Fastest PhD

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Dan Cooper, Jan 4, 2005.

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  1. Dan Cooper

    Dan Cooper New Member

    I'm looking for a Phd program that would allow me to finish the quickest. Preferably in the fields of Business Admin., Economics, Management ect. It would have to be from an RA School or foreign equivalent, in addition have the utility of being accepted for teaching positions at an RA University. Short residencies are OK.

    I currently have an MBA degree. Would it be possible to complete a Phd in a year or less?

    Also I've noticed that some schools are now offering distance DBA degrees. Is this degree generally accepted in the academic world, or primarily designed for senior managers/consultants?

    What are the advantages/disadvantages of having a DBA Vs. a PhD in Business Admin?


    Thanks,
    Dan
     
  2. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Finding a Ph.D. program that will take less than a year is virtually impossible, at least one that is RA. Now, degree mill Ph.D.'s can be completed in as little as 30 days. :D

    Seriously, however, you might try Capella and Northcentral.
     
  3. Andy Borchers

    Andy Borchers New Member

    Dan - I think you have some inconsistent expectations here. I'm not aware of an RA doctorate (or equivalent foreign degree) in business that can be earned in a year. Three years seems to be pretty much the minimum and four to five years may be more likely. Most programs are going to include 60 credits hours or more above the MBA level.

    As for teaching with a DL degree - it is possible and there are examples of folks here that have done this. However, you need to temper your expectations. Positions at top institutions typically go to folks with traditional B&M degrees. Some folks do DL doctorates in order to teach - others are practitioners that want to further their education.

    As for DBA versus PhD - this is largely a labeling matter. During the past number of years the trend seems to be towards offering PhDs, although some schools (including Nova Southeastern, Harvard, some southern B&M schools and a new crop of part-time residental programs (Anderson, Lawrence Tech, St. Ambrose, etc.)) that have stuck with the label "DBA". In the end the label doesn't matter - what you have published and what you can do in the classroom are what matter.

    If you are interested - I'd give (in order) Case Western, Nova Southeastern, Touro, Anderson, Lawrence Tech, and St Ambrose, a look. Another poster suggtests NCU and Capella, but I'm not as high on them.

    Regards - Andy

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 4, 2005
  4. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Re: Re: Fastest PhD

    I would think it would be possible to complete a PhD from Nothcentral in 2.5 years with non-stop work. Complete the minimum of 9 classes in eighteen months and another year to complete the dissertation phase.
     
  5. Dan Cooper

    Dan Cooper New Member

    Re: Re: Fastest PhD

    Thanks for the response,

    I understand that having a traditional B&M degree would be an advantage for getting a position at a top university.

    For obtaining a position at a respected B&M institution, would there be any bias towards an individual that earned their degree thru distance at a B&M Institution given that the same PhD was offered on campus? The degree awarded in most cases is identical whether you earned it by distance or on campus.
     
  6. Dan Cooper

    Dan Cooper New Member

    I noticed that Heriot-Watt now offers a DBA degree. Since it follows a similar format to their mba program I think it would be theoretically possible to complete this in under 2 years. 1 year to test out of all the courses, and another year for the thesis.

    The price is cheaper than most of the other distance Doctorates out there, and HW is far more respected than alot of these distance only universities. I would feel safer getting my DBA from a respected B&M university that I know is going to be around for a while, not some school that is going to be out of business 10 years from now.

    Has anyone enrolled in this program yet, or have any opinions on it?
     
  7. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member


    An alternate to the DBA is the Doctor of Management which is offered by several schools including:

    The University of Maryland http://www.umuc.edu/grad/dm/dm_overview.html

    Colorado Technical University
    http://www.ctucoloradosprings.com/programs/doctorate_management.asp

    University of Phoenix
    http://www.uopxonline.com/Doctor_Management_Organizational_Leadership.asp

    I doubt if any of these programs can be completed in less than 2-1/2 years.
     
  8. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    I don't know much about Heriot-Watt but I think you may be making a mistake in assuming that you can "test out" of the coursework. Good luck in any case.
    Jack
     
  9. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

     
  10. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    HA HA HA HA HA HA..ahhh that was a good one.

