Reputable Phd w/credit for experience??

Thanks to all who replied to my post about Madison. Such a good experience I thought I'd try again...

So can anyone recommend a good (a slippery term, I know) distance PhD program that gives credit for non-academic work? I've written 5 books and dozens of articles on my topic and am a nationally recognized authority. Every once in a while, though, I'm told I really need a doctorate. Accredidation isn't critical--I just don't want people to laugh if the so-where-did-you-get-your-degree question ever comes up...

Thanks,

Armin Brott

 

Hello Armin,

I am not sure how to answer your question. I have seen your books though, and sped-read a little. Pretty good (un)common-sense material. Do you really need a Doctorate?; and if you want one, wouldn't you want a bulletproof degree that really means something? I realize some other authors in the loosely defined self-help category have hmmm.....not very wonderful doctorates and it hasn't hurt them. Still, you are published already, and respected, why not get a real doctorate (RA). You will most likely fulfill your own need (which wasn't stated) much better without having a lingering feeling of guilt.

Of course, if you are just wanting to boost sales, just buy a degree. Most people would never know the difference.

Tony

P.S. Always nice to have more authors among us.

 

some degrees by publication

Some of the British universities list a ph.d. by publication. Sometimes it is only for staff members, sometimes for others.
Many people know that Al Einstein submitted one of his papers to a European University and it was accepted for the doctoral degree.
You might check out the British Universities
All the best!

 

Irat has a great suggestion. I think Dr. Bear has posted info on this before. It will requires some research on your part. The other things to look at as you have written 5 books is to do a research doctorate through and Australian or South African University. They (in the British tradition) consist of only a large dissertation. The Australian and South African doctorates are affordable. Tom Head could speak to the Australian opportunites. A South African doctorate could cost less than 2000 US dollars for the whole degree. In both cases they *can* be done totally at a distance. Both the South African and Australian education systems are well regarded. The SA system is overgoing some overhaul.

I would really work hard to find an accredited/equialent of accredited degree. You never know when someone will *out* an unaccredited degree and it becomes a black mark on you or brings your authority into question.

North

 

Good evening!

If you are considering the suggestion to do a PhD by Published Work (aka PhD by Publication), you may want to check out sample programs since the regulations vary by institution. For example, Anglia Polytechnic University has information at http://www.apu.ac.uk/prospectus2002/pg_gradsch.shtml on the web. Also, Jonnie Liu's web site at http://www.geocities.com/liu_jonathan/dlphd.html shows various schools in the UK and Australia with such programs.

Good luck in your search!

 

@ North: what Aussie universities would allow a PhD by Research for leass than 2 k US-Dollars?

Thanx in advance,

trigger

 

Most people, that is, except for the regulars here. And, when the regulars here spot a fake degree, we have a pretty good track record of upsetting the apple cart and exposing the phonies.

I personally wouldn't take the chance.


Bruce

 

I'm going to take a contrary position and assert that I'm not sure you should listen to those people telling you that you really need a doctorate. What will it get you that you don't already have?

I went and checked out your website (good stuff, by the way).
You're already an authority in your field and you've already published five books. It's hard to imagine what this will give you that you don't already have. It's why I don't have a doctorate. Among many reasons is the fact that I don't want to do any of the jobs that the doctorate would lend itself to. There are numerous certificate and a master's or two that would be much more helpful to me.

So what does it do for you?


Tom Nixon

 

I am in the same situation as Armin and have looked into this several times before. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a solution but I'm hoping that things turn out differently this time - for Armin's sake.

Like Armin, I'be published numerous books, articles, papers, etc. and my publishers have told me that the title of "Dr" would help me to sell lots more copies, as well as open up new opportunities. One of the problems that I have (that, thankfully, Armin doesn't seem to have) is that my last name is so unusual that people are seldom able to spell it or pronounce it. For this reason, I have lots of publications under my own name, but also lots under various pseudonyms.

Anyway, my points are these:

Tom suggests that maybe a PhD isn't necessary. Unfortunately, I don't think this is the case. I'd certainly agree that a PhD doesn't necessarily mean that what you write is somehow truer or that it somehow makes you a better writer. However, those magic letters do seem to convey a sense of authority that readers tend to find reassuring. In turn, publishers seem to feel that this is likely to increase sales, especially when the niche you write in is contested by people without doctorates.

