How is your DL degree working out for you?

I just graduated from Ashford University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. I planned on applying for admission into a graduate program at a local university, but Ashford called me today and told me some good things. As a military vet, I would still qualify for one year of Post 911 GI Bill at 50% rate (I would get 50% of the highest allowable rate per class in Iowa, which is $1100...so the VA would pay $550 per course for a year even though I've used up all of my Montgomery GI benefits). I would also qualify for the Military grant, which is free books and waived enrollment and technology fees (about $4k for books and fees). And as an alumni of Ashford, I would have my first course waived and the 4th class would be free. So, I would be able get my MBA for roughly $10k (I haven't done all the math).

Even though Ashford is RA, I thought a graduate degree from a local, B&M school would get rid of any hesitations from a potential employer (who may still have doubts about an online degree). But this is a great deal that I have to seriously consider.

So, I'm wondering if some of you can share your success stories with your DL degrees. Did your DL degree help you get a promotion or new job? Were you ever turned down because of your DL degree?

Thanks!

(I should note that I'm looking for a complete career change...I'm a salesman right now but I'd like to find some government work in DC since I live in northern VA).

 

I earned my teaching credential and my master's degree online, got a teaching job and never faced any discrimination against the fact that it was earned online.

 

Government jobs are not known to discriminate against degrees earned via DL including non-RA degrees or NA degrees. I doubt if a degree from Ashford University would face the types of discrimination that degrees from internet-only schools with no physical campus face, anyway. If you ask me, I think you have a very good offer from Ashford. If you are looking for a degree that they offer, it can't get any better than that. You should snap the offer!

 

Never had a problem...even with silly names like Touro University International.

 

Now you bring up an interesting point - How would my Touro University International degree be viewed? When I graduated it was part of Touro College (a known/respected B&M school in NY) which is private / non-profit with a law school and a med school. I graduated in 2004 and the online division was sold off in 2007. So, how would my Touro University International be viewed in your opinion? Could any other non-profit / private face the same future that has a B&M campus and an online division?

 

I earned my BS and MAT in nontraditional ways that included distance learning, but they were not considered "online" and the BS was from a SUNY college and the MAT was from a private B & M Catholic College. Nobody has ever questioned these and I don't expect them to. I earned my Ph.D. from NCU. I was immediately hired at a B & M State University after earning my Ph.D. I went to two interviews after earning my doctorate (the other at a community college). I am quite sure I would have been offered work as an adjunct at the community college, but I (obviously) took the other job as an Assistant Professor, and told the CC to take me off from their list. During my interviews, I was not asked anything about NCU and the topic of "online" never came up. Both did recognize that I had a doctorate though I don't think I would have needed it for the CC position, it was made clear that only those with a Doctorate should apply for the position that I did end up taking.

 

I love this. So many are bashing NCU degrees and you have proven them wrong by landing a great job directly by having a doctorate from NCU. That's awesome.

May I ask how long ago this was?

 

Interesting, most people on here believe that you cannot get a position at a B&M school with an online doctorate. What department in the college were you hired into? Is this a tenure track position? Were you hired as a direct result of your PhD from NCU or is it possible for someone to be hired on with only a BA, MA in your profession.

Maybe this gives hope to those enrolled in the doctorate program at Northcentral.

 

The degree was conferred on August 23rd, 2010. My first day at work at the University was August 31st.

I was just curious right now so I looked up the Dissertation of one who was hired at the same university, at the same time as me. She also earned her Ph.D. in summer '10, but from a traditional University, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. I am not saying her dissertation is bad and in fact it is quite interesting but I am 100% positive it never would have passed NCU's requirements. It was too short, the lit. review was far too short and I found some formatting errors (like not indenting a new paragraph in at least one case).

I am extremely proud of my NCU Ph.D. While the University may have issues, their requirements are extremely high and anybody who gets through (like Randell and I) should be extremely proud and you will NEVER hear me apologizing about my choice of University.

 

I hope all of the NCU detractors read this. It supports what I have been saying for a year; the student support at NCU is pretty bad, but the academics are solid. A degree from NCU is something to be proud of, even more so because they make it difficult to get through.

 

The job that I was hired for required a Ph.D. because I needed to be qualified to teach graduate classes. It was in the education department. This term, I am supervising student teachers (which means a lot of driving!) It is not a tenure track position but the way it works is that they encourage you to "apply" for tenure positions as they come available. And those who interviewed me initially are very positive and always encouraging me to go for tenure.

I have learned what is expected if you want to go for tenure, and it is up to me whether I want to pursue it (I have not decided yet).

When you ask was I hired "because of my NCU Ph.D" the answer is that I don't think they paid much attention to where the Ph.D. was from as long at it was regionally accredited, but a regionally accredited Ph.D. was required for the position. I believe the most significant reason that I was hired beyond the fact that I met the basic stated requirements for the position, was my diverse and extensive experience in the field of education.

