Alma Mater that don't matter - AMA Computer College

Sa mga nagbabalak na mag-enrol sa school na ito, I am strongly discouraging you not to. There are few schools better than AMA even they are not specialising in IT. AMA will promise you discounts upon enrollment, they will offer you student loan program and they will sell out the "IT is in-demand abroad and AMA is the best in IT" spiel, but I can tell you, these are all crap. I graduated in AMA Computer College, (I am not going to mention the branch) yes. I managed to get a job abroad, yes. I am now successful in my career, yes. But guess what, none of those is because I graduated in this school. Your school doesn't matter if you have enough experience and if madiskarte ka. 

So now, san nag simula tong first rant ko sa blog na 'to? I recently decided that I want to enrol for Master's Degree thru UPOU (UP Open University). This is because I am out of the country and this is the best option I have. Then while doing the online registration, may isang portion dun regarding Academic Honor. Isa lang pumasok sa utak ko, kung ang GWA ng isang tao is 2.0 bakit may tanong regarding sa Academic Honor? Mind you, may evaluation pa syempre yan ng school. Then I realised, bakit ba wala akong Academic Honor? Alam ko na ang utak ng karamihan sating mga Pilipino, sasabihin nila, syempre hindi ka naman matalino, kung matalino ka di sana may honor ka. Ermmmmm.. As far as I can remember, I was a dean's lister, I started the application for dean's lister from second year, medyo nagsisisi lang ako bakit di ako nag apply nung 1st year, maybe because di naman yun binabanggit samin ng mga prof? Nung may makita nalang kami na naka post sa bulletin board regarding dean's listers saka lang namin nalaman na may ganun palang recognition (Oh diba, super love kami ng mga prof namin). Then after 3 consecutive trimester as a dean's lister, we are qualified to apply for scholarship. And yes, I was an academic scholar of my dear Alma Mater. I was also given 2 Leadership Awards as Vice President and President of CS and IT Organizational Nexus (I.C.O.N) in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 and yes, this branch of AMA gave birth to ICON and we are the pioneer officers. As scholars, we have to give back something to school as well, we suppose to render some certain hours of our time in exchange to our discounted tuition and lab fees. I spent most of my free time not only in ICON, but also as a Student Assistant. There I received my Best Student Assistant Award. 

Oops, medyo lumilihis na tayo sa purpose ng post na to. Mejo mahaba kaya pag pasensyahan nyo na. This is my only way to give those planning to enroll in AMA a warning, bago pa nila magawa. 

Oks, regarding Academic Honor, irregardless of my achievements mentioned above, I got disqualified to apply for Cum Laude. Yes, I asked the same question, why the hell I am not qualified? Our dear registrar that time was Ms Rose Castillo, she still in Fairview Campus doing something else. She told me that it is because in the school policy. So to summarize why I got disqualified:

1. I'm a transferee

2. I have Dropped and Undropped records in University of Caloocan City 

3. I have 5.0 in one of my subjects in Our Lady of Fatima University

Here's the copy of Policy from Student Handbook

Of course, I understand that it is the policy, so I tried to appeal. Here's the explanation on my side:

1. Looking at my transcript below as reference, except for UD, D and 5.0, my grades from these 3 schools are consistent.
2. The reason of UD and D in my first school is because I have to stop my study as my parents can't send me to school anymore and I have to work
3. The reason I have 5.0 (Food and Beverage Service Mgt) in my second school is because I already enrolled that subject but I need to drop it as I need to take it's pre-requisite first but missed the dropping schedule.
4. If you are going to look at the first term 2003-2004, I managed to take Food and Beverage Service Mgt and given a grade of 1.75

Here's the thing, they ignored my appeal because they have closed mind. This only proved that this school does not care for their students. They don't give second chances to those who deserved it.

If you have D, UD and less than 3.0 grades in your transcript record, you will never ever be given a chance to get an Academic Honor. Kahit gano pa kaganda at karami ang achievements mo they don't care! Daig pa nila ang UP, UP give students second chances.

Guess what, I might have D, UD or 5.0 in my transcript, that doesn't mean that I am academically incapacitated. It is proven and shown in my grades. AMA's policy is vague that it can't even explain or answer most of my questions.

1. Why grades other than credited ones are being considered in computation?

2. Why D, UD and 5.0 is being taken into consideration even they are not related in my BSIT course?

3. Why there's no special clause for transferees or second courser and how they can't be qualified for Academic Honor?


Now why I am discouraging you if you are planning to enroll in AMA, it is not only because their student handbook is to vague. Here are the reasons:

1. They don't care about the student's welfare, they only care about their school year's enrollment quota. Entrance exam is nothing but a process of this school, it does not matter, quota nga ang imporante diba, so kahit 0 ka pa sa entrance exam, if you really plan to enroll pasado ka.

2. Lahat ng pambobola gagawin nila sayo para lang mag enroll ka. Like it is easy to find a job abroad. Guess what, it is not! Sa ibang bansa as long as you have your ways with enough experience makakapasok ka. Newly grads don't usually given a chance abroad, but thankfully for me, before the graduation I already have a job as IT Administrator, that gave me enough experience. School will only teach you the basics, and they will only teach you once, for you to be able to use it in your chosen career you have to practice and broaden your knowledge from outside because professors will not teach you what you need to know, they have a Syllabus that they need to follow.

3. Nababayaran ang mga professor just to pass the student (not money but things like perfume or car accessories). I don't have evidence to prove this accusation because it happened during my time, but, they know who they are and they are guilty! So kung mayaman ka and you think you need to pass and graduate. Madali lang yan, sige sa AMA ka na mag enroll :P. Of course yung mga pumasang student di nila aaminin na binayaran nila ung prof and yung prof will not admit that they've been paid.

4. After graduation, they don't care about you anymore, yung mga graduates with Student Loans di nila makukuha kagad diploma nila until mabayaran yung utang nila. And the interest is really high if you missed any payments. So as I said, di ka na nila masyadong aasikasuhin unlike nung nag-e-enroll ka palang at kailangan ka nila para ma-meet ung quota nila.

5. Hardly any graduates ang work is related sa course nila. Di ko sinasabing lahat, of course yung mga magaling na talaga sa programming bago pa sila pumasok sa AMA got their dream job and like me who really want to be an IT kaya I forced my self to learn more not from school but outside. Most ng mga ka-batch mates ko kundi nag start as professor sa AMA and other schools are in call centers or their job is not even related to their course.

6. Hindi masyadong kilala ang AMA Computer College sa ibang bansa (at least here in Singapore), siguro ang AMA Computer University, pero kung IT related courses rin lang ang kukunin mo bakit kailangan mo magbayad ng mahal sa AMA kung makakakuha ka ng IT course sa ibang school na mas mura ang tuition fee. As I said, if you really want to learn, hindi mo yan sa school lahat matututunan.

7. Aim for Universities, kahit saang probinsya pa yan basta University ang pinanggalingan mo, mas malaki ang chance mo sa ibang bansa.

So to end this very long post, Alma Mater means, Nourishing/Kind Mother in Latin, but I didn't feel that AMA is like that. I might say I met a lot of good people in that school but the registrar department and HR sucks big time!!!


#AMACCSUCKS