UOP vs NCU for DBA

Update on my DBA

After getting an extension on starting my doctoral program (My originally date was 12/15/05) I have applied and have been excepted to NCU. I received the exceptance yesterday. I was quite surprised about the turnaround. I received an e-mail at about 2:00PM saying they had received all official transcripts. By 3:00PM I had received an email welcoming me to NCU. ( I was originally told that the evaluation could take up to two weeks)

I have until 5/12/06 to accept the enrollment agreement and pay for my first course and will begin study on 6/01/06. Just in time with my six month extension.

NCU evaluated my MBA from TUI and accepted 30 credits. I have 51 credit to complete. After tuition remibursement ($5250 per year) I will end up paying approximately $9,000 including books.

I am excited, however with all the demands at work, I know I will be pushing the envelope to find time for school, work and family.

Any words of widsom from anyone enrolled in the program now?

 

OK, I have a (possible) dumb question. What is the difference in the utility of a DBA vs a PHD? I know the PHD requires you to contribute something original to the field, where DBA doesn't.

Thanks

 

I would stay away from UoP. It has bad reputation for its undergrad and MBA so a DBA would not be received with good eyes by academia. An UNISA DBL or PhD would have better chances than one from the UoP.

NCU has the advantage that is unknown so at least you won't have the negative publicity that UoP has.

NCU would be a better option in my opinion. The foreign schools in England and Australia would be a much better option if you decide to play outside the US.

I think that if money is a concern, an UNISA degree would carry more prestige and recognition at least outside the US than UoP or NCU. I have seen many UNISA PhDs teaching at Australian and UK schools so it seems to be a tested product but I would expect it to be a lot harder than one from NCU.

NCU seems to be doing a good job so it might eventully become a recognized degree so at least you have a degree that might carry some value in the future. On the contrary, UoP would have a hard time to change its image.

 

Discussed too many times. From the Australian and UK perspective, the DBA is meant for MBA graduates looking for a doctoral level degree since the PhD requires a M.Phil or research master's degree. The DBA more applied in nature is also meant to be a part time program while the PhD a full time one.

From the American perspective, the DBA seems to be a degree with a dissertation that is more applied in nature than the PhD.

As for utility, in the US or Canada, DBA or PhDs are good for full time faculty positions while in the UK and Australia the PhD seems to be the normal route for full time faculty positions.


In Conclusion, the DBA is considered a professional qualification while the PhD an academic one.

 

At leat the one at USQ is not online but external. There is a difference. External degrees mean that are completed off campus but not necessarily with the use of the internet. Not 100% DL as some seminars are required.

 

Re: Update on my DBA

Some courses are pretty easy (if you know how to dig for material) and you can blow through them relatively easily, while a few classes are labor intensive and there is no realistic way to expedite the work because it is so voluminious and time consuming. The advantage is that it is self-paced, so you can do the coursework at your leisure, like on your days off from work or a little bit after work. I hope to have a DBA some day. Time will tell.

 

Don't forget the Heriot-Watt DBA. From personal experience, I find the curriculum to be dynamite.

Jim

 

My observations are that most people outside academia is do not know what a DBA, DM or DPA is but most people have some idea what a PhD is.

I met a female DBA consultant in hospital management who uses "Dr. Jane Doe" on her business card rather than "Jane Doe, DBA" for that same reason.

 

Hi Chris,

Most schools will allow you to take a couple of courses to try out their program before formally being admitted. Perhaps if you do this and do well in the classes you can convince them to waive the test requirement. You have nothing to lose by asking.

Tug

 

Online schools are good mainly because their flexibility, customer service and completion times and rates for PhDs.

A traditional school has only 3.5-5% admission rate, and about 50% completion rate. Very few schools offer part time PhDs and the ones that offer require at least 5 years part time registration. Time for completion the PhD at traditional schools is not only because the rigour but also due to lazy supervisors, burocracy and many issues that are normally not present at online schools.

The utility of the online PhD from an online school is normally higher when the individual is already a faculty member with many years of experience and just requires a PhD for a permanent position or promotion. Most of these individuals are already married with commitments and cannot afford intensive programs with long waiting times so the online PhD seems to be only solution. Many of these individuals manage to use the online PhD for a tenure track position at a low tier University or a community college position, or a tenure track at the present University of employment.

The bottom line is that you need to be realistic about your expectations after graduation from an online PhD from an online school. If you are an individual with little work and teaching experience and you are expecting that the online PhD would make miracles, then you might be extremely dissapointed. However, if you are already an established professional, the online PhD can help to include that check mark in your resume that can lead you to that consulting or faculty desired position.

 

Well, hey, if you tell someone you have a DBA, the big question is, did you (a) get a Doctor of Business Administration degree; (b) earn your database administrator certification; (c) buy a "doing business as" for your tiny little subchapter S corporation; or (d) some combination or even all of the above?

 

Too funny, because it is dead on.

Question on UOP. Do they use the same crappy Outlook Express Newsgroups setup all the way up to the Doctorate level?

 

Now that quite a few years have gone by since this thread was started, I'm curious as to whether anyone would change their opinions of the schools discussed. Have you noticed any major changed in reputation, format, curriculum, price, accreditation?