Thomas Francis University - IMCS school

One is free to take any degree program that you like but I agree that putting this PhD in a professional CV is unethical. In general, fields such as spirituality, personal development, etc you do not need a degree program.

Thomas Francis asks for a short dissertation mainly because if it asks for a real dissertation, it will get zero students. Again, if I am interested in becoming a Yoga or Meditation instructor for 10K a year, I am not going to slave 5 years for a doctorate for this purpose.

I love taking programs in meditation, spirituality, holistic etc but most of these courses can be taken for free in places like youtube and you have also places like udemy that offer courses for $15 bucks.

The only reason to complete this program is if you want a serious career as a metaphysical minister or need the credential in paper so you can get insurance to put a practice.
However, the ethical thing here is not to misrepresent your self and use a title like a PhD but use a title that represents more your work such as DD or Holistic practitioner or Rev or other title that does not mislead the public to think that you have a PhD in psychology and you are a qualified psychologist.

 

For the book, I was interested in thomas francis hypnotherapy program, I think the program was priced right and lead to hypnotherapy certification. I also thought that the PhD was kind of useless as you cannot use it in a CV.

 

I do see your point there.

Now if a certain poster were still around and you posted that, he would be sure to turn it into a big dramatic blowout, lol. He foamed at the mouth for this kind of thing.

 

Parapsychological Counselling is not really a recognized psychology field so no degree in the world will help you for this.
The closest is Transpersonal Psychology, however, not all the Psychology associations recognize it. In the UK, Transpersonal Psychology is a recognized psychology field and offered by several Universities and recognized by the British Psychology Society.
In the US, the closest in Psychology of Religion, APA recognizes Psychology and Religion as a specialization but for this you would require a traditional Psychology degree with some spiritual or religion classes.

Thomas Francis is a religious based school. This means that you are looking at a non professional degree program that is meant for spiritual development and not for professional careers other than ministerial careers.

 

He is a European student, he doesnt understand the concept of religious schools in the US. These are really not degrees but really certificates branded as degrees for marketing purposes.

 

Most people that do this type of courses do it for pleasure. It is quite obvious that a $1200 USD PhD is not going to build you a career by itself.

The OP is totally confused, this type of diplomas are followed by people that are interested in becoming meditation instructors. spiritual speakers or life coaches. You very well stated, you don't need a PhD for this type of careers and online training is not going to do the trick, you need to have experience with these techniques.

I attended a 3 year program at a local school that lead to a certificate in Spiritual counselling and interfaith ministry, you need to have experience with large groups, conduct meditations, conduct yoga classes, stress management exercises, relaxation techniques, etc. It is not something you can learn online and then charge fifty bucks an hour.

This is a bit like those online courses that prepare you to become a Shaman. Real Shamans prepare all their life and this requires lots of training and exercises that you cannot get in an online course.

The idea of selling these certificates as PhDs is mainly commercial, it is a bit ridiculous to think that a person guiding a meditation or conducting a yoga class needs a PhD. Local schools just give you a certificate of completion for this training, professionals with reputation and experience do charge $50 or more an hour but most dont have a PhD but tons of experience.

I conduct workshops for stress management, relaxation, etc. The pay is not so bad and dot it for pleasure, I make way more money in management and finance but this is for pleasure.

Some people do make a living in this field but I cannot picture more than $30K or $40K a year but these are individuals that go to real face to face schools with lots of training and experience. Most work at yoga centers, spiritual centers, holistic clinics, etc.

 

Not sure if the OP or other people are around that are interested in parapsychology or metaphysics accredited courses. The institution below offer diplomas in the subject that lead to UK recognized ofqual accredited qualification. I took a class before there with groupon for 40 CAD and got a level 3 qualification.

If the OP is still looking for accreditation qualifications in this area. You can check the school below, they do have ufology but not cryptzoology but you have other courses in the area.

https://www.centreofexcellence.com/shop/psychic-development-courses/

 

He's still here. Just not interested.

 

I saw him in another post. Now he is degree mill buster.
Maybe we can close this thread with a PhD in zoology, I found the indian school below that looks legit, they might allow a cryptozoology dissertation:

https://collegedunia.com/courses/phd-zoology

 

It is Indian all right, may be legit - but it's not a school. Collegedunia is some sort of referral service - sort of a Craigslist for universities. If you go there, you get about 25 schools that teach PhD. courses in Zoology. I don't know how good/bad any of them are. They are mostly new names to me and I haven't UGC-checked them etc. Also - no indication that ANY of them are distance.

For each school Collegedunia provides a list of fees and entrance requirements including master's in zoology.

https://collegedunia.com/courses/phd-zoology

 

BTW - a little info on the name "Collegedunia." The word "dunia" is Hindi. It's usually spelled "duniya" in our alphabet and the basic meaning is "world."

 

There is no such thing as a legit school with a legit program in zoology that would allow you to focus your attention on cryptozoology.

That would be like trying to write a thesis for an M.Eng. on the Warp Drive of the Starship Enterprise.

 

Thank goodness it's already been written up, then. Here - pages 54 to 73. https://xaeyr.typepad.com/files/franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1.pdf

Intro by Gene Rodenberry.

 

"Far out!" as the late John Denver might have said. And I thought electric cars were something! I'll take the two-door coupe in burnt orange, with leather seats, a five-speed and the Alcubierre drive!

 

I am not sure, there are actually quite a few research articles in legit journals about the subject.

Thomas, C., Didierjean, A., Maquestiaux, F., & Gygax, P. (2015). Does magic offer a cryptozoology ground for psychology?. Review of General Psychology, 19(2), 117-128.
Simpson, G. G. (1984). Mammals and cryptozoology. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1-19.
Rossi, L. (2016). A review of cryptozoology: towards a scientific approach to the study of “Hidden Animals”. In Problematic Wildlife (pp. 573-588). Springer, Cham.


Found the dissertation below in the subject from a legit university

Simonian, I. (2010). Paranormal belief, personality traits, and subjective well-being. Alliant International University, Los Angeles.



Most of the subjects offered by Thomas Francis University can be taken by legit Universities including Life coaching, Parapsychology, Spiritual Philosophy, etc. The issue is that the school is not really targeting academic research nor advanced courses but just introductory courses. One can earn a legit PhD in Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh.

I don't why not someone cannot do a PhD in cryptozoology if there is evidence of serious research in the subject in literature.