter, I hope they take some notice of it for the benefit of future students.

[rethought.livejournal.com]

Terrible.

It's good that you're telling them what the problems are rather than just leaving abruptly.

Grad school is so much not what I thought it would be either.

[winterbadger]

Oh dear! I'm sorry you feel that way. I almost half-expected this, as I had always kind of thought AMU was a bit of a diploma mill, but it was the only place I could get to take me, thanks to my undergraduate GPA.

But it's sad, almost everyone I know who's been to grad school has been disenchanted by it. My friend Mike who started doing a History PhD at Vanderbilt gave up on it and became an attorney instead. Neta's had a hell of a time at Johns Hopkins. Rocky got his doctoral degree (also history) eventually, but only after he got blind-sided in his doctoral defense by one of his readers and had to substantially rewrite his thesis. My friend Phil got his PhD (in history--there's a pattern here...) but promptly turned his back on it when he realised his advisor expected that in return for her support he would basically become her client (in a Roman sense), writing pieces in support of all her theories and going out to deliver her papers at conferences.

[magaidhbhan.livejournal.com]

*whimper*


::goes back to panicking in the corner about the work she was panicking about even before reading this::


*whimper*

[shy-kat.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear it, although it's likely for the best. It's a shame you've invested so much and won't get a degree to show for it.

On the positive side, I have nothing but good things to say about the two graduate programs I've been in.