Quickest doctorate

I have two graduate degrees. The first degree is a MA in Teaching, and the second is a MS in Communication and Administration. I have 60 total graduate hours.

I'm looking for a lightning-fast doctoral program. I want something I can finish in 2-3 years that is available mostly online and won't cost an arm and a leg. I don't mind taking multiple courses at once and working extremely hard.

I've seen some Executive Ed.D programs that looked promising, but they cost a fortune. I've also found some DBA programs that could be completed in two years, but none of those programs had regional accreditation (just national).

Do any of you have any suggestions? The ideal doctorate for me would be something I could work on full-time, mostly online, not be insanely expensive, and be able to finish in less than three years.

I also want it to be from a non-profit institution.

Ready, set, go!

 

Good luck finding what you're looking for!

 

I've been looking at DL doctorates for a few years now and have never seen what you are looking for. By the very nature of a doctorate, at least in my opinion, you should not be able to be finished in under 3 years. If I found such a program, I am not sure I'd trust it. I understand there are some dissertation-only programs, but I have never heard of any in the United States (I assuming you are from the US) and certainly not any from non-profit institutions.

I am not sure what you plan to do with your doctorate but unless you plan to somehow wriggle into a TT position at a non-profit university and research/teach for them, you may want to consider a for-profit. I've always attended public, non-profit universities and have been, admittedly, anti for-profit... but at this point, I'm considering a for-profit for my doctorate. Since I do not plan to be a TT professor at an R1 public university, it might work for me. Still, though, I don't think you're going to be able to finish in under 3 years. If you choose this route, research carefully and ask a lot of questions from the good people here. Some for-profits are better than others. One thing you want to watch out for are the schools that drag out the dissertation process in order to milk your financial aid dollars to the fullest. I am sorry to drop names here but for the sake of saving your future, I'm going to take the risk and do that. University of Phoenix and Walden have been known to do it. If you do not believe me, look up Walden on BBB's website and Google U o P.

Good luck to you. I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

Here we go again, where can I get the cheapest and fastest doctorate around. This question comes quite often in this forum, my answer below:

Do you have publications? A PhD by publication can cost as little as 5K (University of Sunderland in the UK) and allow you to finish it in a year. This is about the only option that I know that is cheap, fast and leads to a credible doctorate.

If you have no research background, then I don't see any other option but to do the traditional 3 to 5 year program (full time) or 5 to 8 year ( part time) from a credible school.
The for profit programs have options that can be finished in 3 year part time but at the expense of credibility and high tuition fees.


Think about it, if doctorates were just so easy to get, everyone would have one.

 

PhD by Existing Published or Creative Work PhD - University of Sunderland
Interesting....

can anyone speak to what "peer reviewed journal" means specifically. Would trade magazines and the like qualify or are they speaking to some hidden academic publication. I would like to see examples.

 

The site says this

"The solution was a PhD by Existing Published Work. The bulk of the evidence for the award of the PhD took the form of the articles that she had already written during the last 10 years. These included articles in A-rated journals and international publications.

"The additional work involved crafting a 10,000 word defence of why my research, taken together, added something new to the body of existing knowledge. The process was rounded off by a viva."

Jacky started the process in 2010 and by 2011 she had her PhD. "At every stage I received 100% support in a most efficient manner from the University of Sunderland"

Now my question...is this only for academics, or could someone with a training/teaching role take advantage of it? In my case a specific type of management (emergency management) in health care.

 

Peer review are academic journals normally indexed by recognized indexes such as ISI/Scopus/ERA.

It doesn't include publications in magazines and trade journals.

You would need at least 3 publications in credible journals to make a case.

 

Maybe a bit of background would help here. Academics in the UK normally start academic careers with a MSc as in this country salaries for academics are considerably lower than in the US. Most Academics would earn the PhD while working as academics, many Universities have options for academic staff to earn PhDs by published work. University of Sunderland is one of the few schools in the UK that allows non academic staff to apply for a research PhD by published work.

A motivated student can aim to publish 3 articles and then bring them for a PhD evaluation. This can cut your cost considerably.

Not an easy route but cheaper and can be faster if you have already research background. For those with no research background, it would be easier to get one of those for profit PhD programs that are more structured and designed for the working professional that can be finished fast.

 

Walden University accepts up to 15 transfer credits (5 classes) from a master's degree. I think their program could be done in roughly 2 years if you can take two classes per 8 week term a couple times. Be careful .... two classes in 8 weeks is like 4 classes in a normal 16 week semester. It is a lot of work.

 

A member here might say you can't complete this degree this quickly, but I personally know someone who says you can. Valdosta State University's DPA is 54 credits, and a lot of courses are offered all three semesters. They will accept up to 15 transfer credits at the masters-level or higher, but they can't be attached to another degree. Theoretically, you could finish this program in about two years. I came up with a hypothetical plan that uses graduate-level courses in education from VESi and having them transcribed by Morningside College. The DPA program is pretty flexible in letting you create a concentration. With the VESi/Morningside College courses, the whole program will cost less than $15,000. Without them, the program is over $18,000.

Arizona State University's DBH is 18 months full-time, but it costs over $46,000. I tried to get information for A.T. Still's Doctor of Health Science program (I think it's about $35,000), but I could only get a very short and ambiguous response once. That was a huge turnoff.

 

Does South Africa have dissertation-only doctorates? There are people on this forum who claim to have completed South African doctorates for less than 5k (total cost).

 

ATSU lists one of the admission requirements for the DHSc as this, which would limit its applicant pool:

Doctor of Health Sciences Degree Online (ATSU)

 

Well since Columbia [Southern] University is ditching theirs I would bet if you could get in they would be thrilled to have you finish in lickity split.

 

No, those would not be "peer reviewed." That term applies to academic journals whose content is refereed and evaluated before being published. One's peers (other academics in the form of an appointed editorial committee) read, assess, and provide feedback to your research before accepting it for publication.

Examples? There are thousands. Use Google Scholar and search to your heart's content. Each academic discipline has its own prominent journals.

 

I like the "[Southern]" in brackets. I guess one can list the DBA as "DBA, Columbia S. University" to make it sound more prestigious. The problem is that Columbia University doesn't offer a DBA.

We don't know the objective of the doctorate but I hope the OP doesn't come up with reasons such as a "tenure track" position at a research University or VP position at a University.

 

No. It means one who has a long history of publications in refereed academic journals. Those articles--normally a series on a particular subject--substitute for the new research a thesis normally requires. The candidate then binds them theoretically with another paper, linking the ideas presented in the separate articles into one big idea.

It's a way to get a Ph.D. into the hands of an experienced researcher who's already done the research and seen the scholarship accepted and published. That's it.

 

I know, and their standard for licensure is rather low. They proudly display that some of their graduates are working as respiratory therapists and paramedics.

 

Add this to the list of oxymorons: "lightning-fast doctoral program."

 

The ATSU looked pretty good except that the cost looks to be mid 30's. Not bad, I suppose, for a doctoral degree but a lot more than I can see digging out of pocket.