Northcentral University vs. Nova Southeastern University

When I went to USF, graduate level credits were only $159.

 

Thanks Andy for a nice post.

I was accepted at Northcentral and have not heard from Nova. So that I could get my decision from Nova and really think about it, I went ahead and delayed my plans to start the doctoral effort and let my admissions expire at NCU, which is simply another $50.00 to get plugged back in.

I took a lucrative offer to move to another firm effective March 1, 2005 so I'll probably start mid year 2005. I agree with all your points above for sure. I really don't draw a direct comparison between NCU and Nova accross the diminsions of quality and utility. Nova's in a different (upper) class entirely due to it's established footprint in academia and long history as a viable university. Being from Florida, Nova has always cut a wide path here.

Again, thanks and I'll keep the group posted on my decision. If I go to NCU, it will be because in my decision vector, I've only assigned the probabilty of teaching full time at about 20% and by then, I'd be 50+.

MW

 

If I had the opportunity, I would have gone to a brick and mortar PhD program, but most require you practially give up your job and go to the campus daily for 3 to 6 years, or until you've at least completed the coursework.

If I had the cash, NSU was a viable option, but NCU worked best for me. 10 years from now (I'm not sure why that is the agreed upon timeframe on this site but OK) the NCU PhD may do me well when looking to be a faculty member at a university, but that's not what I want to do. If you want to get into a university as faculty (and you can afford it), then by all means check out NSU. If you want a cheaper program, maybe you can look into UMUC's DM, which is online, but has residencies in a seminar format.

 

I have worked in academia for over 17 years and have been a member of many hiring boards for faculty and administrative positions in higher ed. If you were going for any other field but academia, I might steeer you toward NCU.

On the one hand...NCU currently has no visible presence among full-time tenure-track faculty at universities. Now, hopefully, this will change in 10 years. The ony way that it will change is for people with NCU doctorates to get jobs and be in the forefront of scholarship (e.g. engage in regular research, publish a lot, present regularly at conferences, get grants and those other things tht draw attention in academia). If you have a great deal of work expereince and your publication and research record is robust, then you would have the best shot with an NCU PhD (and would do a good service for NCU and its grads). This is, perhaps, the strongest scenario for pursuing the NCU doctorate.

On the other hand...Nova Southeastern is one of the largest doctorate granting institutions (in terms of how many doctorates it awards). Nova graduates can be found everywhere. While it is true that there are some academic departments that discriminate against Nova doctorates, the fact remains that the chances of teaching in higher ed are infinitely higher for someone with a Nova DBA than with an NCU PhD.

Having a DBA versus a PhD should not mke a difference in an academic department. I know plenty of professors with DBAs.

Have you considerd other programs besides NSU and NCU? There are a number of other options, including foreign schools.

Anthony Pina
Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University

 

Anthony,

Which other domestic programs do you refer to? Your opinion would be highly valued because you come from academia.

My situation is much like Messagewriter's in that I want to use a doctorate to transition into full time teaching. I have a lot of business experience, and am teaching a management course for the first time at a small, private college in North Carolina.

I am also a single parent, so as much as I would like to go to NSU, I have a hard time seeing how I could be away from home for so many days. I started a few classes at Argosy, but was not completely satisfied. I have been accepted at the UMUC-DM program, and that would require only about 6-8 days a year on campus. How do you feel that degree would be recognized in academia.

Thank you very much.

 

is this post for me?

Thanks for the comments. I ran through a list of school and actually was in a PhD in Economics at Clemson in South Carolina, USA for a year or so. I simply could not afford, form an opportunity cost perspective, to remain in the program. I'm a self-employed real estate developer and do real estate valuation about half my time and have an obscene income potential by academic standards. I'm just planning to retire as an adjunct and really just see the PhD as gravey anyway. From my experience, administrators in real estate really try to get practitioners, so I'm set now to teach as an adjunct with 20 years in the field and an MS in real estate from NYU. The probability that I'd seek a full-time academic job is remote (<25%) I'd estimate.

I agree entirely with your comments and based on my experience in the aforementioned program and all the conferences, grauduate assistantships, etc. that go with it, I'm just having to settle for what reality dictates.

Thanks again.

 

Re: is this post for me?

I need to talk to you messagewriter! This is a bit off topic, but I am looking to get out of education within the next 2 years and head to my wife's hometown of Austin Texas. I'll be able to sell my townhome here and buy practically a 4,000 sf home there outright!

