Transfer alternatives for a PhD Candidate?

UNISA seems to be the right answer...

I really appreciate all the help I got in this thread. You all helped me take the right decision for my situation. Before I describe my decision let me further describe my situation:

First, I’m around ten years from retirement, and so, a PhD is for personal satisfaction and will not have an effect on my future income. I may teach part time after retirement, but I’m planning to retire in Costa Rica.

Second, my current employer pays for the PhD, but only directly to the school by check (that works well for me), but NCU don’t want to receive checks anymore, because they want to charge a personal credit card. This past year (after NCU decided not to accept checks anymore) I have been having trouble every time I register. In fact they claim they did not find the last check (mailed in September 2010), and are asking me to configure my credit card in their system to charge for my current course. From my employer perspective, I don’t have security privileges to access to paid checks, but they assure me it was paid.

Third, after planning for the dissertation series at NCU, it turns out it will take me a full two years. There are twelve milestones (read reviews) starting with the concept paper approval by the dissertation committee to the oral presentation. In the pass the concept paper was approved during the research courses, not anymore. Now it needs to be done during the dissertation series. Just a back of the envelop calculation using one month per review and two review cycles per milestone gives two years.

Therefore, based on my situation and your suggestions I concluded that my best option is to go with UNISA PhD in Computer Science program. I know the main problem is to go to the registration process and then deal with the bureaucracy (but NCU is going the same way). Some of my reasons are:

1- It will take around the same time (UNISA site said two to five years) but at a fraction of the cost. I already have formulated my research and have the concept paper, and I’m sure I will need to make changes but that should be easy. UNISA minimum requirements are the first year to define the dissertation and write a peer review article, and the second year to complete the dissertation.

2- I get the PhD degree that I want (in Computer Science) and not a business administration degree.

3- With UNISA prices I can pay myself, and will not be required to work with my current employer for two years after graduation.

4- Looking at the areas of research in the Computer Science department, I can see at least two professors that have interest in my area of research.

5- A minor point but interesting is that looking at UNISA dissertations, I can see they allow references that are older than five years, which is not allowed at NCU and forces a lot of creative writing to avoid it…

Thanks again to everyone in this thread for their valuable information. I assure you that I looked over each piece of information you provided. My next challenge is to find UNISA PhD students to gain a better understanding of the process.

Regards,
Mike Marin

 

NSU - different programs, different policies

I understand that the computer science program at Nova doesn't accept transfer credits. But this is not so in their DBA program:

"Because our doctoral students are active professionals it is sometimes the case that they have completed a select number of doctoral courses at institutions other than the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship. For this reason, NSU will accept as transfer credit up to two courses (eight credits) of doctoral coursework completed at another regionally accredited institution. The following conditions apply to transfer courses:"

This points out a key aspect of Nova Southeastern - the various programs at NSU can vary significantly on their policies.

R Andy

 

There are schools out there that offer a doctoral completion program -- I think Fielding University has one.........I also found this thread on the subject.

http://www.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/9017-transferring-abd-into-new-doctoral-program.html

p.s. oops - just checked Fielding and they have a respecialization program, not completion for ABD...

 

You were all warned...

 

That is a productive observation.

 

I recently left Argosy after a few years of working on my DBA and I am now looking for another university where I can start working on my Doctorate studies. My biggest concern is transferring credits to another college that is accredited so I can finish this Doctorate in a reasonable time without having to pay out a lot of cash. I am running my freelance company as well as being a freelance writer but I would prefer to be working for someone and making a higher salary.

What I would like to know is what is the benefit about these universities outside of the United States and how will they be looked at when it comes to seeing them on your resume? I guess the question I am wondering is, do companies raise questions during an interview when the college name is seen on your resume? Hope that makes sense. Appreciate any thoughts that can be provided.

-Sue

 

You absolutely should be proud of your NCU degree, but it does sound like things aren't headed in the right direction there.

 

I think they are actually going in the right direction - they are hiring full time faculty as dissertation chairs and committee members. I not not know of other online schools that have made this move. Let's hope this continues in the right direction.

 

Sorry to hear about this. First, the PhD in business with a specialization in Computer Science is something that I have never seen but with NCU. Most schools would offer a PhD in Business or DBA in Information Systems or IT Management but never a business degree in computer science (this doesn't make sense as computer science is not part of a business faculty but an engineering or science department).

