The Easiest Online Doctorates - Is that so?

That reminds me - some states are experimenting with making dental hygienists mid-level practitioners who can practice independently. Now, there are master's degree programs for dental hygienists. There are also doctoral degree programs for athletic trainers even though that's a low-paying field in which people spend most of their time wrapping ankles.

There's too much redundancy in mental health, in my opinion. There are psychiatrists, psychologists (can prescribe in several states), clinical mental health counselors, chemical dependency counselors, clinical social workers, school counselors, school psychologists, marriage and family therapists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and master's level psychology associates or technicians in several states.

Several years ago, Texas gave marriage and family therapists the legal privilege to diagnose disorders, so they can do everything a licensed professional counselor can do.

 

Interesting. In Ontario, paralegals have limited practice rights. Can represent clients independently in small claims courts, traffic courts, and before boards and commissions.

 

CPAs, EAs (enrolled agents), and attorneys can represent clients in front of IRS officials. There are a couple of other enrolled designations that have limited representation privileges. Anyone who is not an attorney will need to pass the U.S. tax court exam to practice in the U.S. tax court. That test has about a 15% pass rate.

 

So, First Professional Doctorate is earning a Doctorate degree before becoming a practitioner? Professional Doctorates are those required practitioners with experiences in the field before earning the degree?

 

Have you ever thought of taking the Tax Court exam sanantone? It's said to be brutal.

 

I'm not sure it's an expense worth taking on as long as I'm working for the federal government. I'm not allowed to do side work with conflicting interests. For anyone who might be interested, the test is being offered online this year. It's normally only offered in DC.

 

Chris made the best distinction on this thread. The first professional doctorate is the degree needed to enter certain professions. The professional doctorate is better compared to the scholarly doctorate, as both are nearly identical in structure (but not in content and purpose).

 

Here's my latest publication- Youth Justice.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14732254211052334

 

Congrats, Dr. Chrisitian! What are the requirements for researched article submission? Is there any restriction to academia only?

 

Thank you. I don't think that is the case. Many journals welcome submissions from practitioners. I have seen publications by authors who didn't have a terminal degree and who worked in the field. Furthermore, some journals use a blind peer-review process, meaning the reviewers do not know the author (s) and the author(s) does not know the reviewers. The two peer-reviewed articles I have published went through blind reviews.

 

I have an MA from a UK university. Having also done grad work in the US, I can attest that their educational methodology is far more rigorous, at least when it comes to research. When I completed my dissertation (i.e., the US equivalent of a thesis), there was a max word count. This required maximizing the quality of the content without undue explanation. I’d imagine that a UK research doctorate has fewer strictures given the expected size of the project. That being said, I’ve encountered word many courses which required a word minimum.

 

The irony is that the easiest PhDs are often the ones that don't require a lot of oversight and may be more independent in nature. Some examples would be several of the online for-profit schools offering ABD status for the PhD/EdD etc as well as some of the foreign school programs that are ran on the UK system (PhD by research without coursework). There are pros and cons to this. Those programs that require a lot of oversight will probably keep you in the program longer because they need the tuition dollars and want high quality research from their students. It really has nothing to do with the quality of the research but rather or not they are ready for you to graduate because these advisors and professors can come up with any reason to keep you from graduating. If you can meet the guidelines of a thesis or dissertation in programs that are more independent in nature due to distance education with less involved faculty, you shouldn't have a hard time completing the dissertation provided you have sample dissertations for reference or other outside assistance.

 

Nope. It's similar to your MA experience. Word caps.

 

You seem to be implying that a thesis-only PhD is easier. It's not. It's harder. First, you're expected to already have mastered your field. Plus, your advisor may tack on unanticipated learning experiences to prep you for the process. Also, you have strict word limits requiring you to economize your verbiage, yet your project will likely be much bigger than an American PhD dissertation.

This is a common accusation, but I've never seen any actual support for it.

Ditto.

A quick question: where did you do your PhD dissertation, and did you experience any of these issues?

 

There's been at least two lawsuits filed, one against Capella and one against Walden (one of those was dismissed on technical grounds but I can't remember which is proceeding), basically suggesting the school changes the degree requirements often enough that students take on average take 6 years to graduate, not the 3 or 4 they're promised (at $1000 per month tuition), and many simply time out.

 

Yes, I am aware of this. To my knowledge, the plaintiffs have not yet prevailed. An accusation is not the same as a finding.

(I'm not defending these schools, nor saying the plaintiffs are wrong. But they're not yet found to be right, either.)

 

That is my understanding. An academic from the UK explained that their expectation is that by the time you get to the doctoral level you should be ready for research at the doctoral level and not expecting to be spoon fed through taught courses. You should be ready to teach and not be taught. To me it sounded like more of a collaborative approach where you grow as you do research and interact with your doctoral advisor (who is an expert).

 

I'm working on my PhD in Education from Azteca University in collaboration with UCN. As far as the thesis-only PhD, I wasn't implying it was easier as a whole as it depends on the requirements of the university in general and they do often want a lot of things tackled on overtime to keep you in the program and to show additional effort on your end. It is however easier in a sense when it comes to how many people you have to please throughout your program compared to the extra classes taught by additional professionals that add more time to degree completion.

It will depend on the university and faculty as a whole. You have some that hand out doctorates like candy while others make it virtually impossible for a vast majority students to finish in a timely manner.

 

Again, this remains an unproven assertion.

Also, Ted Streleski would tell you that it is true even at prestigious universities.

(John Bear once reported that one wag said that if Streleski had been tried by a jury of his peers--doctoral candidates--he would have been acquitted. And so it goes.)