Walden University Phycology PHD program..

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by shawn3500, May 18, 2012.

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  1. shawn3500

    shawn3500 New Member

    Fellow Members,
    I havent been on here in a while. I finally graduated UOP after starting at Cal State years ago, then going into the workforce and finally returning to UOP(on campus-with the exception of a few courses) and finishing my degree. I received a Bachelors of Science in Business Management. I am 27 years old, and have had a few months off, and I needed it. Now I am debating what I should do next, take the weekend science courses at ISP (4 weekend chem) and apply to some medical programs? Or go into Waldens 3 year combined Masters and PHD phcology program.

    What do you guys think about Waldens 3 year masters/phd program? Its all online.
    Is it hard? Is it doable? Will it help me get a high paying job?

    Thank you.
     
  2. shawn3500

    shawn3500 New Member

    I am also debating to go to the evening law school for adults in Los Angeles...
     
  3. Who profession would you ultimately want? I don't know muh about Walden but it seems you have mentioned three distant careers here. Correct me if I'm wrong but I see..
    1) MD
    2) Ph.D
    3) JD

    Either of the three will be a lot of work so for most people they would probably consider them hard. The one thing that I have learned though is that any program is "doable". A person just has to do what they need to do in order to accomplish it. Will it help you get a high paying job? Maybe/Probably. Will either guarantee a high paying job? Absolutely not.
     
  4. Totally messed this one up lol. Lesson learned about browsing the forum at 3am. Self correct the grammar for me :). Who=What, much=much, distant=distinct...and on that note...Good night lol
     
  5. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    You seem to kind of be all over the place as far as your aspirations.....here is my honest assessment;

    Medical school - To be brutally honest, you stand about a 0% chance of being accepted into a U.S. medical school at age 27 with a business degree from the University of Phoenix, unless you have incriminating photographs of the entire admissions committee.

    Psychology - If you want to go with a psychology degree, you should probably learn how to spell psychology (sorry, couldn't resist). Also keep in mind that Walden's psychology programs don't lead to licensure as either a Master's level clinician or a licensed psychologist.

    Law school - Unless you get into a top-tier law school, your job prospects are going to be extremely limited upon graduation, as there is a glut of lawyers in the United States as it is.
     
  6. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I would recommend you to rule out the Law School option because there are so many unemployed JD holders. I know there was a guy, who graduated from George Washington University with a JD, while owing $300,000.00 student loan for both undergraduate and law school. He couldn't find a decent position because they required minimum 3 years experience. Even though he had internship during his time with the Washington DC Attorney General. Just as Bruce stated above, you only be able to find good employment in Law profession with top law schools, unless you're currently working paralegal at law firm and you have a chance for them to accept you upon graduation and passing the bar exam.

    The second recommendation is ruling out Medical School because your major is not adequate preparing for Medical School; especially, you graduate from University of Phoenix. People have to compete really hard to get into Medical/Law/and top Business Schools.

    Now, it comes to Psychology career path. You need to realize that most of Online Psychology programs are not accredited by APA, and it is extremely hard to earn state license for practice. Walden University is a decent solely distance learning accredited academic institution; however, the Psychology program is not accredited. I think the only Ph.D in Psychology with APA accreditation is Fielding Graduate University, I am not 100% sure...please check APA website.

    Lastly, I have to agree with peacfulchaos2001...what is exactly you want to do with your career? You cannot jump all over places. I am in the Information Technology field, and I believe that I have been jumping all over places as well. Once time I want to be a Software Developer, Telecommunication Engineer, Cyber Security Engineer, System Engineer....now I have to narrow down to Telecommunication and Cyber Security are my target.
     
  7. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    Disagree strongly that you chance is necessarily very low.

    Do agree with the underlying premise that a bachelor's in business from the University of Phoenix adds nearly nothing to a medical school application, besides meeting the basic prerequisite of a bachelor's degree.

    From my understanding, any bias against any particular university, a business degree, and an older applicant should effectively clear away if you bring

    • a high GPA in biology, chemistry, physics and math including the standard prerequisite science courses
    • a high MCAT score
    • a credible overall GPA

    Things that would help include strong recommendation letters; relevant experience, which could include shadowing; etc.

