The Master of Arts in Military History program at Norwich University is a fairly long-term advertiser here on the Dope. Has anyone investigated it (especially more than casually), or actually applied or enrolled?
Is it a quality degree program that provides a good education and is widely accepted by employers and other schools as a fully legit Master’s Degree?
One suspicion that I do have is it’s persistent advertising, which seems more in line with the ITT Tech’s of the world.
Well, there’s no question about Norwich University itself being legit. Founded in 1819, the university is one of the six Senior Military Colleges and is considered the “Father of the ROTC” (as well as being, quite as an aside, the alma mater of Bill W.) They’ve been offering MA’s in Military History for quite some time now and they’re as legitimate as those offered by VMI or any of the other Senior Military Colleges.
I’m not sure why they’ve decided to push online Military History MA’s. Maybe they think Civil War/WWI/WWII/Vietnam War buffs with money and time on their hands might be interested. If you think it’s worth the effort, well, knock yourself out.
There’s a lot of people in the armed forces who take online courses. Maybe they’re aiming for them.
I think that you are seeing them advertise that particular degree because a Nemo pointed out there are a TON of military buffs out there that would find a course in this fascinating. I am one of those who is a military buff, reading everything I can get my hands on. I have seen that ad and have considered responding for more information. However, the reason I don’t is even if you got a “Masters in Military History”, what the hell would you do with it?
The concern that has remained in my mind is the motivation for advertising - lots of programs at many schools are so in-demand that they pretty much don’t need to advertise, or they only need to advertise in much more targeted ways (e.g. distributing flyers to students at other schools, attendees at a convention, etc.). That makes me wonder if they are desperate for students (leading one to suspect that the program is not in demand, either because it is too difficult to complete or too difficult to use in real life)
Re: My remark on ITT Tech - I realized that I may be implying something other than what I intended. They’re a legit school, but their degrees are not held in as high esteem as others and they are perceived as “bottom feeders”, and they advertise incessantly.
My brother actually did that very program a few years ago.
As said, Norwich is a well respected university, and from what I hear, it’s a good military history program. From what I understand, it’s identical in coursework to a non-online degree, and there is nothing on the degree or your coursework that says “ONLINE DEGREE.”
It is an interesting question, yes. I know the university I work for has put advertising on Facebook, and was at least thinking about Google Ads. I’m curious as to why Norwich University thought that they would get a return for advertising so broadly. When we advertise online we’ll be told “you can reach X number of customers for Y cost,” and to keep Y low and still reach an effective number of people we have to target our audience keywords carefully. So if someone on Facebook says in their profile they’re a high school student who lives in our area, they’re more likely to get an ad for us. But Norwich seems to throw out ads for a lot of sectors at once. Again, I have to wonder what they’re up to.
I have not only applied and enrolled but have actually completed the MH course at Norwich. It is highly accredited, but beware that it is a military school not a liberal arts institution. What this means is that you will often encounter instructors who are serving or retired military officers who will demand group think (school solution answers). In other words, their opinions will be considered the last word and they will grade accordingly. Any complaints in regard to this will fall on deaf ears from administration. That said, it was academically rigorous and not a paper mill. The instructors, though often narrow-minded, were all qualified in their content areas, and the curriculum was advanced far beyond the popular tracts found online and on book store shelves.
You are right to question the advertising. My 18 month master’s course ran $26,000. At my state university it would have been way less than half of that. They don’t offer benefits to any of the adjunct instructors who teach the courses, so you’ll have to guess at just how many thousands of dollars I poured into their recruiting/advertising.
All and all I would say that it was not worth it and would advise avoidance.
That’d be my bet. For them, a Masters from Norwich has more cachet value than one from say, Strayer or UMUC.
Regards,
-Bouncer-