This being said, you will not find the same program and this means that you will not be able to transfer credits so easily as this program is unique to NCU.

If you want the degree to get a job in Computer Science, I believe the MBA in Computer Science should be enough to get a job in Industry.

If you really want the doctorate, you can try the University of NewCastle or Deakin University in Australia and use the NCU MBA to transfer some credits towards the DBA from either University. Deakin is considered a second tier school in Australia and very well respected for jobs in Academia or Industry.

The good thing about Australia Universities is that you pay per unit and don't have tons of hidden fees as the for profit schools have.

The UNISA PhD program in Computer Science is not a bad option but the "South African" tag can be an issue if you are planning to use the degree in the US. Foreign degrees from developing countries (e.g. India, Mexico, Malasya,South Africa, etc) tend to have lower acceptability than degrees from Western Europe, Canada, Australia or the UK.

If your intention is just to get the PhD to adjunct on the side and call yourself doctor, the UNISA PhD might do the job. However, if you want something that you want to use to impress prospect employers, I would try a degree from Australia, UK or Canada.

 

I have a friend that immigrated to Canada with a DBA from Argosy. He was not able to find full time academic work but was able to find a good job in an Insurance Company and is working as an adjunct for few Canadian Universities but only after completing a Canadian accounting and insurance designations.

As far as I know, regional accreditation is the most important thing for the degree to be credible and acceptable to employers. For full time academic work, AACSB accreditation is very important but not as important for regular industry jobs.

Doctorates are not meant so much to improve professional profiles but to open the doors for Academia and consulting. If what you are looking for is to improve your professional profile, you might be better off working towards more professional oriented certifications as CPA, CMA, CFA, etc.

 

This type of degrees are not a walk in the park and not recommended for people that are working in industry with demanding jobs. These degrees are difficult also because they don't have milestones (.eg comprehensive examinations, courses, etc). Basically, it is all or nothing.

This type of degrees are meant for full time academics that require a promotion in the Academic setting. In the UK, most academics start with a Masters and earn the PhD once they are already academics and have some research experience.
Salaries for academics in the UK are low for American standards, it is not normal that someone would do a PhD and then join academia because the low salaries. Most people that I know that are academics in the UK, started with a Masters and earned the PhD later during their careers mainly for promotion purposes.

 

Sorry, I misunderstood your question. I have Canadian and Australian degrees and have worked for few Universities in the US. I earned my doctorate from an Australian School as an external student (not on campus).
As long as you are able to provide a foreign evaluation report of your degrees (e.g. WES), the foreign degree would normally be accepted by employers. My australian doctorate was evaluated as the equivalent to an American PhD.
My experience was that most employers would not have a problem with degrees from Canada, Australia and the UK.
I would not expect the Australian or British Doctorate to be any better that your average American PhD from a state school when it comes to acceptability. It can help you to land jobs as a professor in a small university or community college but it could be a hard sell if you want to get a job at a large research university as you would need to compete with the graduates from MIT, Harvard, etc.

 

The guy has already 4 degrees from good universities. Why would he need to add another degree in his profile from a low rated school?
The NCU degree was just a stepping stone towards a better degree so I don't see the need to list it also.

 

Those are definitely positive steps academically, but it seems like their customer service is lacking, and their tuition costs are sharply increasing each year.

 

My guess is that they are milking the cow. The owners of the school might fear that the business might not be able to compete in the future as more universities are offering distance learning doctorates.

The strategy could be to milk as much as possible present students as they cannot switch so easily to another school and have no choice but to bite the bullet and then sell the school to a large corporation in education such as Laureate, Apollo Group, etc before the school is not able to enroll more students.

 

I am very interested in hearing about dissertation-only PhDs, particularly from South Africa. I began with Boston University's online program in Music Education when it started in fall of 2005, took the courses, passed the qualifying exams, had my dissertation proposal approved during a short residency, and began writing my philosophical lens dissertation. Now, I'm on my second dissertation supervisor, who is wonderful. (The first supervisor left after his contract was apparently "lost" after 4 years of supervision). I had 346 pages of what I thought was a full draft copy of my dissertation, and now, after spending 9 months revising a single chapter to the second supervisor's satisfaction according to the chair's specifications, the chair has pretty much shot it down. I'd like to take my dissertation somewhere supportive and revise and defend. I'd love to find someplace like Greenleaf University, only legitimate. Any ideas are welcome, even the unpalatable "stick with it." Thanks in advance.