    But seriously though, why the rush? "Quick" for a PhD is at least 3 years.
     
  11. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    Re: Re: Re: Fastest PhD

    Hello Dan,

    For teaching in higher education, there would tend to be a bias toward programs that have a B&M PhD or DBA, since such programs do not generally distinguish between on-campus and distance learning on transcripts or diplomas.

    There is no way to complete a doctorate that would qualify you to teach at a university in one year or less. Many who have spent years taking courses and conducting research to complete their doctorates tend to be offended by the suggestion that one can bypass the work required for the degree.

    Northcentral may well be the fastest RA doctorate available, but I am aware of no full-time tenure-track faculty at any university with a Northcentral doctorate. Of course, this can be explained by Northcentral being such a new institution.

    If teaching is your goal, you can teach at the community college level with a masters degree while you work on your PhD or DBA. Many universities will let people with masters degrees teach as adjunct (part-time) faculty, but full-time hires for MA's (or MBAs) at universities are fairly rare.

    Best of luck. You have come to the right place.

    Tony Pina
    Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University
     
  12. boydston

    boydston New Member

    New wine is worth less than the bottle it's in.
     
  13. tmartca

    tmartca New Member

    Hello Dan,

    You might want to look at the University of Newcastle's online DBA. They are an Australian B&M university that does have a residential program as well.

    http://ccdb.newcastle.edu.au/courseinfo/displayprogram.cfm?docid=367&FOS=4&UGPG=14 (This is a link to a description of the residential program)

    http://www.gradschool.com.au/study/programs/doctor_business_admin_new.asp (This is a link to a description detailing the online DBA. Notice that they are the same. Meaning that it is indeed the same program for both residential and distance students.)


    In terms of program structure:
    "The DBA program is offered over three years of full-time study. It is also available in part-time mode over six years."

    "One year's advanced standing (80 units) will be given for completion of a recognised MBA, as the first year of study requires completion of the core of the MBA to provide a foundation for business studies." (Meaning that since you have a MBA and assuming that it is "recognised" it is quite possible to earn your DBA in two years if you take a fultime course load. Two and one-half to three years if you go part-time.)

    "The second year requires completion of six DBA courses and two research training courses."

    "The third year consists of one literature review course and a research methodology proposal, and an applied project dissertation of approximately 30,000 to 40,000 words."

    "In the final year each student will be allocated a supervisor appropriate to his or her research area who is an experienced and research-trained academic staff member."



    A few other notes:

    The only concentration available to distance students is the General Management concentration. If you are looking to specialize in another field, then this may not be the best option for you.

    Price wise it is competitive. You will pay about $1700 AUD (about $1300 USD) for a taught course and about $2000 AUD each (about $1520 USD) for the Literature Review, Research Proposal and each term need for the dissertation.

    Assuming one year for course work, lit review and proposal and the second year for the dissertation; your costs may look something like this.

    8 courses @ $1300 USD = $ 10400
    Lit review and proposal = $ 3040
    Dissertation (3 terms) = $ 4560
    TOTAL = $ 18000 +/-

    I say +/- because we are dealing with foreign currencies with floating exchange rates. It is currently around $0.76 USD to every $1 AUD.



    Hope this helps you, even a little.
     
  14. DRMarion

    DRMarion New Member

    I am enrolled in the EBS DBA program. I have a Capella PhD, and and EBS MBA.

    You must pass 11 exams, and do a dissertation. From my experience, you will not likely pass these in 1 year. For me, my plan is to take 2 years.

    Also, I guess the dissertation will take at least 18mos to 2 years--and that is only if I refine my dissertation proposal during the time I am taking exams.

    My guess is 4 years minimum. It took me 2.5 years for the HW MBA. i never failed an exam, and I think I am pretty smart. So, DBA will not happen quicker than that, I guarantee you!



     
  15. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    So let me see if I understand what you are looking for. A very fast track degree that will let you to enter in the academic world. One year is the time that will probably take just to assemble and defend a research proposal. The typical time for a dissertation is at least two years plus course work and research proposal defense. Then you should allow at least 6 months for your supervisor and examiners to read the dissertation.

