Re: PhD
Muniya,
I might not be providing a direct answer to your question, but my own stance on the idea of an online Ph.D. degree is to only consider it if and only if it’s the last option in front of you…
I’m nearing completion of my own degree in another 3 to 5 months – inshaAllah… and it has taken me 3 years of full-time and 2.5 years of part-time studies to get to this point. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone take a decision to pursue a Ph.D. lightly.
Firstly, you need to make sure that a Ph.D. degree is really where you want to go. What do you intend to get out of it. Have you conducted formal academic or industry research before? have experience in teaching and developing courseware? do you enjoy these activities – and see yourself in these areas for the rest of your life.
In my case, before I decided to take up my Ph.D. degree, I had already been teaching at community college and University levels as an Adjunct for almost 3 years. I had also written a couple of research papers and presented them at academic conferences… so I was aware of some of the practices around research writing, publication, and peer-review. I also had worked in the private sector for many years, and this gave me the opportunity to compare my experiences and make an informed decision of where I want to be.
It is quite a serious commitment to undertake a Ph.D. – I’ve seen many students who think of a doctorate as the logical next-step after a Masters, but it really isn’t. While many masters programs are built on coursework, and it’s easy to get through courses because you have well defined curricula, structured deliverables, and assigned deadlines… there really is very little predefined configuration to completing your own research in a Ph.D. program… that is why many students drop out of Ph.D. programs when the real doctoral work starts – i.e. proposing your research thesis, defending it with your committee, and in public, conducting empirical research (which can be very frustrating at times), writing up your dissertation (which is a daunting task if you think about writing 300 pages), and ultimately succeeding in defending your results (what if the external examiner or chairperson doesn’t like it). Things can and do go wrong at many of these individual steps and it’s very challenging to get through the hurdles unless you have direct support from your mentors and peers.
That is why I don’t look too favourably upon online Ph.D. programs… because a Ph.D. is a research degree and it requires a lot of specialized institutional support and ample time to complete.
Although sophisticated online technologies have made it easier to collaborate with others, you still need real-time personal interactions to pursue in-depth conversations on complex topics.
I’m not trying to discourage you, but my intention is to get you to think a little more about this before making a final decision. If at all possible, consider any options that might allow you to pursue the degree on a part-time basis within a local context.
If you really want to go the online route, make sure the institution is accredited (beware though… everyone claims they are). It would also help if the institution has professional accreditation in addition to regional/national. Also check out ratings from students, and do some research on the employment success rates of graduates from these degrees. Even with online programs, I know that there are some that insist on a small duration every year where you will have to go and meet with your supervisor and committee members… this is definitely a better model for a Ph.D. then a purely online one.
In terms of U.S. based programs, I’ve heard better things about Walden as compared to
Capella and Phoenix…
Woops… long post – sorry!