Pepperdine MA online

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I agree with you! My answer was specifically for Pepperdine’s program since I have had colleagues graduate from there that I don’t mind sending my outpatient-appropriate patients to. They’re not a horrible program by any means if 1) you can stomach the cost, 2) not trying to use it as a ladder to a reputable doctoral program.

I can’t speak for all online masters programs, of course. There are some that I believe provide better options (Northwestern) and some that shouldn’t exist (Capella). But I do think some of the burden should fall on the student to do their due diligence before enrolling.

Online doctoral programs, on the other hand, should never be an option. Call me an elitist if you will, I refuse to budge.

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I agree with you! My answer was specifically for Pepperdine’s program since I have had colleagues graduate from there that I don’t mind sending my outpatient-appropriate patients to. They’re not a horrible program by any means if 1) you can stomach the cost, 2) not trying to use it as a ladder to a reputable doctoral program.

I can’t speak for all online masters programs, of course. There are some that I believe provide better options (Northwestern) and some that shouldn’t exist (Capella). But I do think some of the burden should fall on the student to do their due diligence before enrolling.

Online doctoral programs, on the other hand, should never be an option. Call me an elitist if you will, I refuse to budge.
I hear you. To be fair, there are some people who are just generally more interpersonally-skilled and academically driven, even in programs that aren't strong, although I think that would be the exception rather than the norm, as is often discussed in this forum. And I can't speak to Pepperdine, as I mentioned.

I personally do think it's odd that fully online programs from established brick-and-mortar institutions would be judged as equivalent, though, without employers being privy to this very stark difference.
 
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What makes this situation tough (this applies to most online master’s degree and online doctorates) is that state boards/federal govmt entities don’t crack down on predatory online programs, leaving ill-informed students with the choice. I think that’s a huge mistake because if given the choice, wouldn’t many people take the easy route instead of the more rigorous and hard-to-get-into route (but that ultimately creates better professionals and gatekeeps the folks who don’t actually qualify for advanced training)?

It also leaves psychologists/practitioners in here to strongly advise against it. But online programs are FAR easier to get into generally speaking and can be done while working full time, thus being particularly attractive.

I can’t speak to Pepperdine online specifically, however.

Edit: as a reminder to folks reading these threads, when I was in undergrad, a peer in my research methods course told me they got “pre-approved” for an online master’s in counseling in their last year of college. This student proceeded to conduct an unethical research project (the class knew because the student emailed a survey request to the entire class without IRB approval, then our prof quickly responded and said “this isn’t ethical, don’t respond”) and the student did not understand the research methods at a basic level at all; their end of semester presentation of their research was frankly embarrassing to watch (and showed a very clear lack of understanding of what we’d learned during the semester). Not even sure if the person passed. But this person was going to counsel people and had been pre-accepted to a graduate program!!!!!! That is horrifying. This is why online programs hurt our profession and the public.
It makes sense to be vigilant when it comes to online schools- especially ones that come from a stand alone schools (Argosy, Chicago, etc..). However, I would not put Pepperdine in that category. Their graduate school is well developed for training clinicians (PsyD, MA, MFT..). I am completing their on ground MA program, and for long have known that their online version of the program is as legit. The courses are what's online, however, students still have to report to practicum and other administrative duties.
 
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