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[Ph.D Wannabe]

 More input please... see the posts below.


I am an American living in Japan looking to earn my Ph.D. Long story short I am curious how a the Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Phoenix which is offered online would be received by the IOP community and potential employers. Before I go ahead with the program I want to be confident it will be respected. Follow this link to program details.

Thank you

[Ph.D Wannabe]

 Could someone please give me some advice on this?

[Spector]

You might ask UP to provide information about placement. The bricks and mortar programs can provide such information, and often list it on their websites. You might ask UP for some names of graduates who could comment on how easy/difficult it was for them to find a job. I don't know if they will consider the contact information confidential or not. I suspect the answer to your question might depend on what sort of job you are looking for. Maybe you should ask potential employers about that.

[Ph.D Wannabe]

 Spector,

 Well I was hoping that someone here might be a potential employer or hold the expertise to be able to answer my question. The program is very new and there is no graduates yet. 

[Rodger]

PhD Wannabe,

I work for the University of Phoenix and I am in a PhD I/O Psychology program with Northcentral University. 

In reality, unless you are looking to go into traditional higher education and compete for a tenured professorship at a big name university, you will do fine with the I/O degree offered at the University of Phoenix.  Most private for-profit schools have a good reputation in the working community, but not in the academic community.  However, that tide is changing.

I am part of an academic/practitioner community, the International Leadership Association (ILA).  I was selected as the Chair of the Scholarship Member Interest Group (MIG) for 2008-2009 (term ending December 2009).  Both practitioners and scholars seem to accept my University of Phoenix credentials (I have two Masters from the University of Phoenix).  Also, the second Masters degree was online and my PhD program is online.  This fact did not hinder me in the slightest.

The University of Phoenix has a solid reputation with plenty of detractors, similar to Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Duke, Drexel, Berkley, Yale, etc.  I'm not putting the University in the same league...however, all of the schools mentioned in this post are involved in online education.  Cornell has an online Masters, so does Drexel. 

Specifically to I/O Psychology, I have connected with some who look down on online and others who are ambivalent.  "To most the traditional mode is fine, why mess with it?  A new learning mode [such as online] will need to be around a while longer to be accepted fully (according to one professor's comment)."  However, the only academics I have found who seem to 'love' the online mode, and give preferential treatment to online students in the workplace are those who are or have been students of online learning...a list which continually grows each year.

[Sara Russell]

Ph.D Wannabe,

I echo Dr. Spector's and Rodger's thoughts. I have experienced both brick and mortar (completed all doctoral coursework) and NCU's online doctoral program. For me personally, I have found the online program to be much more rigorous and organized than the brick and mortar program I experienced.

Again, the answer to your question really depends on whether you wish to pursue academic or applied positions. If you want to go into academia at a brick and mortar university I would suggest that you pursue your degree at a brick and mortar school.

In my own career, I have not experienced being held back or looked down on because I am pursuing my degree at NCU.

Good luck and provide us updates on your decision and experiences!

Sara

[KHum]

Did you apply? Are you enrolled yet. I would love some feedback as I too am interested in continuous learning and it seems as if now might be the time for me to start. I have just started my research so anything you can share would be great. How widespread are the accredidation fears?

Thanks

[paul1986]

I was interested in the PhD program at University of Phoenix.  I contacted their office and received some valuable information regarding the program.  The total cost was $75K for the combined Master/PhD in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology. This amount is only for the tuition. It does not account for your books or any symposiums you would need to attend. The books are on-line and are in PDF format.  You are not allowed to download the PDFs. If you want to purchase the books you can, but that would be an additional expense.
This is a new program and no one has graduated from it. Intel does not support University of Phoenix. Should one of their employees want to attend, Intel does not acknowledge the classes or reimburse for their time. For me that is a big issue: my area of expertise is information technology and I/O psychology.

As far as the on-line vs. brick and mortar, here are my thoughts.  If you already have experience in the field, then on-line is a great way to go.

If you want to become a PhD faculty at a brick and mortar facility, this is not the way to go. My reasoning is that you need to be a part of a live political environment where you can learn the educational politics. You don't get this on-line. 

Just my thoughts and experience.

[blackRose18]

Why we not allowed to download the PDFs?


_________________
Crawl Space Dehumidifier

[tjcoleman]

I obtained by my undergrad and Masters degree on line with the Univeristy of Phoenix and I was able to download the PDF's to print out and read - i never experienced any problem with them.  I am now in the process of enrolling for the PhD I/O and am scheduled to start July 7.  The programs with Phoenix I have found both challenging and rewarding - the flexibility was just what I needed to allow me to work and pursue my educational goals.  I'm looking forward to beginning the PhD program with UOP and obtaining my 3rd degree with them.

[Rodger]

Paul1986 stated, "You are not allowed to download the PDFs."  Actually, yes you can.  I have several in my computer, but they are locked.  Only faculty, students and Alumni can open them.

Pauls1986 also stated, "Intel does not support University of Phoenix. Should one of their employees want to attend, Intel does not acknowledge the classes or reimburse for their time."  You are correct that Intel no longer reimburses tuition for the University of Phoenix, but it does acknowledge the school.  It can't deny a person's degree from the University of Phoenix.  In fact, while it was contracted to reimburse tuition several hundred Intel employees have graduated with University of Phoenix degrees...many of whom still work there.  The decision to discontinue reimbursement was both a strategic and a financial decision.  Intel needed to focus its education dollars on degrees that provided more technical expertise.

Good luck finding an I/O program you are comfortable with.  I am at Northcentral University and love it!

Rodger

[kioyui]

i currently attend university of phoenix bachelor of science psychology program, central valley. i do have access to download any and all my online books. im going on my second year at uop and i can honestly say that teachers and staff are excellent, they are very helpful, tho the enrollment counselors i have to say were of not of such high caliber. i was told as like many of other students that financial aid would cover tuition and that i would not have to pay for anything, this is definitely not true, you receive a pal grant and the student loans, they got away with saying its free with the assumption that the student will apply for a cal grant and will receive it. other than that uop has treated me great and has really worked with me and my demanding schedule.

[fatbikez]

Pdf's would help if they let us download it