 

I have never have any problem with my Bachelor of Science from Troy University, which I earn completely online. In fact, I have never been to the state of Alabama. My first Master was 70% distance learning from Southern Methodist University. I am getting my second Master from Georgetown University, which will be done by December 2011.

Frankly, I do not recommend to have multiple degrees from the same institution. I can easily to take 6 more courses to earn a second Master degree at Southern Methodist University, but I choose not to. Unless you attend top 10 schools for everything (i.e: Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Stanford University, and etc.)

Have you thought about Georgetown University? If you're eligible for 100% of Post 9/11 GI Bill, the school pays 50% and VA pays 50%. So far, I pay zero out of my pocket except parking fees.

 

I'm hardly an NCU detractor but the things she brings up about her colleagues dissertation are pretty threadbare and borderline ridiculous. Is she reading the original document? How does she know the paragraph indenting is not a formatting error caused by software?

I would think that stuffy academics would frown upon berating someones work on an internet forum. What does it say about your own school when your only defense of it is to actually search out and look for mistakes in another person's work from a different school? Lame.

The literature review is too short? Really? Who says? What subject is this persons dissertation? John Nash earned his doctorate with a 23-28 page dissertation. Is that too short? He hand wrote his thesis and had what, like two or three references? I'm sure his would not pass muster with the NCU committee either, right?

Sue is happy with her doctorate and that is the crux of the message. Are you happy with your DL degree? I think some of the criticisms of NCU are warranted and some is probably a little bit of the crowd sensing blood and moving in for the kill.

The real question is will you be happy with your PhD from NCU and does it lessen the degree in that you have to defend it? (My opinion: Yes, its bad if you have to defend your school).

 

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Another part of the deal that I forgot to mention was the time it would take me to get my master's (18 months).

I'm weighing pros and cons for both schools right now. The application process for George Mason (the only school in the area I could probably afford) is obviously more strenuous, but would probably be worth it in the long run. I have several friends that graduated from GMU with their master's and all of them told me the workload was a joke; they've all shared stories of people who never showed up to class, took the mandatory exams, barely passed those, but were given B's because the teachers didn't want to have students getting anything lower than a B (because of pressure from the superiors). I would obviously work hard, but from the sound of it, I would be doing much more work at Ashford (and I can attest to this a little as there was a lot of work to do in the bachelor's program). And going to a B&M would probably help me more in the long run, especially for the reasons SteveFoerester pointed out.

Ashford does have a lot going for it too: in addition to my original perks, I can wrap up my master's in 18 months. It would be substantially cheaper for me (roughly $10k in savings), and I could do everything from home.

I'm leaning towards GMU but the offer from Ashford is sweet.

 

Sue's comment was, "I am not saying her dissertation is bad and in fact it is quite interesting but I am 100% positive it never would have passed NCU's requirements. It was too short, the lit. review was far too short and I found some formatting errors (like not indenting a new paragraph in at least one case)." This is hardly berating (defined as: To rebuke or scold angrily and at length). The NCU guidelines for the lit review is a minimum of 40 pages. Do you really see this as, "...have to put down another school in order to show how our degree is good."?

By the way, isn't this always about comparisons? Capella is better then NCU because it has a residency...Union is better then Capella because it is non-profit...blah, blah, blah. Take a breath, relax, and try not to read into things.

 

Wow, I'm sorry I wrote that! It was not my intent to put down any other school or my colleague. I was just comparing some of the requirements that I know NCU has (which includes length of Lit. Review, etc.) I fully admit that the length of the lit review is not an absolute sign that one dissertation is of higher quality than another. I was stating what I saw as a fact. And you could be right about the formatting being a software issue. NCU does have high standards though.

My colleague's lit. review was 13 pages. Does that make it bad or inferior? No, but it would not meet NCU's "rules." That is a fact, not a judgment one way or the other.

Princeton's requirements for earning a doctorate have changed dramatically since Nash earned his. Just because those requirements have changed, this does not mean his work was bad or inferior. Obviously, Nash was a brilliant man. He still has an office at Princeton and I have met him in person.

 

As part of my own doctoral studies, we once were required to read a dissertation by an EdD graduate from University of Florida. I was surprised that the whole document, including the lit review, was only 168 pages. Moreover, the sample size was considerably smaller than I would expect from this level of research. It was a good work, it just seemed to be a little light. I can tell you right now that it would have never flown at NCU. So you assertion is not ridiculous. I think a few dissertations are so spot on that they can get away without all of the girth.

At NCU they are struggling against the recent criticism of their doctoral approvals and have become more stringent, maybe too much so.

 

I got my MPA online and I've never had any problems. I easily made the transition from state govt to federal with my MPA with no questions asked.