Aspen versus NCU, Walden, Capella or California Southern University.

AV8R just reminded me of an experience I had a number of years ago with a building contractor who I consulted regarding building my home. I wished for him to reverse the blueprint for the house I selected so that the very large windows would face mountainous terrain rather than the highway. The contractor fought me tooth and nail, strongly verbalizing his disapproval of my plan and insisting on knowing why I wanted this reversal of the building plan and I responded "Because I'm paying for it"! That afternoon I terminated any further dealings with this contractor and found another who was totally receptive to my plan and built a beautiful home for me.

 

Best of luck with your search, Jan.

 

Thank you AV8R.

 

"Because I'm paying for it" doesn't mean that you get unlimited customized service in all instances.

I pay for a lot of things. Some of those things allow customized choices. Others do not.

If you think that your paying for something gives you unlimited control over something then I question how you would perform in a doctoral program.

What if your advisor recommends a rewrite? Will you agree? Or will you stomp your feet and maintain that your way is perfect and who is this advisor, whom you indirectly pay, to tell YOU how to do your work?

You're free to have criteria. You're free to have guiding principles. And, in the end, whatever we say doesn't directly impact your life.

Your posts kind of remind me of how, when I get especially hungry, I get really picky about my food which causes me to pass on almost every option. This, in turn, makes me hungrier and grumpier.

 

Which state are you in?

 

Here we go again.

Neuhaus, your missing the point I'm making entirely and are misconstruing what YOU believe I'm stating.

Primarily, my analogy relating to my building contractor had nothing to do with getting unlimited customized service in all instances, but was pointing out that NO one person or school is indispensable and that the astute student, who carefully conducts their search for an online distance school that meets many of their needs and goals, has a good chance of finding one.

Obviously, schools have their protocols and standards for completion of a doctorate. HOWEVER, there are numerous online distance doctoral programs being offered in the US and internationally which means that there is fierce competition for students' money. This is in favor of savvy students who do not have to accept standard academic bureaucratic protocols that have long dominated the academic landscape resulting in students feeling helpless and merely a cog in the wheel who merely are passive recipients of the school's policies.

For instance, one school I contacted was willing to transfer a significant number of my doctoral courses that were over ten years old into their doctoral program while some others were not open to doing so. Two schools allowed me to speak with faculty regarding my doctoral dissertation topic and methodology resulting in their possibly being on my doctoral committee should I decide to attend those schools while other schools would not allow me this option. Three schools allowed me to speak with student ambassadors to obtain their feedback regarding their experiences with the school and their doctoral program while two others claimed it would violate student confidentiality to do so. One school agreed to decrease my tuition while several other did not. And so forth and so on.

My point is straightforward. Students have more control in selecting an appropriate school that meets their needs and goals than they think they have but have to possess the moxie to do so. This does not imply going tet-a-tet with school administrators or having adversarial interactions with professors but does imply that if a student does not advocate for their needs and best interests they won't get anything that may make their educational experience more enjoyable and doable, leading to the completion of their degree programs.

 

Approval of the methodology is a big step.

That's only half the battle because it can happen multiple times in a single dissertation committee. For example, a dissertation committee member made me rewrite a dissertation -- and all the other dissertation members approved of his recommendation. So I rewrote it to his specifications and turned it back in.

Then a different committee member told me that it was incorrectly rewritten and he explained the error of my ways -- and he told me to rewrite it a certain way, which was the previous way that I had originally written it. So I rewrote it to his specifications (which were my original specifications) and turned it back in.

In both instances, I could have argued with them, but that probably would have been disastrous and probably would have resulted in a rejection of my dissertation, resulting in being forever ABD. But by obliging them, the process probably went quicker and I was able to graduate -- which was my original goal to begin with.

 

Me again, I have to give you major kudos for accepting this bs but in my case my chair and the doctoral committee who I selected accepted my topic and methodology and I believe that I would have completed the dissertation with very little redos.

 

Yes, you genuinely believe that the dissertation process would have been quick and without problems, challenges, or requests to redo what is clearly correct, but for whatever reason, that did not happen. Instead, you were forced to go down a different path in life. As a result, you will never truly know what it would have been like to go through the full dissertation process. Getting approval to do a dissertation is not the same as doing a dissertation. Based upon what you have written, maybe you should seek out the UK dissertation process where you can jump right into the dissertation? That will give you an opportunity to fully explore and complete a dissertation.

 

Me again I didn't complete the dissertation but have a very good grasp of the dissertation process and issues associated with it having cut ties with my initial dissertation chair and selecting a second one and then losing her because she left the university and was replaced by a third! However, each of these chairs and doctoral committee members verbalized that my literature review and methodology were right on target and that I would have no major problem having my dissertation approved when completed.

I don't know how your doctoral committee was formed but mine was selected by me based on taking courses with these faculty members and my forming collegial relations with them. They respected my academic work which was exceptonally well done and understood that my academic standards were high.

So do I believe that there would be no glitches in completing my dissertation? NO. However, based on my experience I don't believe it would have been overwhelming.

 

That's awesome!

 

Thank you very much Steve. I will give them a call. Jan

 

I guess the OP is not going to answer my question. I tried.

