Distance Education PhD Programs: Pros and Cons

The academic world is abuzz with the new options for higher education schooling over the internet.  Suddenly getting bachelor’s, masters, and even doctorates has become more accessible for potential students everywhere.  But distance education PhD programs have been both the biggest surprise and made the biggest difference in the number of students who are able to enroll.

Because PhD study is, by nature, highly specialized, finding a program that suits your particular interests can be challenging.  If you weren’t able to pick up and move to enter a doctoral program, it used to mean that you had to kiss your dreams of having a PhD goodbye.

That’s no longer the case. The internet has shrunk the world, in its way, and whether a program is 5 miles or five hundred miles away makes very little difference.  But there are some drawbacks to distance education PhD programs, and those who are eager to take advantage of the new option should consider every aspect.

First, just because you’re not living on campus doesn’t mean your PhD program isn’t going to take over your life!  That’s the way it works.  Whether on campus or online, PhD study is intense and absorbing.  Many students who apply for distance education PhD programs believe that they’re somehow “easier” than getting their PhD trhough an on-campus program.

This is rarely if ever the case.  Accredited distance education PhD programs are working hard to ensure that their graduates are taken seriously as holders of PhDs–that means they are not interested in cutting any slack.  For online PhD programs to gain the same reputability that their on-campus counterparts enjoy, they have to be just as challenging and just as in depth.

Also, making the transition to PhD study from graduate school is hard enough.  The shift from classroom based learning to research is difficult; students who do so on their own must work even harder.