Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

Wondering if anyone has any exp with online classes? i'm Trying to find an online neuroscience program, to finish getting my doctorate.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

at least find one with a cool sounding or foreign name. maybe one based in Germany.

"I have my doctorate from the Gesundheit Institute..it's in Germany." Nobody will question it.

If you get it from East Souther Northern Central Online School, then it will probably not be quire so impressive.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

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QFT minus the elitist anger

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

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Ya no [censored]. I would hate to think I am going to a doctor that took his classes while sitting in his underwear drinking a beer.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

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QFT minus the elitist anger

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Wait, so you agree with me, but you're going to dismiss my position as elitist? Weird. I'm also not using fraudulent as a random angry word, but as an actual description of what I think of a credential obtained through means that are very different from what is standard.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

yay you'll be as much of a doctor as a podiatrist

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

Can anyone think of a field that is funnier than neuroscience for this post? It has an awesome blend of "not conducive to book learning" and "REALLY REALLY dangerous to have a fake phD in".

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

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QFT minus the elitist anger

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Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

meh, i think op's background /details of the course matter a lot regarding the legitimacy of the program. i know a few people have taken/are taking online masters phd programs. my understanding is that though the bulk of the course work (lectures, discussions, etc.) is done online, these programs do require of in class training. however, most of the programs i've heard of weren't in the sciences.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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Can anyone think of a field that is funnier than neuroscience for this post? It has an awesome blend of "not conducive to book learning" and "REALLY REALLY dangerous to have a fake phD in".

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http://www.pretenderhaven.sandyd.net...enderDVDS2.jpg

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

While a PhD in neuroscience is ridiculous, a lot of you guys are confusing it with neurology or neurosurgery. Not dangerous at all to have a fake PhD in neuroscience, just completely worthless to anyone dumb enough to actually hire you. A ton of the neuroscience program is lab work, so I'm sorta confused about this even being possible.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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While a PhD in neuroscience is ridiculous, a lot of you guys are confusing it with neurology or neurosurgery. Not dangerous at all to have a fake PhD in neuroscience, just completely worthless to anyone dumb enough to actually hire you.

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That is the thing that's occurred to me with all of this as well. Such a Ph.D seems likely to be worthless even if you could get it, because I would imagine just about anybody in the business of hiring Ph.D scientists is going to wonder what exactly it is that you did at the University of Phoenix, and why they have never heard of your advisor.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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...just about anybody in the business of hiring Ph.D scientists is going to wonder what exactly it is that you did at the University of Phoenix, and how much they love that New Pornographers song in UofPhx's commercial.

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Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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...just about anybody in the business of hiring Ph.D scientists is going to wonder what exactly it is that you did at the University of Phoenix, and how much they love that New Pornographers song in UofPhx's commercial.

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I saw them live (I had never heard of them before) and they were terrible.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

paging Mebenhoe

Mebenhoe, please report to this thread

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

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I work in online education for one of the leading honest to goodness real schools that does stuff like this. Very few PHD programs are offered totally online. You're always going to have at least some degree of onsite classwork.

That said, the notion isn't nearly as laughable as you suggest. We're mos def moving in that direction.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

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I work in online education for one of the leading honest to goodness real schools that does stuff like this. Very few PHD programs are offered totally online. You're always going to have at least some degree of onsite classwork.

That said, the notion isn't nearly as laughable as you suggest. We're mos def moving in that direction.

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The problem isn't with the on or off site nature of the coursework. It is that coursework is ancillary to the real point of the Ph.D, which is that it's a research degree. Now I suppose that's possible from afar, for certain fields, but I have a hard time imagining people getting into that. The apprentice system is very ingrained in the scientific culture and I can't imagine many people taking on students in such settings. EDIT: And it is obviously completely impossible for any type of experimental science these days, unless you are an independently wealthy former dot com entrepreneur who has decided to drop a couple million dollars on a personal lab.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

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Ya no [censored]. I would hate to think I am going to a doctor that took his classes while sitting in his underwear drinking a beer.

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I don't see how moving the learning from "the classroom" to home removes its legitimacy, unless understanding of the presented material depends on being surrounded by a couple dozen other hungover students. Theoretically, it shouldn't matter.