 

At the risk of this thread being hijacked, that’s a good question. I used to use truckstop WiFi services (generally at $19.95/month unlimited), but since you have to actually be there, I switched to mobile broadband a couple of years ago when it became more widely available and didn’t depend on USB modems.

I’ve found that pay-as-you-go plans are just as cost-efficient as contracts, if not more so. I seem to get better service and pricing on both broadband and phone services by heading to Wal-Mart and buying air cards as I need them. There are three services I’ve used over the past year:..

T-Mobile: The cheapest, at $50 for 7 gB for 30 days. Then, if you go over the 7 gB, additional time is free but it operates at much slower speed. It gives you 4G service near major cities, but only 2G in non-metro areas. And there are many areas around the country where you get no service at all.

Straight Talk: This is Wal-Mart’s service, and uses several networks, supposedly AT&T as its main network. It’s like the broadband version of TracFone. Wider coverage than T-Mobile, but their hotspot modem tends to be quirky in performance. $50 gets you 5 gB over a period of 60 days, but no free time once you have used up the 5 gB. Since the card is good longer, I’ve used it as a back-up for when I don’t get a T-Mobile signal (which is often).

Verizon: The most expensive, at $60 for 5 gB over 30 days. However, you can get 10 gB for $100 over 60 days, which makes it competitive with Straight Talk and lengthens the life of the card. Without a doubt, Verizon gives you the widest coverage at high speeds in both metro and rural areas, so I’ve switched to it as my primary service. Despite its cost, it gives me the guaranteed performance I need when I’m in the boondocks.

Remember that there are also a lot of free WiFi services available, If I want to do a download without using all of my airtime, I’ll head to a Panera or park sufficiently close to a big box store where I can get reception. Most of the time, though, I just go with my Verizon account these days since I usually use the ‘net on an immediate basis.

A moderator here at DI once mentioned to me that I have more ISP signatures than anyone else. That’s because I tend to log on if I’m hanging out in my sleeper cab while at a shipping dock while getting loaded or unloaded, or if I’ve parked for the night (or, sometimes, day). I might check out DI in multiple states on the same day. For example, I started the week in Wisconsin on Sunday, stayed in Illinois that night, swapped trailers in Indiana later the next day, continued to Ohio where I again swapped trailers, then headed down through Kentucky to Tennessee. Then back to Ohio for another swap and over to Pennsylvania, where I’m taking a few days off. All because the September theatre schedule sucks eggs (it livens up starting next week). Being a trucker is merely a cover – I’m really a paid professional tourist (going on 20 years of it, and still not bored).

 

To the moderator, shouldn't this unrelated information be placed in the off-topic section of this forum rather than disrupting this thread?Thanks

 

Jan, me again’s original question, quoted in my post, was in this thread. And whether you like it or not, threads constantly get diverted into unrelated topics. There’s a term for it: hijacking.

That said, I would have no objection if the mods were to move me again’s question and my detailed response to another thread.

That also said, I do have a few pieces of feedback for you that are on topic: First, can the at-tee-tude. You’re still a newbie here, though obviously an intelligent newbie. But stop capitalizing YOU. (And several other words.) It’s annoying as hell when YOU do it. (In netspeak, it’s called “shouting.”) Not that I give a flying fart, but it makes YOU look like YOU have attitude big time. Remember that several of the people who have participated in this thread already have or are actively pursuing their doctorates, or otherwise have advanced degrees. We ain’t no dummies, so let’s try to be collegial, shall we?.

Second, I’m delighted that you’re actually looking into U. of the Cumberlands. Personally, I think that doctorates in leadership are horse manure (but they’re a contemporary fact of life), but they are a legit brick-and-mortar university with far more credibility than any of the so-called online universities that started this discussion. Religious schools like U.C. and Liberty are far more tolerant with their distance students than they are with residential students, and the enrollment of a few of our own DI members who are hardly Fundy Christians yet function well there proves that notion.

Finally, I’m surprised that there have been minimal comments on the fact that you have already gone through much of a doctoral program and appear to be functionally A.B.D. I’d be curious as to which program you pursued and in what area. Obviously, have you considered returning to that program and picking up where you left off? One of our members did just that (Rich Douglas at Union), spending several years out of the program and then returning to complete his Ph.D. in minimal time.

Belated welcome to DI.

 

A bit sensitive aren't we? :grumble:

 

No, just respectful of others.

Btw, this has nothing to do with being "a bit sensitive" but of not wishing this thread to digress into irrelevance.

So please don't add to this digression and TRY to understand how you would feel having your topic thread compromised. I assure you that you wouldn't like it.

So if you have something to add regarding the subject being discussed I and other posters would like to hear it. Otherwise, goodbye!

 

Steve, I think it would serve you well to attempt to understand that the attitude issue is emanating from your disrespectfully usurping this thread with irrelevant monologues. If your feelings were inadvertently "hurt" by anything I said then say so, but not on my thread. Open your complaint on another section of this forum. Thank you.

To the moderator, I would appreciate your intervention to prevent further digression of this topic as well as flaming. Thank you.