I've been thinking about getting into real estate either working for a company, or myself. I just don't know about the costs/security/salary/investment/freetime/etc. All I know is that there is practically nothing I'd like to do with education anymore.

Any suggestions?? You can send me a message too if you'd like.

 

Good Points

You guys really bring up some very good points, and discussions like this is why I come to this board. I was also reading some of the posts on the forum on the Chronicle of Higher Education, and they have a Nova thread where they brought up some good points. There were some individuals in academia that had been on admissions boards and had stated how when they interviewed a Nova graduate, it was a disaster...yada yada yada. Then someone replied that you will also find PhDs out there that turn out to be disasters. It's not necessarily a result of where they were educated, but a component of who they are as an individual as well. There are even PhD's out there who have absolutely no research skills, even after completing a 4+year research program. I have learned that your program is what you make it. I could easily go to school full time, being that I am single, no kids, fairly young etc...But I must say I thought about the fact that I have been working for years, and do I want to go back to living like a student again. Then once you receive your degree you have to of course go out on the job market. By attending Nova, I can still keep my career, and I will still have a job while looking for a full time teaching job. What if I go to school full time, and dont like it? Then I have to find another job, because of course I am not going to continue getting the fellowships and other financial support if I am not in the program anymore right? Plus I like the fact that I can bring real world experience to my classroom, because I have been there, done that. I like the fact that I can still have a life and not have to worry about struggling while in school because I have to live off fellowships/stipends... Plus my significant other lives in Florida so if I had to take week long classes, I would have no hotel costs whatsoever.
Not to mention, I love teaching and I want to do consulting/teaching/research. But as I have mentioned before I dont necessarily have to teach at Harvard, or Wharton. I'd be happy teaching at a smaller University or College, without all the drama and politics. I remember back in the day when there was a stigma associated with online programs, or taking classes online. Now everybody offers an online MBA.
For those that have completed doctorates, Andy in particular since he went to Nova. Could you suggest some good resources for tackling a dissertation project, and completing the publishing requirement? I have never written anything of that magnitude of course.

 

Good Points

You guys really bring up some very good points, and discussions like this is why I come to this board. I was also reading some of the posts on the forum on the Chronicle of Higher Education, and they have a Nova thread where they brought up some good points. There were some individuals in academia that had been on admissions boards and had stated how when they interviewed a Nova graduate, it was a disaster...yada yada yada. Then someone replied that you will also find PhDs out there that turn out to be disasters. It's not necessarily a result of where they were educated, but a component of who they are as an individual as well. There are even PhD's out there who have absolutely no research skills, even after completing a 4+year research program. I have learned that your program is what you make it. I could easily go to school full time, being that I am single, no kids, fairly young etc...But I must say I thought about the fact that I have been working for years, and do I want to go back to living like a student again. Then once you receive your degree you have to of course go out on the job market. By attending Nova, I can still keep my career, and I will still have a job while looking for a full time teaching job. What if I go to school full time, and dont like it? Then I have to find another job, because of course I am not going to continue getting the fellowships and other financial support if I am not in the program anymore right? Plus I like the fact that I can bring real world experience to my classroom, because I have been there, done that. I like the fact that I can still have a life and not have to worry about struggling while in school because I have to live off fellowships/stipends... Plus my significant other lives in Florida so if I had to take week long classes, I would have no hotel costs whatsoever.
Not to mention, I love teaching and I want to do consulting/teaching/research. But as I have mentioned before I dont necessarily have to teach at Harvard, or Wharton. I'd be happy teaching at a smaller University or College, without all the drama and politics. I remember back in the day when there was a stigma associated with online programs, or taking classes online. Now everybody offers an online MBA.
For those that have completed doctorates, Andy in particular since he went to Nova. Could you suggest some good resources for tackling a dissertation project, and completing the publishing requirement? I have never written anything of that magnitude of course.

 

Good Points

I hope this message doesn't post more than once because I keep getting an error message. So if it does forgive me..

