American Sentinel University gets an award

it's a military-friendly thing

American Sentinel University Named Military-friendly School by G.I. Jobs Magazine for Fourth Year in a Row

 

False advertising degree? URL: Jason Andress: Faculty Bio

CTU does not offer or award Ph.D in Computer Science, but Doctor of Computer Science.

 

I wouldn't get too worked up about that, I've had professors (at legitimate schools) who had their exact degree titles screwed-up in their official facultly listings by the school.

I had one professor at UML who had his Ed.D. from UMass-Amherst listed as a Ph.D., and another professor at MSPP who has his Ed.D. from Columbia University Teacher's College listed as a Ph.D. There were no attempts at misrepresentation, as both of them referred to themselves as "Ed.D." in all the course materials they prepared themselves.

 

Here's another case of misrepresentation (possibly, to boost one's educational profile), where one degree is listed as two different degrees. Mr. McNally has a MA in Business and Organizational Security Management from Webster University. But the degree is listed as "MA in Business and an MA in Organizational Security Management."

We need a dedicated thread to expose this "degree padding" trend.

 

Its changed now. I dont see anything wrong in representing DCS as PhD.

 

There's something wrong with misrepresentation of actual degree earned. While both degrees are doctorate degrees, a Doctor of Computer Science (DCS) is not a Doctor of Philosophy (just like a MBA is not MS in Business Administration), no matter whether the courses in each program were the same. Why? Degrees such as master of business administration (MBA), master of computer science (MCS), master of applied science (MAS), master of information technology (MIT), master of project management (MPM), ofcourse, doctor of computer science (DCS), are categorized as practitioner or industry degrees typically offered at career colleges.

Career colleges (examples: DeVry, ITT Tech, Westwood College, etc.) are schools that do not conduct research but only offer degrees that train students for the workforce (versus research-based degree that discover new knowledge that potential impacts or contributes to a field's knowledge-base).

In the case of CTU, naming the program Doctor of Computer Science, as opposed to Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science, is deliberately forced on them by their accreditors, to demarcate CTU's computer science (CS) program from other CS PhDs offered by research schools such as University of Colorado @ Boulder, University of Denver (yes, for-profit schools like University of Denver can be a research school), etc.

Furthermore, there are many research schools that would not even hire a holder of DCS from CTU for tenure positions or for other teaching jobs that require on-going researching in the field. Also, there are climes that see such degrees as course-work doctorates (regardless of the courses you took), and would not rank holders of such in the league of PhD holders (UK, Australia, South Africa, etc).

In that light, a DCS (remember this is not DSc, which is equivalent to PhD) is not a PhD, so saying that you have a PhD when it is not, is deceptive (saying you have a computer science doctorate is fine). In this case, the good news is that Jason corrected his degree listing, to accurately" show his degrees.

 

University of Denver is a private nonprofit. Ironically, CTU is the only for-profit school that is classified as a research institution by the Carnegie Foundation.

 

I have worked at a school where the faculty bio was completed on an web page with pick list menus for certain items. I could not list my MPA since it was not an option, so I had to indicate M.A. with a major in Public Administration.

 

CTU's "Doctor of Computer Science" program is designed to be completed in three years. Their DCS may be a perfectly good degree -- but it doesn't seem comparable to a traditional PhD from a traditional research university. For comparison, a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University (one of the most respected CS schools in the country) typically takes six years of full-time study.

No it isn't. CTU is currently classified among "Doctorate-granting Universities" by the Carnegie Foundation. The "Doctorate-granting Universities" are subivided into three categories:

- RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity)
- RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity)
- DRU: Doctoral/Research Universities

CTU is in the "DRU: Doctoral/Research Universities" category, which basically means that it grants a significant number of doctorates, but has a relatively low level of research activity. There are currently several other private for-profit schools in the DRU category, including Argosy University (four campuses), Capella University, Northcentral U, and Pacifica Graduate Institute.

There are currently zero for-profit schools in the "RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity)" or "RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity)" categories.