Getting my doctorate online (neuroscience)

[XXXNoahXXX]

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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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[marchron]

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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.

[CallMeIshmael]

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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.

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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.

[NickMPK]

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?

[Aloysius]

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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.

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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

[Dids]

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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.

[gumpzilla]

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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.

[Mr.WeakTight]

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.

[diddyeinstein]

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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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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.

[Dids]

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.