Also, my limited experience in "media" suggests that spokespeople (for TV shows, news bulletins, etc.) tend to be PhDs. Certainly in my area (IS) I can't recall a single occasion when a spokesperson appearing on TV or radio didn't have PhD or wasn't a professor somewhere. I'm giving this only as an example of the further opportunities that sometimes arise when you are well-known in a field and have a PhD. Another obvious example is teaching.

With regard to a PhD by publication, I looked at the various options available in the UK and Australia and found that they weren't appropriate. Virtually every person I spoke to said the same thing: these awards are aimed at researchers (not generic "writers") who have not obtained a PhD for one reason or another. The "by publication" part means a collection of academic papers that are roughly equivalent to a PhD thesis, that is, around 100,000 words, making a new contribution to knowledge, demonstrating sound research skills, and so on. There is also a requirement to produce a bridging paper of around 30,000 for some universities.

The only courses that I feel might be useful to Armin are the creative writing doctorates offered by some Australian universities. These have completely different requirements to the "by publication" doctorates but still require a minimum of 3 years to complete. If I remember rightly, the assessment requirements for these courses are to produce a full-length piece of work that is of publishable quality and to produce a paper of between 10K - 30K that places the work within a theoretical context. Unfortunately, for me, these courses were simply too expensive.

I hope that some of this is useful to Armin in some way. Of course, I also hope that the suggestions that other people put forward will be useful to me too!

Paul

 

There are many doctoral programs with flexible coursework requirements, aren't there? In fact, distance-learning doctoral programs often seem to me to be more inflexible in this regard than on-campus programs. So since you live in Berkeley, I'd check out local schools.

What field do you anticipate doing a doctoral degree in? Psychology? Sociology? Education?

Berkeley and Stanford are kind of oriented towards young academic careerists with a research bent, so they may not be appropriate. But you have other nearby options. Talk to JFK University, they have a Psy.D. and are a pretty open-minded lot. Check out CIIS and Saybrook in SF. Alliant (formerly CSPP) has a Bay Area branch. Argosy (formerly ASPP) is near you at Point Richmond. There's Pacific Graduate School of Psychology and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology down in Palo Alto as well. USF offers a Psy.D. and an Ed.D., and you could even conceivably do something at the GTU.

I'm not sure what you are asking for, a doctorate by life experience credit?

If you want to find someplace that will treat your five books as if they already totaled a dissertation and just give you a degree, I think that would only work (and then only occasionally) if the books were a significant scholarly contribution to your field. I haven't read your books, and you would have to be the judge of that.

But if you want to find someplace that might be unusually flexible in what it requires you to do, I'd start with your local programs. The SF Bay Area is probably more open-minded regarding higher education in psychology than anywhere else on Earth.

If you are self-employed, aren't particularly interested in recognition from professional peers, and just want to put "Ph.D." after your name in order to impress those in the general public gullible enough to fall for that stuff, a CA-approved doctorate in psychology or in a related field might work.

Right in Berkeley there are the California Institute for Clinical Social Work, the Center for Psychological Studies and the Western Institute for Social Research.

Marin has the California Graduate School of Psychology, the Institute of Imaginal Studies is in Petaluma and the Northern California Graduate University is in San Mateo.

San Francisco's Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality and the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California may be a little out there.

That's 20 doctoral options right within commuting range of you. They range from world-renowned to virtually anything-goes. Something there oughtta work.

 

The DegreeInfo Regulars

We have our own sub-culture, huh?

Hey man, like, you know, them degrees is foul dude!

 

Not Aussie but South African.

North

 

Doctorate by published works -UK

I actually do think that there are some good non-accredited US institutions (despite what others here may think) that would consider your published works as part of a doctoral programmme. I've visited your web site and looked at your very distinguished career and publications but THEY ARE NOT OF DOCTORAL STANDARD in the traditional sense of what (I am only speaking from a British view point here) a PhD means, even by published works. The books are very well written, thought-provoking and so on and so forth. However, they do not demonstrate what a panel of examiners would be looking for in looking to award a PhD. Please don't take these comments as in any way being derrogatory. They are not. A PhD has a set number of requirements the examiners look for when determining if the work(s) is/are of doctoral standard. I donl' know how much of your work is co-authored but that issue becomes a concern with joint books, etc submitted by an individual for examination for a doctorate by published works. The other problem you have is exactly in which discipline would you locate the PhD. It seems to me that much of what you have written falls within psychology, health education, education generally, child education and possibly a range of other disciplines, including sociology. Of course, you could argue it is a multi-disciplinary degree. If this is the case then your examiners would expect to see some writing where you have produced something that demonstrates that you are fully familiar with the theoretical and research methods literature across each of the disciplines on which you base your work. That in itself is a big task.

