I'm thinking of a Ph.D in Business @ Northcentral or DBA @ Argosy - HELP ???

University of Phoenix offers a Doctor of Management degree.

 

Ewwwww- UoPhx's DM degree.

I received my undergrad at UoPhx. I believe the school fills an important niche. My degree from UoPhx has certainly been profitable for me and neither the state University (where I eventually received my MBA) or University of Sarasota/Argosy (I still cringe at the name) questioned the degree. Further, it was never questioned in any employment interview.

That said, when I was researching DBA programs, I heard that UoPhx was going to offer a doctorate. I waited to hear details. When they finally announced that it was a "Doctor of Management", my first reaction was, "What the heck is that?" I then started to ask other people, both in academia and in industry, if they ever heard of the degree and if it would be recognized. In all cases I received a "no" to both questions.

I realize that someone has to be first. Perhaps the DM may become a recognized degree. However, the DBA is still not universally known (even my wife still says I am doing a PhD) and I believe it is more accepted than a DM will be.

Also consider the cost. UoPhx is pretty expensive. Then again, so is USar/Argosy (more cringing).

If you don't mind- or if you enjoy- being on the bleeding edge, the the DM at UoPhx may be a good choice for you. However, if you want something that will require less explanation, then you may want to stick with either a PhD or DBA.

 

Actually, Webster University in St. Louis has been offering the same degree for some time. It is their D.Mgt. I think there is perhaps a bigger bias in the world of B-school academia. That is the discrimination against doctorates from non-AACSB schools.
In industry, it has been my experience that most prople are impressed by any doctorate.

 

"... and neither the state University (where I eventually received my MBA) or University of Sarasota/Argosy (I still cringe at the name) questioned the degree..."

Are you familiar with Argosy's DBA Program? I am very interested in this program, which appears doable in two to three years with a short residency. Would you share with us your knowledge of it, particularly, your perceiption of the quality or effectiveness of the "non-consecutive weekend delivery" format of its DBA courses? Thanks a lot. Paul



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In answer to DCross- No, I wan'r aware of the offering by Webster University. It is a small comfort to see UoPhx isn't alone.

My fussiness over the DM has nothing to do with AACSB snobbery. True, as I have said in other forums, I wanted an AACSB accredited MBA, but it was just one of several criteria. I didn't have the same criteria for my DBA.

My fussiness had more to do with market acceptance. I think if there were more DM programs out there I would have thought differently. As an adjunct at UoPhx, I likely would receive a discount on my tuition had I chosen the UoPhx program, which would help the cost criterion

To answer Paul's question re: Argosy:

Yes, I am nearing completion of the coursework at Argosy. I started when it was University of Sarasota. I found the faculty to be excellent, and in many cases the support staff to be good as well. The name change has been more than cosmetic. There are operational changes as well, and as with any operational change, there are a few hiccups. However, I am sure these will be smoothed out over time.

The program had a format of 7 "tutorials" and 8 residency courses. The residency courses originally were done in a 1 week long intersession. I believe the 2 weekend session format started in California. I took a couple classes that way. Then, one thing we tried was a 4 day 'over the weekend' type format. In other words, from Friday morning to Monday eveing (4 ten hour days). At first I was not enamored of that proposition, but I took a couple courses that way, and I really liked it. I still needed to take the same number of days off work, but I only had to fly once (a $200 savings) and it saved one one night's hotel ($80). This long weekend format does not appear on the official schedule anymore, so I don't know if the school will do it if there is enough demand for it on a particular course.

Usually there is a bunch of pre-course work to do (e.g. read the text, perhaps a few articles, prepare a paper or two or a presentation or two). After the course there is usually a reflective exercise (a research paper typically)that must be completed within a certain period of time.

I am not familiar with the new on-line format that replaces tutorials. I am currently in a tutorial, and I have only one last residence course to complete before my comps and dissertation.

Overall, it is a good school. I don't know how the changes in the transfer policy will affect things (I'm cautiuous- as you can read on another thread), but the courses I've taken were worth the money and time, and I learned a lot. I have only had a couple issues and these were sorted out. I looked at a number fo programs, and for what I wanted and needed, University of Sarasota (the name at the time) met my needs, and under the new name, Argosy, still offers a good program. The faculty are still great. True, the name isn't all that great, but I'm sure people think the same about Thunderbird, and that is a very good biz school!

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