So a little background... I am a Captain in the US Army with a BS in History. During college I worked full time, went to school full time, as well as went through a commissioning program. Because of my very busy schedule I didn't have the time required for the language requirement for a BA, hence the BS.
I am now looking to start pursuing my Master's and would like to complete it before I retire in 5 years. My preference would be a traditional class environment, but between deployments and moving duty stations every 2-3 years that isn't realistic or feasible. I've looked at some online programs and have been surprised to see that more large Universities are starting to offer online degrees. This obviously would be a much more realistic option for me. My only concern is that later, when I start to look at pursuing my PhD, whether an online Master's would be accepted or frowned upon. I obviously don't want to waste my time or money. Does anyone have any insight? Can anyone verify that on online Master's won't be a waste of my time?
Thank you.
If you are interested in pursuing a PhD, then I suggest that you first think through what it takes to gain admission to a PhD program that meets your ambition, and then think about what kind of MS program you can pursue that meet your constraints. As /u/EyeStache pointed out, there are obvious advantages to attending an MS program in-person, there are less obvious ones. For example, you meet your instructors in person, such that they can give you further guidance in your academic pursuit and help you with admissions to a PhD program. This usually involves letters of recommendation, and if you meet your academic advisors and instructors in person you are likely to get stronger letters.
I wish you the best, /u/amadeus76 , that's really awesome for you think of your academic pursuit after your retirement from the military.
Cheers!
You you should post to /r/AskAcademia. We handle these questions all the time.
So I'll start with some general advice- MAs do not inherently help your chances of admission to PhD programs, they only do so indirectly by giving you a chance to improve your work. I've known many people to go to a physical MA and found it a waste.
In some cases they can hurt (some old guard still have the opinion that an ma indicates you weren't and aren't good enough for PhD- though this is becoming much more rare.)
I generally recommend against graduate study in the humanities unless you can get a funded position, the money just doesn't make sense, but perhaps your service makes it more affordable.
On the idea of an online master's, I'd caution against it. On top of the reasons you've already heard here, you have to consider research possibilities without access to a good library.
Also, there's a real possibility that an online master will be looked down upon (this is less true for other fields, my s.o. Has an online master's in nursing and is doing very well). I'd recommend contacting the admission faculty in some target universities and just outright ask them.
It may be helpful if you gave some examples of programs you are considering.
You need to look at admissions requirements for potential PhD programs you might pursue, but in general, what's required will be a Master's degree or higher from a regionally accredited university.
As long as the university where you're attending is regionally accredited, you should be good. Note that schools like University of Phoenix are regionally accredited, just like schools like Northwestern and the Ohio State University.
This doesn't necessarily mean it's a good school, just that they've met the minimum requirements to maintain their accreditation.
Also, worth noting is that most schools that offer campus classes as well as online classes do not distinguish on their degrees (or usually their transcripts) whether the degree was completed online or not. An online Master's degree from Purdue looks just like a campus Master's degree from Purdue.
edit : Source : Graduate school admissions advisor for 8 years.