That said, I'm judgmental and prejudicial. OP isn't coming anywhere near my brain.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya no [censored]. I would hate to think I am going to a doctor that took his classes while sitting in his underwear drinking a beer.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't see how moving the learning from "the classroom" to home removes its legitimacy, unless understanding of the presented material depends on being surrounded by a couple dozen other hungover students. Theoretically, it shouldn't matter.

That said, I'm judgmental and prejudicial. OP isn't coming anywhere near my brain.

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gump pretty much hit the nail


Perhaps im lacking in creativity, but I really cant imagine someone getting a phd in this subject from home, and not laughing when they look at the degree. This is a lab degree.


My reaction (and I bet others' as well) would be different if it were like english, history, sociology, etc etc.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

My friend earned an online Ph.d in online education. there was about one week a year of live classes. the rest was all on line. he also teaches at the online law school (concord).

If you google a program that you're interested in and nothing comes up, and you search the legit. online school's catalogues and don't find your program, then there's likely to be no such animal.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

A doctorate usually consists of 1-2 years of classes, and then 3-5 years of dissertation work and teaching. But during all this time, the most important things you are doing are networking with people in your field, learning about what are currently the important questions in your areas of interest, absorbing and critiquing as much of your colleagues's work as possible, and establishing a reputation for yourself. I don't see how a person at an online school does these things. For example, do you really think papers written by an online PhD program student are going to be accepted for presentation at major conferences or for publication in the relevant academic journals?

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

is it actually a fake phd? i was attending UT medical, and can no longer make it (health reasons). i already have about 8 years of lab work. i have the dean, and a few other doctors as a referrence. eventually getting a job wont be the problem, continuing my schooling will.

i've done lots of searching via google, i cant find anything on neuroscience.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

Have you tried posting this in SMP? I think one of the mods (RDuke)? is a neuroscientist.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

imagine if you were going in for brain surgery and you found out your doctor got his doctorate online...lol

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

no i havnt, but i'll try that. thank you.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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imagine if you were going in for brain surgery and you found out your doctor got his doctorate online...lol

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yes, that would be bad. i'm all research, is the difference. like i said, i already have eight years exp. i'm already doing what i will be doing after i get my doctorate; i'll just be in charge instead =).

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

I think some people are confusing a PhD in a science discipline with something like economics or history or english. All the latter require "book" research to complete the PhD, which could concievably be done "at home" or in a traditional setting, however all science based post-secondary degrees are 80%+ labwork, with just a small amount of coursework, which need to be completed in a wet lab, consisting of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in scientific equipment.

Such a degree is not feasable to be completed at home, whereas the other degrees could be.

I work in a Scientific research lab at a University (Lung diseases, etc) so this is not heresay, I live this everyday. The neuroscience lab is just down the hall from us, same setup.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

online classes and degrees are very common nowadays, for example i got my license to kill from the internot, its just great. that one guy i know who wanted his doctorate online died a horrible dead though. fortunately that is not your Q.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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[ QUOTE ]
A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

[/ QUOTE ]

I work in online education for one of the leading honest to goodness real schools that does stuff like this. Very few PHD programs are offered totally online. You're always going to have at least some degree of onsite classwork.

That said, the notion isn't nearly as laughable as you suggest. We're mos def moving in that direction.

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There is no way we are moving towards this. Yes online programs are gaining some forms of credibility due to the absolute ignorance of lawmakers. This is almost solely responsible for the the amount such schools are putting into the coffers of politicians.

The truth is unless there is a drastic change on the curriculum and credibility of the vast majority of programs, it will in no way be comparable to traditional forms of degree attainment.

I work in higher education, and while I suppose many of my feelings on this topic can be drawn from the fact that schools such as the one OP is discussing detract from our student base, I just can't see any reasonably well informed person treating a degree like the OP is suggesting as in any way comparable to that attained from a traditional 2 or 4 year college or university.

Yes I know that came off completely elitist, but this mass commercialization of higher education is a bad, bad thing.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

diddy,

You missed my point totally.

Places like Phoenix and other for profit online learning insitutions are not the future.

Places like UW, UCLA, Penn State that all have very good online learning programs right now moving more towards post-graduate programs very much is the future.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

Dids,

I see the difference between what I was discussing and your point. Someone above mentioned that a large percentage/benefit of traditional graduate education was the social networking aspect. Is the lack of this a drawback of such online programs, or have they devised a way to counteract this.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

Diddy,

Every course we offer has a discussion component. Creating a community is something we're really been pushing for.

