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Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - ashkir - 08-24-2021

Hello all,

I'm looking to make my next step into the doctorate program. I'm strongly considering Cumberlands PhD in Leadership or VUL's Doctor of Healthcare Administration. I want a doctorate in the field of leadership or organizational theory. I don't want to be too focused on the engineering or mathematical concepts. 

For the amount of writing: ideally less than 20 pages a week in essays. (Less is better). And final assignments that aren't ridiculous. 

In my current masters, I had to write 200 pages worth of essays for a single class. I don't want a repeat of that. 

My location is California. Not a military veteran.

BA and MA is from University of Maine at Presque Isle, Business Management and Leadership topics.


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - SteveFoerster - 08-24-2021

I was going to say that things shouldn't be too easy if they're going to be meaningful, but wow, 200 pages for a single class really does sound like a lot, even in grad school.

My experience at Cumberlands was within your parameters for writing. But you won't get out of there with a doctorate without being able to use quantitative research methods, i.e., statistics. (That's hardly unreasonable, though.)


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - ashkir - 08-24-2021

(08-24-2021, 04:08 PM)SteveFoerster Wrote: I was going to say that things shouldn't be too easy if they're going to be meaningful, but wow, 200 pages for a single class really does sound like a lot, even in grad school.

My experience at Cumberlands was within your parameters for writing. But you won't get out of there with a doctorate without being able to use quantitative research methods, i.e., statistics. (That's hardly unreasonable, though.)

I don't mind basic quantitative research (like statistics, taking a survey and analyzing it, etc). I just don't want to end up doing Calculus again rofl.
Thank you!

At Cumberlands how much "Homework" did you have on a given week for example? Also, did you take the Comps? How were they?


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - sanantone - 08-24-2021

Online programs often require discussion posts that one wouldn't have in a ground program. Still, most schools, especially more traditional ones, don't require that much writing each week. In my doctoral program, there were weeks when I didn't write anything, or I only had to write two pages. We had small classes, so everyone participated in the discussions about the readings. There was a lot of reading.

It's probably wrong, but my theory is that, the more insubstantial the subject is, the more busy work there will be.


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - bjcheung77 - 08-24-2021

With all that knowledge and writing you've completed, that reminds me so much of another user from the other sister board. I would recommend a different approach to getting a doctorate. You might want to consider doing a "DBA, DProf, or a PhD by research" Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-Regulated-Qualifications-UK?


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - ashkir - 08-24-2021

(08-24-2021, 04:39 PM)sanantone Wrote: Online programs often require discussion posts that one wouldn't have in a ground program. Still, most schools, especially more traditional ones, don't require that much writing each week. In my doctoral program, there were weeks when I didn't write anything, or I only had to write two pages. We had small classes, so everyone participated in the discussions about the readings. There was a lot of reading.

It's probably wrong, but my theory is that, the more insubstantial the subject is, the more busy work there will be.
Thank you! I don't mind discussion posts. I actually really enjoyed this at a community college I went to. Big Grin It's really nice to discuss things with others if it remains intellectual.

(08-24-2021, 04:43 PM)bjcheung77 Wrote: With all that knowledge and writing you've completed, that reminds me so much of another user from the other sister board. I would recommend a different approach to getting a doctorate. You might want to consider doing a "DBA, DProf, or a PhD by research" Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-Regulated-Qualifications-UK?
Hmm. That's interesting. I could probably polish off all these different essays I wrote, anonymize some confidential data (for private company analysis) and publish them as research papers? I'm intrigued.


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - Sagan - 08-24-2021

Before jumping ahead to which program, perhaps it would be a good idea to pause and think about what you want to accomplish in the program and what you want the degree to do for you once you graduate. Answers to these will better inform your choice of school and program.


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - SteveFoerster - 08-24-2021

(08-24-2021, 05:00 PM)ashkir Wrote: Hmm. That's interesting. I could probably polish off all these different essays I wrote, anonymize some confidential data (for private company analysis) and publish them as research papers? I'm intrigued.

Is anything in life ever that easy? You need a corpus of papers published in scholarly journals, not just a bunch of writing sitting in the proverbial drawer. That's a long, drawn out, uncertain process.

As for your question about Cumberlands, usually not more than an average of five pages per week. You need to show you know what you're talking about, but they're not focused on stratospheric word count. (Although I only took one course at a time, many take two.)


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - Sagan - 08-25-2021

(08-24-2021, 11:03 PM)SteveFoerster Wrote:
(08-24-2021, 05:00 PM)ashkir Wrote: Hmm. That's interesting. I could probably polish off all these different essays I wrote, anonymize some confidential data (for private company analysis) and publish them as research papers? I'm intrigued.

Is anything in life ever that easy? You need a corpus of papers published in scholarly journals, not just a bunch of writing sitting in the proverbial drawer. That's a long, drawn out, uncertain process.

As for your question about Cumberlands, usually not more than an average of five pages per week. You need to show you know what you're talking about, but they're not focused on stratospheric word count. (Although I only took one course at a time, many take two.)

I would hope not. In fact, it is likely they're more interested in an economical use of verbiage. Some schools even provide word limits, like 5K for a paper, 50K for a thesis, etc.


RE: Doctorates that aren't ridiculously writing heavy - ashkir - 08-25-2021

It's intriguing how schools vary so much here.

I did contact a CMI provider about the level 8s and it'd cost me around $5000 to do a CMI Level 8 diploma. But, they don't award a DBA, PHD, etc with it. It is about eight classes with CMI.

I may stick iwth VUL even though it is healthcare, because, it does have a lot of administration focus.