Do you think an online phD or doctorate is acceptable?

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Do you think an online phD or doctorate is acceptable?

Do you think an Online PHD or doctorate is acceptable? I have a friend looking into Capella University for a phD in an IT Security field. I personally do not like online degrees exspecially from a for-profit institution. I am wondering if you teach or have earned a phD from such a university/institute, what your experiences are. I know many phD's who teach at University's who have told me they would never accept an online doctorate to teach, regardless of the University. I also know that my company will never hire anyone with a degree from a for-profit institution unless there is a highly desired reason to because of their acceptance policy and the overall quality of the previous students we have hired. I do not mean to offend anyone, I am looking for insight and experience you have had. THANKS!

At the Masters, and even more so at the PhD level, the reputation of your program within your field is vitally important to your ability to get a job in that field. It pays to go to the best reputed program that you can. And most of those online programs are not at all respected. Worse, he's considering Capella? Oy. Honestly, that's not going to help his career - in fact, it may hurt, as many employers refuse to look at resumes from schools like U Phoenix, Capella, Devry, ITT, Strayer, AIU, etc.

At least, if he must go online, he should consider doing an Online Degree from a school with a good rep for it's offline programs.

That said, the IT industry is one of the few that do have some respect, by some employers, for some of the high level online programs. But Capella isn't one of those programs. Instead, if he can't attend a good school in person, he should consider the following online programs, which are at well respected universities:

- Carnegie Mellon
- Rensselaer Polytechnic
- Penn State
- U Maryland
- U Mass Amherst
- U Illinois Champaign-Urbana
- U Idaho
- U Nebraska
- Northeastern University
- Boston University

And still, he'd do better going to a program in person. Even from the list I gave, if he must go online, I'd probably only seriously recommend that he look at Carnegie Mellon, which offers one of the top programs in his field in the US. Maybe BU.

Where is the best accredited university to get an online Phd fast and cheap?

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 5:36 am and is filed under Online PHD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Do you think an online phD or doctorate is acceptable?”

witchie781 Says:
November 30th, 2008 at 11:21 am

I am a high school teacher in Illinois and I can tell you that the superintendent of my school district (and many other superintendents in Illinois) do not accept any degrees from online universities. I think in the educational field, they are greatly frowned upon, at least in my area of Illinois.
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coyiesworld Says:
November 30th, 2008 at 11:44 am

As long as its from an accredited accepted university/college.
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plumbum_82 Says:
November 30th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

Hi, Your thoughts are my thoughts exactly. Profitable companies don't really accept phds (or even masters or bachelors) from online schools. Those w/ phDs from actual-schools get this degree b/c they seriously love the field and they enjoy research. I think phD online is to seriously cut corners. If you're getting a phD from an online school just for the heck of it, then go ahead. But if you think your online phD degree is going to get you a top managerial, high paid position… not likely.

A former coworker of mine's currently getting his phD in IT Security from Capella U. He was pursuing the degree after he got the job. He was next in line to get laid off, but luckily, he ended up transferring to a higher position w/in the company though. (He had to transfer out of state though.) Maybe his phD helped him a tad to get the transfer (I doubt it, I'm sure it was b/c of his work experience and longevity w/in the company). His degree didn't help him keep his former job. And by the way, the company he belongs to is a federal government. Non-profits aren't as keen to online degrees either.
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RoaringMice Says:
November 30th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

At the Masters, and even more so at the PhD level, the reputation of your program within your field is vitally important to your ability to get a job in that field. It pays to go to the best reputed program that you can. And most of those online programs are not at all respected. Worse, he's considering Capella? Oy. Honestly, that's not going to help his career - in fact, it may hurt, as many employers refuse to look at resumes from schools like U Phoenix, Capella, Devry, ITT, Strayer, AIU, etc.

At least, if he must go online, he should consider doing an online degree from a school with a good rep for it's offline programs.

- Carnegie Mellon
- Rensselaer Polytechnic
- Penn State
- U Maryland
- U Mass Amherst
- U Illinois Champaign-Urbana
- U Idaho
- U Nebraska
- Northeastern University
- Boston University

CollegeUser Says:
November 30th, 2008 at 1:23 pm

A Ph.D. from Capella University, or from any online for-profit "school" is about as meaningful as a diploma found in a cereal box. Schools of Capella's ilk have become the bane of higher education - they accept everyone that applies, instructors are of extremely poor quality (there is no genuine directed "teaching") - some have even bought bogus degrees from diploma mills, and bringing in the dollars is the bottom line. There is good reason for the destain of those who hold genuine doctorates have for "schools" like Capella University. I would strongly advise that your friend look for a real school - and avoid online ones; especially the for-profit ones like Capella.
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