    Can you bring these?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 18, 2012
  8. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    You must mean this Integrated Science Program.

    The program is offered by Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCUHS). The program is apparently offered in some form of association with Lifelong Learning Institute, which appears to be a private for-profit concern owned by San Francisco-area entrepreneur Eduardo Waller de Oliveira.

    So far, okay. And I'm not citing the involvement of a for-profit interest as a knock, just as a point of background that comes up.

    A concern, though.

    Credit for these courses is apparently awarded from SCUHS. The Integrated Science Program doesn't appear to hold any other source of accreditation in its own right.

    SCUHS is regionally accredited by WASC, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, specifically its Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities, which accredits everything above the community college level.

    But SCUHS's accreditation, as it appears in its Statement of Accreditation Status on the WASC site, as it appears as I write, specifically lists only the master's and professional doctorate degree levels, with one degree at each level.

    The "Complete List of Programs" in its Statement of Accreditation Status comprises a Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and a Doctor of Chiropractic.

    The Statement lists a Full-Time Equivalent enrollment for SCUHS as follows: "Undergraduate (0); Graduate (255)".

    Sampling several other schools that offer degree programs at the undergraduate and higher levels, that also have Statements of Accreditation Status on the WASC ACSCU site, it appears to to be standard to list every degree level, the number of programs they offer at each level, and their Full-Time Equivalent undergraduate enrollments, in the Statements of Accreditation Status, not just highest degree levels.

    I'm concerned about the standing of SCUHS to offer courses for undergraduate degree-level credit when it offers no undergraduate degree. I'm concerned that it is enrolling apparently undergraduate-level students while its regional accreditor lists it as having a Full-Time Equivalent undergraduate enrollment of 0. I am concerned that its associate's- or bachelor's-level science credits might not be accepted by some, perhaps many, other schools, on the basis of SCUHS's not immediately seeming to hold accreditation at the associate's or bachelor's degree levels.

    Before investing in such a program, I would ask questions of and document responses from not only SCUHS and the Integrated Science Program, but also WASC, and any medical school or other school for which I hoped to use an ISP course as a prerequisite or as a source of transfer credit.

    I'm not saying there's necessarily anything wrong here. They may have crossed their t's and dotted their i's and they may have full standing, fully recognized by WASC and other schools, to offer degree-level undergraduate science courses but not undergraduate degrees.

    We've seen, though, cases completely independent of this one where an entrepreneur apparently tried to more or less "rent" accreditation or recognition from an existing school for a new program that operated outside of that existing school's regular channels and controls, and perhaps even outside of the accreditation or recognition that the rest of the school legitimately held. Before pursuing any program, I would want to be confident that it wasn't such a case itself.

    A fine technical point: SCUHS would have "undergraduate" accreditation if a professional doctorate were considered undergraduate. This isn't consistent with WASC usage, based on their tally of zero FTE undergraduate students and 255 FTE graduate students. It would be consistent with usage in Canada, where the M.D. and J.D. are, officially, "undergraduate." But WASC's usage would seem to be reflected in the student counts, and I don't see U.S. schools often, maybe ever, outwardly advertising their professional doctorates as "undergraduate."
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 18, 2012
  9. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    …So, there's the possibility that the Integrated Science Program courses are undergraduate courses offered by an institution with graduate and professional doctorate but not undergraduate accreditation status.

    There's also the possibility that they're graduate or professional doctorate-level courses, covered explicitly by the accreditation for either or both of the degrees SCUHS offers, the Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine or the Doctor of Chiropractic.

    However, while they might be accepted by SCUHS internally as prerequisites for students going on to their MAOM or DC programs, none of the ISP course titles seems to match any of the titles for courses in the DC curriculum. The MAOM curriculum does include an Anatomy and Physiology I, II, and III sequence. In the SCUHS catalog [pdf], these have course numbers AAN101, AAN202 and AAN303. They don't seem to likely to coincide exactly with the ISP A&P courses, a two-course sequence numbered BIO201 and BIO202.
     
  10. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    Three years from a bachelor's to a master's and Ph.D. in psychology is extremely fast.