    At most of the respectable DL schools, 3-5 years is the typical time required. However, it is common to spend 5-7 years at top tier B&M schools so the 3-5 years part time programs are already considered as "low" standard degrees for most of the academics that spent 5 years full time on their programs so you should expect some bias against part time fast track programs for faculty positions.

    Also if you work full time, you will find that you will need to take some breaks if you have family and work commitments so 5 years it is perhaps the most realistic goal even for fast track doctorates.


    Schools that have on campus programs and research institutes will be considered better than those coming from for-profit virtual schools. The main reason is that there is a strong feeling in the academic community that some schools are abusing the education system and practically selling the degrees. This might not be necessarily true but academia still considers virtual schools more as business rather than research training facilities.



    As for the difference between the DBA and PhD, the PhD tend to have more acceptance in research based universities but this is not a rule as this will depend on your publication record. In few words, they are equivalent for practical purposes. However, in the UK and Australia, DBA programs consist on course work and dissertation contrary to the PhD programs that require only a dissertation. Son in fact, the DBA in the UK and Australia is the american version of the PhD that is more suitable for part time study.

    Also, few schools in the UK and Australia will take a MBA graduate for a Phd program as a research master's degree is the admission requirement for such programs. I was required to complete a research master's degree for a PhD at an Australian University so therefore I decided to do the DBA instead as I did not want to take two more years to complete a M.Phil degree.
     
  16. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Hi DRMarion,

    I wonder why would you want to complete a DBA when you have already a PhD? Isn't the PhD considered stronger than the DBA?
     
  17. DTechBA

    DTechBA New Member

    South African degrees

    You can do a degree form an SA school for way competitive cost and the minimum for a research only degree is 2 years. However, I am finding that very difficult to do. THe 2 year time frame is more appropriate to a full time student who is continuing on from his masters research. A lot of the leg work would already be done for them and they would have more time to devote to the research. Just developing a topic took me about six months, then you have to do the research and write your thesis. In the middle of that you have conference presentations to develop, research, write and get approved and those can take a couple of months each. The lag time in communicationg with some supervisors can also interfere. For me, I am finding that 2 to 3 (or even 3) years is more realistic. Maybe if you can devote a considerable amount of tme to the process you could do it in two years.
     
  18. rinri

    rinri New Member

    If you're talking about the Fastest Doctorate:D, that could well be Glenn Cunningham.

    Doctorate from New York University

    Records Held
    World Record: 800 m - 1:49.70 (August 20, 1936 - )
    World Record: 1 mi. - 4:07 (June 16, 1934 - )
    World Record: 1 mi. - 4:04 (March 3, 1938 - )
     
  19. marilynd

    marilynd New Member

    Dan:

    Beyond the educational issues raised here, there is an economic component to this as well. B&M schools traditionally have a "residency requirement" for graduate studies. While this often means being on campus (though not necessarily), the phrase has a more important economic meaning for schools. "Residency requirement" means the period during which students are required to pay full tuition (dissertation-level students often being charged reduced tuition). While this is usually not directly applicable to part-time and/or DL students, it does give us a window on the economic dynamics of higher education. Schools plan according to expected income. A Ph.D. program, for instance, will be expected to bring a certain minimum income into the school. For this reason alone, you are unlikely to get a B&M school to allow you to do a "quick" Ph.D. Regardless of whether they charge by the credit or by the term, time (and income) is on their side.

    British universities often charge by the program (say, £8,500 for an M.A. in economics) but still have a minimum time-length for pedagogical reasons.

    Good luck in your search. I would simply echo what most have said here: you will probably have to scale down your expectations. No Ph.D./D.B.A. that is worth having--or worth employing in academia--can be done in a year.

    Hope this helps,

    :)

    marilynd
     
  20. uncle janko

    uncle janko member

    LTU professional accreditation plus RA

    Hi Andy:

    This may be an old question, but are all programs at Lawrence Tech completely accredited both RA and professional accreditations as relevant? Several years ago IIRC some were and some weren't. This is not my field, so I don't know what's germane, but I did hear that several years ago.

    I'm not in any way questioning the integrity or general accreditation of LTU (the old name was much classier in its understatement). It's a fine school and I would be delighted to see anyone enroll in this wonderful Detroit-area institution--even if it is on the west side.:D

    Janko
     

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