Multiple Degrees Simultaneously

Could you please let me know that is it acceptable / allowed to do two or more degrees simultaneously? Secondly, is it ethical too?

 

Yes, of course you can, and yes, of course it's ethical. Unless you are attempting to use the same credits/courses to satisfy the requirements of two different degrees, why wouldn't this be ok? If you have the time and energy ti work on two degrees at the same time, there is nothing at all wrong with it.

 

I can speak specifically that TESC required me to sign something in my graduation application saying that I wasn't completing a degree at another school or that I had revealed all my transcripts or something of the sort. I filed for graduation probably late 2007 or early 2008, memory is foggy - but maybe someone else here has better recall?

 

... begs the question - what is the foundation for the unethical label when the same knowledge is used in multiple degrees?

After all, if I know how to write at ENG 101 level for my Bachelor X, ENG 101 would still be the same content and knowledge for Bachelor Y. Same with Medieval History, Physics, Calculus, Theoretical Quantum Physics, and so on.

 

The school receives less tuition form you!

 

Yes, there are some schools that specifically state that you can not be enrolled in another school/program simultaneously.

 

... and the funny thing is that there are certain countries where you have a regulation of not getting enrolled in two or more degrees simultaneously. I don't see a reason behind this. In my case, i am planning to move forward with two separate PhD degrees (in separate streams), but a bit confused about the overall consequence.

 

Some schools allow you to do 2 degrees at the same time, others don't. For example, HES don't allow candidates to do another degree elsewhere while doing a degree from them. But other places like ASU and U of Houston allow you to do concurrent degrees and even share credits to satisfy requirements for each side as long as the 2 fields you are studying are not the same.

Also, FAFSA can only be used in 1 school. And you shouldn't try to hide / secretly take a degree behind your school's back if they don't allow. They are able to find out.

:sleepy::sleepy::sleepy:

 

I don't know why such a thing would be prohibited but let me say that I once attempted doing an MA in Humanities/History emphasis through California State University Dominguez Hills while simultaneously pursuing an MA in Military Studies/Civil War Studies at American Military University. It did not end well.

 

Some schools allow you mto do a co-ordinate program. Combined JD/MBA degrees are quite common. The University of Minnesota and the University of North Carolina offer co-ordinate programs leading to both the MD and the PhD in the History of Medicine.

 

In that case, you could use FAFSA for one program and Sallie Mae (or some other private student loans)
for the other.

 

Hmmm... Thank you.

In my mind the question I wrote is begged by the readers of the previous posts. The question I asked was just hanging there, ready to be asked, just begging - ask!

Go figure.

 

I think the question still remains, although no longer begging. I think we can, in general, conclude that these rules have little to do with ethics.

 

The rules themselves may have little to do with ethics but how you abide by those rules may present an ethical dilemma.

If your school makes you pinky swear that you won't pursue another degree elsewhere and you do, you've lied to your school. You may also have given them grounds to deny you graduation or (less likely) revoke a credential after it is awarded.

My employer makes us all sign a form agreeing that they claim all rights to any invention we produce while employed there. They also have a sort of first right of refusal for inventions we produce in our off hours (so if I invent a really cool hat for my appearance on Shark Tank, they will likely pass on it since we don't make hats, cool or otherwise.)

There is nothing unethical about me inventing something in my spare time. However, if I make my really cool hat (the "Neuhat," as it were) and then falsify a bunch of documents to show that it was actually invented PRIOR to my signing that agreement, I think we would all agree I crossed an ethical line.

So the school regulations themselves may have very little to do with ethics. But our response to those regulations might have everything to do with ethics.

 

I am not muddled on agreement breaches.

Why bind students to such agreements? The only reason I read here so far is from Lhosant.

 

Yet, you are muddled on such agreements because you think that the reason matters.

Traffic lights are in place to promote safe driving through intersections without causing a traffic jam. Just the other morning I pulled up to a light at a four way intersection. There were no other cars. There are no cars as far as the eye could see. Could I have turned left on the red light safely? I am very confident that I could. Yet, it would still be illegal. Even if I did it very slowly so as to ensure I was operating my vehicle within the spirit of the traffic code, I could still get a ticket (maybe a cop I couldn't see or, more likely, a traffic camera?)

The idea of simultaneous degrees being prohibited solely because a tuition reduction for the institution doesn't even really make much sense. If I am earning a B.A. in Communication from TESC, how does it deprive TESC of tuition if I simultaneously earn another B.A. at Excelsior? Had it occurred to you that, perhaps, the institution limits you this way to increase the likelihood that you'll actually complete the degree? And, while we're on the subject, what is the utility in earning two degrees simultaneously other than being able to grin at how very clever you were to accomplish such an inconsequential feat? As I have stated elsewhere, you could certainly send a transcript to Excelsior just shy of your graduation from another school and theoretically obtain two identical degrees from two different schools. But what is the point? How exactly does having two identical degrees help you?

But none of that actually matters. The ethical dilemma occurs when you begin to do unethical things. Entering into the agreement and then willingly breaking it is unethical. Even if the school's sole reason for the agreement is to preserve their revenue by agreeing to it, and then subsequently breaking it, you are lying to your institution. Then you are asking them to trust you in all other matters despite your having lied to them.

 

I did it with both school's approval.

 

I once heard a story, allegedly true, of a man who entered West Point where you are required, every year, to sign an agreement to abide by the school rules. Apparently, this is where the famous West Point Honor Code is spelled out. In this agreement it specifies that you may not be/get married. Well this student got married in secret ans every year thereafter he crossed out the part about marriage and then signed the document. He got away with it because no one noticed the redaction. However, at graduation time, all prospective graduates had to sign a single, enlarged version of the agreement. He could not redact this large version and would not sign it without the redaction. He did not graduated from West Point and later, transfered his credits to some other school to get his diploma.

 

Sounds like a completely reasonable thing to have happened. Even if it is apocryphal, I think it makes a very good point. You can disagree with the West Point Honor Code (or parts thereof). You can protest the West Point Honor Code. You can, as this gentleman (allegedly) did redact the portions you disagree with so that you never actually agree to the parts you disagree with and hope it works out. But when you bind yourself to an agreement and then willfully break it you have crossed an ethical line.