Have approved Master's, want accredited Ph.D

Dr. John Bear,
I'm a graduate of a Californian approved university and currently looking for an accredited university to pursue my Ph.D. Please advise whether there are any, because I have tried several and all of them rejected my application.

Thank you,
Jane Bev, A Hard Working Student

 

Jane:

More hard work would have been appropriate before enrolling. A recent survey conducted by Dr. Bear and analyzed by me indicates almost no acceptance of credits and degrees from unaccredited schools. Respondents (admissions officials of regionally accredited schools) overwhelmingly rejected them. I recently contacted 8 RA DL schools regarding this subject, and got the same result. I talked with representatives from U. of Phoenix, Capella, Union, Walden, TESC, Excelsior, Charter Oak, and Strayer. All of them accepted credits and degrees from RA schools. Also, they all accepted credits and degrees from foreign schools. Most required an evaluation by a foreign credentials evaluation agency, others relied on the International Handbook of Universities. None, except Capella, would take credits and/or degrees from DETC schools. (They all would consider credits from DETC schools that had been evaluated for credit by ACE.) Finally, none would even consider accepting credits and/or degrees from unaccredited schools, including California-approved schools. None.

Rich Douglas, hoping to see the above in an article published soon on a website near you.

 

By all means, Rich, let us know when and where. This is extremely interesting and important information for DL in general.

Russell

 

Dear Rich,
Thank you very much for the insightful information. So, Capella is the only RA DL university that accepts unaccredited (DETC accredited) degrees? I'll give it a try.

By the way, what publication will you be publishing the article on this issue in? Thank you for your thoughfulness.

Jane Bev, A Hard Working Student

 

I didn't say Capella was the only one to accept DETC-accredited schools' credits and degrees. I said they were the only one to do so of the schools I contacted. In a recent survey of admissions officials conducted by John Bear (and analyzed by me), about one-fifth of respondents said such degrees were not acceptable at their respective schools. The rest had varying levels of acceptance, likely on a case-by-case basis. This give some good news to holders or pursuers of degrees from DETC-accredited schools who might wish to further their studies at RA schools.

I did not say, as your post seems to imply, that Capella accepted credits and degrees from unaccredited schools. They do not.

As for the article, it should appear at www.degree.net, which is Ten Speed Press's site for distance learning. I'll let the forum know when it appears. (It will be a rather modest article; don't get too excited.)

Rich Douglas

 

Sorry, the comma ended up as part of the link. It is: www.degree.net


No editing. Sigh


Rich Douglas

 

Thank you, Rich, the misunderstanding is clarified. Look forward to read your article!

Best,
Jane

 

Hi Jane,

If you can find a British university offering the subject you're interested in (especially one of the "new" ex-polytechnic universities), I think you'll find your existing qualifications will be regarded for what you achieved in them so long as the source is a well-documented state approval / license and can be verified.

Regards,

Neil

 

Neil:

A little off-topic for this thread: What is the impression in the British Commonwealth of the technikons (and the degrees they award) located South Africa? I've read where they're comparable to polytechnics, and they do award graduate degrees (MTech, DTech) in many subject areas. Thanks.

Rich Douglas

 

Neil,
Thank you for your kind suggestion. I'll definitely take a look at them. If the price is right and everything looks good, it can be my ticket to a Doctorate.

Thanks so much,
Jane

 

Would it not be appropriate to have the article published in a refereed journal, like this one http://www.irrodl.org/
sponsored by Canada's Athabasca University?

Degree.net, albeit a site containing some useful distance education information, is primarily a promotion site for John Bear’s book. Genuine and objective research (if that is what we are talking about here) would gain maximum credibility if it were published in a scholarly journal.


------------------
Peter Tucker
Australia

 

Peter:

I'm not striving for "maximum credibility." It is a general interest article they asked me to write, nothing more. I won't make a big deal of it if you don't.

Rich Douglas

 

Certainly no big deal to me, just making an observation. I look forward to reading the article.


------------------
Peter Tucker
Australia

 

Indeed. I don't think you (or anyone else) will be impressed.

When you are in the business of selling books, selling books is a good thing, not merely a tautology. Part of selling books is having books people want to read. And part of having people want to read one's books is to pique their interest. Etcetera.

I do not sell books, nor do I have books to sell. But what the heck....

Rich Douglas

 

On a case by case basis you may find an RA school that will give credit.

If you have success in the open U, please post or email me - sounds interesting.

[email protected]

 

Thanks Gina.
I'll do that if my research has any result.

Jane