DBA/PhD + MBA Dual Degree

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by Simurgh, Jul 24, 2015.

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  1. Simurgh

    Simurgh New Member

    Hi Degreeinfo,

    I was looking through the stickied thread about DBAs and PhDs but couldn't find much about this topic. What universities offer a DBA/MBA dual degree? I saw that California Intercontinental University and a few centralamerican universities offered such options but I would rather have an RA degree.

    Another option I am considering is trying to do a 6 month MBA at WGU or Patten University then applying directly for the DBA afterwards. Do any of you have any advice on the matter?

    Thank you!
    Simurgh
     
  2. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Traditionally, the master's degree has been a way station on the path to a PhD. In many cases, it was (and sometimes still is) awarded for a failed thesis. It can sometimes be awarded along the way to the PhD, but usually requiring a separate thesis (of a much smaller scale).

    However, the master's degree today is largely a stand-alone product.

    Rarer still would be the MBA awarded along the way to the DBA. Historically, the MBA was a terminal degree--practitioners stopped there; scholars proceeded to the PhD, often bypassing the MBA. But in California, things have a different history.

    Back in the wild, wild 70s and 80s, California-Authorized schools often offered the complete degree ladder, B/M/D. You paid one price and were admitted to the whole enchilada. I honestly don't know if there are schools that still do it. The school you cited wasn't established until much later, so it wasn't part of that wave.
     
  3. Simurgh

    Simurgh New Member

    Dear Rich,

    Thank you for your informative reply! I agree, it seems almost like a masters degree is to a doctorate what an associates is to a bachelor's degree. With the exception that associates are more readily transferable!

    Did you know anyone who went to one of those California authorized schools? I believe Dr David Hawkins went to Columbia Pacific University which was a Cal approved unaccredited school.

    Thanks again for your input. Hopefully I can find something that suits my needs :)
     
  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Not that I can recall. I don't think anyone active here did so.
    CPU was originally a California-Authorized school. Back when there were three tiers (Authorized, Approved, and Accredited), California authorized schools, approved individual programs, and recognized accreditation. (It didn't accredit schools itself. There was a time when the legislation equated Approval with accreditation, but that was never taken too seriously.)

    CPU later got some programs through the approval process. When California dropped the Authorized category and went to institutional approval (1989, IIRC), CPU got that. But some serious politics were going on and the state went after CPU and took their approval away. This, effectively, put them out of business. (It lingers in Malawi under a different name.)
     
  5. major56

    major56 Active Member

    One of our DegreeInfo members: Dave Wagner Dave Wagner, Cognitive Dissonance Research Institute Executive Director completed his DBA (1996-2003) from California Pacific University (California Approved /unaccredited) http://www.degreeinfo.com/accreditation-discussions-ra-detc-state-approval-unaccredited-schools/15402-california-pacific-university.html (re Post #12). Dave subsequently earned a PhD from the accredited (WASC) Trident University International (TUI) (2014) https://www.trident.edu/

    Author John Gray has a PhD from Columbia Pacific (California Approved /unaccredited) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gray_%28U.S._author%29
     
  6. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    You may not find many openly advertised "PhD/MBA" or"DBA/MBA", but I would think any of the larger universities would let you do this, provided that you plan out your courses the right way.

    At UF they call this a "Nontraditional Doctoral/Masters" which I never heard of until I started my PhD there (If you look through the entire UF graduate catalog, there is only a tiny paragraph that says you can do this. ) They allowed nine credits from my PhD to count towards a new masters. I did my MS concurrently while I was doing my PhD. However, there were extra hoops I had to jump through .

    1. I had to get permission from both departments to do this, and my plan of study had to be approved by both departments.
    2. I still had to take another 21 credits to complete the requirements for the masters.
    3. In addition to my dissertation, I had to do a separate masters project.

    Looking back, this was a lot of work and it delayed my PhD graduation by another year. In your situation, I think the better plan would be to do the MBA first, and then find a DBA that will let you transfer the max amount of credits from the MBA to the DBA.
     

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