I'm thinking of applying for the PhD in Philosophy via distance learning ("extramural") at Sofia University in Bulgaria. I've been looking through DegreeInfo, but while there is discussion about Sofia University, I don't see that anyone has actually applied, been admitted, and earned a degree. Has anyone here applied to Sofia University? Has anyone experienced their program? Has anyone graduated from either their masters or doctorate program in Philosophy, or know anyone who has? Thanks for your help. Suss
If a search did not turn up what you wish, it is unlikely this request will do so. I do note a great deal of concern about what this institution has to offer.
@Rich Douglas. Ease up a little on the coffee, Rich. According to his post, Suss checked. Mention of Sofia, but no applicants or grads on the board. I checked the search thing -- and he's right. I don't think we want to alienate intelligent, genuine seekers after learning. And this kind of offhand flippancy - and yeah, that's what it is - could certainly do that kind of damage.
I do not know anything about this institution. I would recommend getting on LinkedIn and searching to see if you can find current students or alumni to reach out to.
While there are no posts from Grads of Sophia by itself -- on a search under St. Kliment Ohridski, I did uncover a thread in which a grad of a dual program - Sofia (Bulgaria) and St. Ignatius (Indiana US) posted favourable remarks. It's many years old. https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/sofia-university-st-klement-ohridski.17588/#post-170689 There are a couple other posts under Sofia - St. Kliment Ohridski. No grads or applicants. Mostly about the dual program with St. Ignatius U. (Indiana US). Those posts are also from many years ago. Hope that helps. One thing that there seemed to be a lot of agreement with: Sofia has a first-class reputation as a University.
I asked in this forum because of the focus on distance learning, for which Sofia University seems to be one of the few legitimate institutions offering this for a PhD degree, and at reasonable fees. (I see lots of offerings here for DL-based EdD, DBA, and other professional doctorate degrees.) Sofia Uni. combines at least three divergences from traditional education toward a PhD for an American (DL, international university, and English instruction by an institution that ordinarily uses Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet), which makes evaluation of their program difficult. I suspect that others have the question, too. I'll do some googling and social media-ing, and report back what I find.
No you didn't - in your original post. It was changed at some point after I quoted the original, which read: "It would be good for you to do a search on this board and see what's been said, if anything, about this school." That, I think was a trifle insulting (not against me, though) -- because the search had clearly been done. I'm not wrong. Res ipsa loquitur. See your original words - quoted above, in this post or my "little insulting" one. You told someone it "would be good for them" to do a search - which they had already done. That was altered at some point after I read and reacted to it. Or how did I manage to quote it? No, Rich. I'm definitely not wrong on what you wrote -- but I'm not intending to make a thing of it.
I said, "If a search did not turn up what you wish, it is unlikely this request will do so." Past tense, acknowledging the poster had already searched. The time to edit a post is, I believe, 5 minutes. It was during that time when I realized the poster had done a search, so I changed my post to what is there NOW. It's called editing a post. The time interval was, at best, a couple of minutes. BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE. Your trifling insult came along at about the same time obviously having read what I originally wrote. Besides, there was NOTHING in my original post that was insulting, just inaccurate. Like none of us have ever made a mistake? I was in error, so I fixed it. None of what I said in my original post, nor my edited one, was insulting to anyone. And none of it involved you, until you decided it did. This is wrong. My post is at 7:12, yours 11 minutes later, well after I posted my edit, not before. Your response landed after my correction, not before. The "coffee" thing was unilateral and personal. I found it insulting because it was. I don't do that to you; I don't know why you choose to do it to me. I feel sullied enough having to defend myself over this petty nonsense, but it's done and that's that.