You guys really bring up some very good points, and discussions like this is why I come to this board. I was also reading some of the posts on the forum on the Chronicle of Higher Education, and they have a Nova thread where they brought up some good points. There were some individuals in academia that had been on admissions boards and had stated how when they interviewed a Nova graduate, it was a disaster...yada yada yada. Then someone replied that you will also find PhDs out there that turn out to be disasters. It's not necessarily a result of where they were educated, but a component of who they are as an individual as well. There are even PhD's out there who have absolutely no research skills, even after completing a 4+year research program. I have learned that your program is what you make it. I could easily go to school full time, being that I am single, no kids, fairly young etc...But I must say I thought about the fact that I have been working for years, and do I want to go back to living like a student again. Then once you receive your degree you have to of course go out on the job market. By attending Nova, I can still keep my career, and I will still have a job while looking for a full time teaching job. What if I go to school full time, and dont like it? Then I have to find another job, because of course I am not going to continue getting the fellowships and other financial support if I am not in the program anymore right? Plus I like the fact that I can bring real world experience to my classroom, because I have been there, done that. I like the fact that I can still have a life and not have to worry about struggling while in school because I have to live off fellowships/stipends... Plus my significant other lives in Florida so if I had to take week long classes, I would have no hotel costs whatsoever.
Not to mention, I love teaching and I want to do consulting/teaching/research. But as I have mentioned before I dont necessarily have to teach at Harvard, or Wharton. I'd be happy teaching at a smaller University or College, without all the drama and politics. I remember back in the day when there was a stigma associated with online programs, or taking classes online. Now everybody offers an online MBA.
For those that have completed doctorates, Andy in particular since he went to Nova. Could you suggest some good resources for tackling a dissertation project, and completing the publishing requirement? I have never written anything of that magnitude of course.

 

Re: Re: is this post for me?

Real estate is wide and diverse. Hit the real estate department sites and read about the fields within the industry. PM me if you like and perhaps we can chat on the phone. Ultimatly, you may consider strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in a SWOT analysis. Perhaps taking the Myres Briggs exam would also be helpful.

 

Re: Good Points

I have several suggestions in this regards:

1. Attend academic conferences in your area of interst and see what people are doing - This is a good way to find out what are the major research areas of interest in your discipline. In the NSU DBA program you're required to do this as part of the program. You may find a regional conference nearby that is more accessible than the big name national conferences. I go every yeaar, for example, to MBAA (Midwest Business Adminstration Association) in Chicago. For $95 I can sit in session in all of the major business disciplines.

2. Browse through journals in your area of interest - Again, this will show you what topics are of major interest to your discipline.

3. Attend a quality doctoral program (like NSU!!! ) - At NSU, students are required to publish a peer reviewed paper in order to graduate. Working with peers and faculty this really isn't all that hard. Also, in my NSU classes the faculty pointed us to current literature - reading this gave me some good ideas for a dissertation and for publications.

4. Find a good book or two about disserations - check out Amazon.com. There are several books on how to approach dissertations.

Regards - Andy

 

Cool will check it out...

I will check out Amazon.com. Hey Dr. Borchers, do you know a professor at Kettering by the name of Beverly Jones? She was a colleague of mine when I worked at Mott College. I haven't talked to her in ages, think I will drop her an email. You just made me think about her.

 

Re: Cool will check it out...

Beverly is valued colleague.

Regards - Andy

 

Re: Cool will check it out...

Beverly is a highly valued colleague.

Regards - Andy

 

One thing to remember as you weigh your decision: As a Florida Resident attending a Florida based institution you have quite a bit of grant/fellowship money available to you that you will not have access to if you decide on an out of state institution. Currently, I am making application to Nova for enrollment in their Ph.D in Alternative Dispute Resolution. The program will cost me in excess of $40,000 and three years to complete. I live in Orlando, Florida. Are you aware that Nova has a facility here? Perhaps you might want to find out if any of your required classes are offered here. I believe you would be closer to me than you would be to Fort Lauderdale.

Shay

 

NOVA has a new campus in Orlando. They moved from their old place recently.

 

Comments on status

Thanks to all for your comments.

I applied to Northcetnral and Nova just before the holiday season. NCU admitted me strait away but no word from Nova yet. NCU provides admits only 30 days to accept, so I elected to let NCU's offer expire so I can see what Nova has to say. I'd just have to fill out the application and pay $50.00 more bucks and recycle all the transcripts, etc. I was never planning on starting before March 1, 2005 and regret NCU's 30 day admissions cycle. I always figured I'd just kick in another $50.00 bucks.

For what it's worth, my interface with NCU thus far has been very professional and timely on their part. Their admissions process and curriculum design for me was efficient and well done, in my view.