Like I said, few of our programs are totally online. Most will have students in a classroom setting for a least a few meetings.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

I'm not sure if these programs have been around enough to accumulate data, but I would be interested to see how the job market treats traditional degrees vs. degrees with an online component from the same institution.

I think we have successfully hijacked this thread.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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is it actually a fake phd? i was attending UT medical, and can no longer make it (health reasons). i already have about 8 years of lab work. i have the dean, and a few other doctors as a referrence. eventually getting a job wont be the problem, continuing my schooling will.

i've done lots of searching via google, i cant find anything on neuroscience.

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This is completely reasonable. The classwork is really the least important part of a PhD anyway. Some departments don't even require any classes (MIT Chemistry, for example, though most take about a year of classes). As long as you can pass any requisite exams and, most importantly, do cutting-edge research, you're golden.

Since you already have the research pretty much done, why don't you ask the folks who you did the research for about it? Surely, they're either connected to a university somewhere or have good friends who are. They can probably hook you up with some special program, especially if you end up paying some tuition on your own, which is not the norm for science PhD's.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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I'm not sure if these programs have been around enough to accumulate data, but I would be interested to see how the job market treats traditional degrees vs. degrees with an online component from the same institution.

I think we have successfully hijacked this thread.

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Our programs are officially credited and approved by the UW. (a significant portion of my job is processing our course approvals). The degrees will look just like a regular UW degree. Unless some idiot titles it with "online" in there, nobody knows the difference.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

Just as an FYI

A PhD is not a learning degree or whatever... a PhD program leads to a point where one can perform and advice leading independet reserach. Thinking that one can get there in the comfort of ones bedroom is wrong.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya no [censored]. I would hate to think I am going to a doctor that took his classes while sitting in his underwear drinking a beer.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't see how moving the learning from "the classroom" to home removes its legitimacy, unless understanding of the presented material depends on being surrounded by a couple dozen other hungover students. Theoretically, it shouldn't matter.

That said, I'm judgmental and prejudicial. OP isn't coming anywhere near my brain.

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gump pretty much hit the nail


Perhaps im lacking in creativity, but I really cant imagine someone getting a phd in this subject from home, and not laughing when they look at the degree. This is a lab degree.


My reaction (and I bet others' as well) would be different if it were like english, history, sociology, etc etc.

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I would think an online Phd in the humanities would be relatively worthless also.

From what I understand, success post Phd in the humanities is driven by relationships and prestige. Doesn't seem like the online Phd would offer anything that could help you get a teaching job. Doubtful that the dissertation coming out of an online phd would have much credibility in academia. So not really sure what one would get out it.

-Al

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

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A doctorate gotten solely through online courses would be one of the bigger pieces of [censored] I've ever heard of. Having such a degree would be almost fraudulent.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya no [censored]. I would hate to think I am going to a doctor that took his classes while sitting in his underwear drinking a beer.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't see how moving the learning from "the classroom" to home removes its legitimacy, unless understanding of the presented material depends on being surrounded by a couple dozen other hungover students. Theoretically, it shouldn't matter.

That said, I'm judgmental and prejudicial. OP isn't coming anywhere near my brain.

[/ QUOTE ]


gump pretty much hit the nail


Perhaps im lacking in creativity, but I really cant imagine someone getting a phd in this subject from home, and not laughing when they look at the degree. This is a lab degree.


My reaction (and I bet others' as well) would be different if it were like english, history, sociology, etc etc.

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I would think an online Phd in the humanities would be relatively worthless also.

From what I understand, success post Phd in the humanities is driven by relationships and prestige. Doesn't seem like the online Phd would offer anything that could help you get a teaching job. So not really sure what one would get out it.

-Al

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If you read the OP's later post, he makes it sound like he got sick or something and can't finish off his class work in person. He's done 8 years of research. That's plenty, assuming he got anything done in that time.

Classes are a joke in Science PhD's, anyways.

Re: Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)
 

Sucker - I was referring to humanities, figure you'd know a thing or two about a Science Phd. And does sound like OP is in the unusual position where he has enough research credibility, and a strong network, where he could make an online Phd work.

In broadstrokes, I could see more credibility conferred to an undergrad online program in the future, but I doubt that online Phds (any field) would have much success.

-Al