    Walden properly stresses on their site that "Time to completion may vary by student, depending on individual progress and credits transferred, if applicable." And looking at Program Data for the Ph.D., "the percentage of students who graduated between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2011, who completed this program in the normal completion time" is 58.3%. A sizeable share of students do not complete even in the "normal completion time," whatever it is – it isn't quickly apparent, but might be deeper in a catalog or similar.

    Are they promoting this as a "3 year" program anywhere?
     
  11. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    I believe some programs could at either level in some states. Notably, Walden's M.S. in Mental Health Counseling is accredited by CACREP, the gold standard for master's-level clinical counseling accreditation.
     
  12. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Maybe it's not a misspelling; maybe the OP really does want to get a PhD in "phycology".

    However, Walden University may not be the best choice for the scientific study of algae.
     
  13. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    Hey, it is named, indirectly, for a pond.
     
  14. lifelonglearner

    lifelonglearner New Member

    Phycology Resources

    Phycological Society of America - PSA: Phycological Society of America Have some job listings. Pays is not bad, $75,000 +. The diazotrophic cyanobacterial research position, while somewhat unrelated to my current humanities and theological educational administration focus, seems especially appealing.

    And who knew there would be a particular group of phycologists interested in algae diversity issues. The Phycology.Net

    And finally, I have to say the International Phycological Society has some very sexy photos of algae in all it's splendor - International Phycological Society

    Hmmmm ... phycology ... Walden Pond ... Thoreau ... Emerson ... transcendentalism movement ... second great awakening ... sounds like there could be a theological doctoral dissertation just waiting to be written ...

    - Lifelonglearner
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 18, 2012
  15. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    My thoughts- doctor- hard even for the traditional student who follows the traditional path. Not impossible, but it's not an "option" in the same way it is an "option" to enroll in college. It's a dog eat dog competitive admission, that after SERIOUS 2 years of extensive lab science, job shadow, and clinic volunteerism...you still might not get in. What then? Frankly, if you have student loans from your time at UoP, this is going to be hard. You won't be able to defer your payments, and you're going to have to FUND the process. Even Pell Grants are off the table since you hold a bachelor's degree.

    Lawyer- see above.

    I get it, you want a promise. You probably have huge UoP student loans and now you see that your degree cost a lot of money and you'll have to pay it back. I have no answers. I have a suggestion- use your UoP career counselor resources and try to land an internship. If you work your way into a full time position, you'll likely have the opportunity for employee reimbursement and at that time you could do a distance MBA for free or very reduced cost. If it were me, that's where I'd go.

    If you're dying to get into medicine- alternatives to consider: advanced practice nursing (in demand and good $ - but getting your RN won't be easy) Physician Assistant (same premed series plus calculus and darn near as competitive). Lastly, I suggest going to your community college, shelling out $500 and getting your Certified Nurse Assistant credential. This a) puts you in direct contact with patients/nurses/doctors- something you won't otherwise be able to do but NEED to do for med school apps b) gives you an income while you work your plan c) let's you see sickness. Sick people are, well, sick. It's not the same thing to think about it as it is when you're in it- just sayin.

    Good luck with whatever you decide!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 19, 2012
  16. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    If you are interested in medicine and live in Southern California have you considered becoming a PA. I undestand pay is pretty good. Not DL however.
    Physician Assistant Program
     
  17. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I stand by my assertion that a 27 year-old with a UoP business degree who doesn't even know how to spell psychology has about a 0% chance of getting into a US medical school.
     
  18. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Considering it's going to take me 7 years (assuming I make it) going almost year-round, that's an understatement.
     
  19. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I'd basically agree with this but I'd mostly want to echo the sentiments of one of the earlier posters who pointed out that the career fields listed by the OP are really quite different from each other. Even if a person was equally likely to be accepted into any of thos academic tracks it's hard to imagine that they would be equally happy in any of them. I would suggest that the OP should spend some hard time thinking about what he might actually enjoy doing. If this is not clear then there are two basic paths. You may take steps to discover the realities of these career paths (this does not mean renting back episodes of "House." Or one might abstain the decision for a period hoping that clarity will follow. Happily, these paths are not mutually exclusive.
     

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