Distance Learning at a notable university?

Would it still be looked down upon if I got my masters in psych online but from a state university or my current school? (Nova Southeastern University)

Originally Posted by jonq1987

Would it still be looked down upon if I got my masters in psych online but from a state university or my current school? (Nova Southeastern University)

What doctoral degree do you want? Do you want to get it from a reputable school or from a free standing Psy.D. school? What credentials are you looking to shore up by getting a Masters?

An online degree from any university is not going to be viewed favorably. You should only consider a traditional program (there are many part-time/evening programs) at established universities...not a place like Walden of the University of Phoenix.

Originally Posted by Therapist4Chnge

An online degree from any university is not going to be viewed favorably. You should only consider a traditional program (there are many part-time/evening programs) at established universities...not a place like Walden of the University of Phoenix.

Well my endgame is a PhD in Clinical or Counseling Psych, but I wanted to work full time. And my school (NSU) is very recognized and they offer their psych masters online, you just show up in person for the practicums and exams.

Originally Posted by jonq1987

Well my endgame is a PhD in Clinical or Counseling Psych, but I wanted to work full time. And my school (NSU) is very recognized and they offer their psych masters online, you just show up in person for the practicums and exams.

Another question to ask yourself is, if your endgame is the PhD, why get a masters first at all? Why not go straight for the PhD? You should have concrete reasons to get a masters, preferably ones that cannot be addressed in other manners--volunteering in a clinic or lab, etc. You will be paying for the degree (I highly doubt that Nova provides funding), so what is going to get you?

NOTE: This is even coming from someone who did get a masters first and benefited very much from doing so.

well after looking at myself objectively, I came to the conclusion that I'm not ready to attack the PhD just yet. I feel like a masters first (maybe in LMHC) from Nova or UM (my top choices at the moment) will better prepare me for the profession and I am going to take extra research courses at Nova before graduating as well. As for the PhD, I hope to get into UM as they have exactly the program I am looking for and are well funded according to their program info.

Originally Posted by jonq1987

well after looking at myself objectively, I came to the conclusion that I'm not ready to attack the PhD just yet. I feel like a masters first (maybe in LMHC) from Nova or UM (my top choices at the moment) will better prepare me for the profession and I am going to take extra research courses at Nova before graduating as well. As for the PhD, I hope to get into UM as they have exactly the program I am looking for and are well funded according to their program info.

Some research oriented Ph.D. programs view getting a clinical masters as a negative and they might not let you transfer very much, ensuring you just wasted a pile of money. I'd check with students/faculty at those two programs before you decide.

In my opinion a masters in LMHC is not going to prepare you for the Ph.D. If you're worried about being thrown into a room w/a client, well that moment of freaking out is going to occur no matter what program you're in and then you'll move past it.

Also an opinion, but the academic rigor of some masters programs is actually lower than many undergraduate institutions. Everyone gets As and so many patpats that you actually get lazy. From what I hear of them this is especially the case with online programs.

Originally Posted by jonq1987

Well my endgame is a PhD in Clinical or Counseling Psych, but I wanted to work full time. And my school (NSU) is very recognized and they offer their psych masters online, you just show up in person for the practicums and exams.

To answer your question, reputable Ph.D. programs will not view an online masters more favorably just because it's from an actual non-diploma mill university.

I'm sure it works the same way in the USA but even a distance graduate program (in this case Masters) can not be totally distance/online oriented, it still has to meet requirements of the college of psychologist. Aside from doing course work (which is just like homework), you must organize your practicum by yourself (meeting very strick and specific standards), then you must do a whole summer semester face to face, go to a couple seminars, teleconferencing, etc

In the end, I don't see a difference if the program does what the college expects.

At the same time, I do think it's normal for a phd program to consider where you got that Masters because these "dimploma mill" Uni's are really annoying and do often have low standards.

Originally Posted by roubs

To answer your question, reputable Ph.D. programs will not view an online masters more favorably just because it's from an actual non-diploma mill university.

Originally Posted by psych844

Aside from doing course work (which is just like homework), you must organize your practicum by yourself (meeting very strick and specific standards), then you must do a whole summer semester face to face, go to a couple seminars, teleconferencing, etc

In the end, I don't see a difference if the program does what the college expects.

Well, one difference would be that a traditional program can place students in appropriate practica and then they often have direct supervision of what happens during that training. An online program is essentially farming out this large portion of training, and they have no control over what type of setting the student goes to or how good of training they get while there.

I know that when you look at the transcript of some online programs at reputable universities, it will not say anywhere that it was an online program. This may be worth looking into. I do agree with others on here; an online degree will probably be looked down upon by PhD programs. Personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal (as long as the program is meeting the requirements of the university) and I applaud you for wanting to work full time. But, then again, I'm no admissions committee.

It might also help to ask if graduates from this program went on to apply to PhD programs and how that worked out.

Originally Posted by jonq1987

Well my endgame is a PhD in Clinical or Counseling Psych, but I wanted to work full time. And my school (NSU) is very recognized and they offer their psych masters online, you just show up in person for the practicums and exams.

Could you pleae name some part-time/ eve programs please, since I don't know of any such programs. Thanks.