You may want to see if someone will award you an honorary degree! In the UK some people still call themselves 'Dr' when they receive an honorary degree even though they don't have a traditionally earned doctorate. There seems to be no general rule in the UK as to whether or not to use the title 'Dr" if is it is awarded as an honorary degree.

The same is true of Lambeth degrees awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Although they are awarded 'in recognition' of what an individual has done they are not 'honorary degrees'! They are 'degrees of the Realm' and, as such, a holder may use the title, DD, DCL, 'Dr', MA or whichever degree has been conferred by the Archbishop. If I can think of some other way of assisting I'll post here again!

telfax

 

ph.d. by publication

I am not familiar with the books that were written. Lui's page lists several universities in England which may have a ph.d. by publication. The list includes Anglia Polytechnic-some by publication, Oxford Brooks-by publication, U. of Buckingham-by publication if a graduate of the U. or a staff member. U. of Derby-by publication. U. of Glamorgan--by publication. U of Surrey by publication and U. of Ulster-by publication.
I don't know how many of these are "real" and how many are "maybe". Check out Dr. Bears book too.
All the best!

 

for armin brott

armin,problem with earning a slippery PHD is that someone always
knows you and would find out the truth...for instance I know you and you don't know who I am because of my anonymous name..ha ha...

we have too many 'slippery' PHD's in the fathers field already...one of our top 'writers' has a Columbia Pacific "PHD" which is slippery..not mentioning any names but Dr. Bear outed him at http://distancelearn.about.com/library/blpages/blexposes.htm....if you really want one,earn it the old fashioned way. Due to your good work I am sure one of the local universities would love to have you in a doctorate program.

anonymous me who has been on listservs with you at various places for years......ha ha

 

Re: for armin brott

Point taken, consumeradvocate but...

1. I think it was made pretty clear that Armin was looking for something legal/legitimate (yes, yes, I know that some people have drawn a distinction between these two terms).

2. Armin has a strong reputation that stands by itself. Providing a degree was held legally, i.e. not from a mill, it seems pretty likely that his record will hold up. A few people on this board have made the point before that a legitimate but unaccredited PhD, for example, won't necessarily cause problems if you have a good record in terms of publication, etc.

3. There seems to be an assumption that Armin was looking to earn a PhD for no work, time, etc. This was not the case - he asking for advice. I think that the advice given was pretty good and set out quite a few options, including the possibility of a PhD by publication (although I think it an unlikely solution).

Doesn't all of this go back to the advice consistently given by Rich, Dr Bear and others? The advice being pick a course/institution after considering your present and future requirements. If Armin doesn't plan a career in teaching or research, then maybe an unaccredited (but legal/legitimate) degree will meet his needs. However, as I've already pointed out, there might be other options too.

Also, consumeradvocate, you talk about following Armin on Usenet for years - why?

Paul B

 

I say go without the degree and be happy that you don't need the stamp of approval. You're a published author! Relish it. Help stop the maddness of the whole degree stamp thing! If someone is totally accomplished, why worry about a degree, and if it turned out not to be from an accredited source you'd be found out and really make for some embarrassment. I am thinking about writing instead of pursuing a stamp myself.

 

Re: for armin brott

I posted something on the state approved section of the board. You are better off having no Ph.D. rather then an unaccredited one. My reputation is tarnished now because I did not know any better. Why? I got an unaccredited bachelors degree and it blew up in my face.

Imagine that experience being amplified 100X by having an unaccredited Ph.D. and someone questioning your integrity?

My point is, you are better off having the ***REAL*** thing in the eyes of the reading public. Why have someone question your integrity? You sound like a bright person, please don't make the same mistake I did.

 

Promise or threat - obviously nothing has changed

Is this a promise or a threat?

And i thought that things had changed - what a fool I and a lot of others have been

Thanks for reminding us ...

 

As mentioned earlier in another thread, I left Leicester University when my PhD thesis wernt unread for almost two years. I did not however transfer to a German university. I had to apply. I was accepetd for having a BA Honours and three years teaching experience. Then I handed them by 250,000 word thesis in English). They assessed and I then successfuly defended it seven months later. I was awarded my doctorate Magna cum laude, the second highest of four passing grades.

I paid nothing but had to give the university 100 copies of my work. This was in 1984 and they did beg me not to advertise my experience too much. However, since that was 18 years ago, I don't think now they will be much concerned. I believe that some German universities may still operate such a scheme whereby you show up with a completed work and it is asessed for a PhD.