Online Ph.D.s and Residencies

Hello, me again!

So when I initially began investigating GCU's Ph.D. in psychology 1.5 years ago, residencies were available but not required. Now that I am revisiting the idea, I am seeing that this might have changed because when I view the degree requirements/course schedule, it looks like there are 2 required in-person residencies.

The reason I am looking at online degrees is that I do not have the option to attend in-person. It would be ideal if I could, but I can't. I am mostly wanting to earn a Ph.D. for personal development reasons and therefore am not expecting a Harvard-level education. Sure, if I would have realized that I wanted this when I was younger, I would have gone the traditional route but again, that just isn't an option for me anymore.

I have not considered any other school and I feel like, if residencies are indeed required at GCU, I now have to begin at square one. I found a very old thread here talking about residency-free Ph.D. programs but clearly things have changed since then. From experience, would anyone here recommend a particular school that has Ph.D. programs but does not require in-person residencies? I think I might be asking for too much. These are some of the things that initially appealed to me about GCU:

-No GRE (I don't think I have the heart to re-take since it has been more than 5 years)
-Regional accreditation
-No group projects
-Reasonably priced
-No required residencies (which seems to have changed)
-Decent reputation, from what I have been able to gather

Any feedback you might be able to give would be very appreciated!

 

P.S. I am not asking anyone to do my homework for me, I am just asking if you might be aware of any programs off the tops of your heads. I don't want to be more of a pain than I already have been lately!

 

Yes, GCU's PhD now has two required residencies. I began the program before this requirement was instituted, so I was able to avoid it. The lack of residency was a big selling point for me at the time I enrolled. If you're looking for a psychology-related doctorate without residency, and you want it from a non-profit uni (and I know you do!), the only one that comes to mind is Touro University Worldwide's PsyD in Human & Organizational Psychology. It's a little more than GCU, but not too much (I think about $42K - 700/credit X60?). Organizational Psychology Graduate Program Online | TUW

There might be some others, but I doubt too many. Good luck.

 

You have always been so nice to help me out. Thank you so much! At this point, I'm actually fine with a for-profit as long as I know they aren't going to do anything shady, which is why I've asked a ridiculous number of questions. It's too bad GCU started requiring the residencies. I do think they're worthwhile, it's just that if you can't be there, you can't be there. Oh well. *sigh.*

Thank you again!

 

Touro

I'm glad you mentioned that.


I was researching an individual who claimed a diploma from there. When I did a light googling of them, all I found was exceptionally negative reviews of the school. This was a year ago, maybe things have changed.

One more keyword to research here, thanks!! :thinkerg:

 

Consider challenging your thinking regarding residencies. They're not hassles; they're extremely valuable for DL doctoral students. They were the best part of my Union PhD. And while they weren't mandatory for my DSocSci at Leicester, I attended several voluntarily. (And flying and staying in the UK ain't cheap.)

Yes, I believe you can do a legitimate doctorate nonresidentially, but it is harder, less rewarding, and carries with it a higher potential for failure.