On line Doctoral Degrees

Trying to decide whether on line doctoral degrees should figure into your plan?  Here’s my story.

When I went “shopping” for doctoral programs I was overwhelmed.  I mean, at one point I serious thought, “If just deciding on a program is taking this much research, what’s it going to be like actually enrolling in one?!” And then, of course, when I realized there were on line doctoral degrees I could choose from too… well.  Let’s just say I basically started all over!

But you know, that kind of… well, my mom would say obsessiveness, but I like to call it “attention to detail” is what makes me a good candidate for studying for my doctorate in the first place.  And I did enroll, and am just finishing up my dissertation.  So how did I choose which type of program I wanted?

At first I was leaning away from on line doctoral degrees.  The main reason?  I just wasn’t sure how well they’d stack up in terms of quality education and so on.  But once I did some checking into accreditation, that put my mind at ease.  Not to mention that I had a lot more choices of schools, which meant more choices for potential advisors.

In the end there were two things that sealed my decision to go with on line doctoral degrees vs. traditional campus programs.  The first–I found a school with an absolutely stellar faculty in my field.  And the second?  Well, I had a pretty decent career going already.  I knew I’d have to commit a ton of time to study and research, but I wasn’t willing to just drop off the face of the job market and immerse myself in a teaching fellowship.  On line doctoral degrees offered me some different–and for me, better–options in that regard.