Steve's ABD Completion Update

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by SteveFoerster, Jun 8, 2022.

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  1. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    As I announced nearly a year ago, I decided to finish my doctoral work through the Doctor of Business Administration ABD completion program at Baker College rather than reapply to the University of the Cumberlands, where I had run out of time.

    I've been a little less slow this time around (still slow, just a little less so!) and finally today got through my proposal defense. My committee has a few very minor edits, but nothing onerous. So three chapters are essentially done, two to go!
     
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  2. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Do we get a sneak peek at your dissertation topic or not until you're further along?
     
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  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I'm researching the academic preferences of prospective university students in Nigeria.
     
  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Congratulations, Steve. This is a tremendous hurdle, and I hope readers appreciate just how hard that is. Good luck in your execution and in presenting it. I'll be very interested to hear about your contributions to business practices in the niche you've selected!
     
  5. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I'm curious to know why Nigeria? I absolutely love that country and its people. So, I am happy to learn that a non-Nigerian (not saying you're the only one) would be interested in doing research with Nigerians.
     
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  6. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    :)
     
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  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Congratulations! That's a huge step. I can't wait to hear what comes of your research.
     
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  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Steve's to answer, but I can think of about 220 million good reasons. :cool:
     
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  9. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    Haha. Why not 330 million reasons? :D
     
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  10. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    You've correctly anticipated one of my main reasons, though! And by the end of this century it will be even more lopsided: India and China are projected to see population decreases, but Nigeria will become the most populated country on Earth, and Lagos, already a megacity, may end up being the largest city in the world.
     
  11. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I didn't know this. That's cool info.

    I just looked up languages of Nigeria on Wikipedia and that led me to taking a listen to some Nigerian Pidgin on YouTube and it gave me goosebumps. It sounds uncannily similar to Jamaican Patwa and Belize Kriol! I could even recognize some the syntactical features and some of the words of non-English origin due to the similarities. I need to learn more about the historical connection between Nigeria and the Caribbean creoles because my mind is genuinely blown!

    Looks like I'm staying up all night reading Wikipedia... again.
     
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  12. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    You're correct. Most of the content I watch is Nollywood movies, and I have no trouble understanding Nigerian Pidgin. I've even picked up on some Igbo words.
     
  13. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    One of my favourite guitar pickers on Youtube is Igbo, I believe. Her name is Helen Ibe. Ibe is Igbo for "people." I looked it up.

    No doubt you've picked up a few Yoruba words, too. Good bit on "Similarity to Caribbean Creoles" here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Pidgin

    "Naija" is the liveliest speech I ever heard! Love it!
    '
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2022
  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Get more Naija here: BBC Nigerian Pidgin site. https://www.bbc.com/pidgin Abeg you try am, na good! Dey tell true story. No got k-leg. :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2022
  15. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I love to read their news articles. I also follow them on Instagram for the daily Pirdgin proverbs, which I post on my WhatsApp status.
     
  16. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Oh, thanks for this! A new favorite!
     
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  17. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Just returning a favor, Steve. A while ago, you posted a Rokina Traore video. (Mali) Thanks for that one!
     
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  18. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    So, in the time since I've written the above, I got my proposal to the point where it could be submitted to IRB... but, then my chair was replaced for the second time, and the new one basically said, "oh, no, no, no, you should change everything," and wanted me essentially to start over. Then it came out that Baker College has annoyed the U.S. Department of Education. So I thought that if I were going to revise my whole proposal anyway, I may as well reconsider where, since there are more universities offering ABD completion programs than even two years ago.

    Anyway, I made a spreadsheet with a bunch of schools on it, and all that, but the short version is that I had a great conversation with the guy who runs the ABD completion program at Manhattanville College in New York, and when he said they only have one start date per year and theirs would be in two weeks, I scrambled to get transcripts and recommendations and so forth in, and made it under the wire, and started the initial online residency today.

    They're financially stable, and the program director is willing to be my chair and said he doesn't plan to go anywhere. I'll have to tighten my first three chapters up a little, but I won't have to redo them. And it's a 20 credit program that's not exactly free, but not that expensive either. And they're rebranding as Manhattanville University this year, so I won't get side-eye from Europeans about the name.

    I did get two good things out of my time at Baker College, though. One is that I have a proposal draft, which I didn't when I got there. The other is that since their program was a DBA, I ended up with 18 doctoral level credits coded as Business Administration, so I'm academically qualified to design and teach business courses.
     
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  19. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Wow! I was concerned after reading the Baker thread, but it looks like you'll be better off in the end. Glad to hear it, and good luck!
     
  20. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    If I have any strength in this world, it's a willingness to pivot. ;)
     
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