Online Master's to brick and mortar Phd?

[HospitalDiversionist]

I'm currently working on an online Master's degree and was looking for advice about my chances at getting into a funded, brick and mortar Phd. The Master's I'm completing is from Duquesne, an accredited, high-research b&m school. I'm in the program evaluation track, so it's very stats and research methods intense. The same degree is offered completely on-campus, but since I live and work on the other side of the country, it will be clear that I was an online student.

I will have strong professional references, a high graduate GPA, GRE scores of 161q, 163v, and 4.5w, but I will be coming from an online program without the ability to build strong relationships/references with professors.

Does anybody have a similar success story or feedback?

Thanks,

An Aspirant Candidate

[juilletmercredi]

I think it depends on the field you are attempting to enter and the rest of your qualifications. You won't have built strong relationships with professors to get good references from academic sources, which is crucial for academic PhD programs.

Your profile says you are interested in clinical or counseling psychology - yes? Clinical, particularly, is a very competitive field where people often do 2-3 years of research post-college. And psychology programs in general want academic references, not professional ones - maybe one professional reference would be okay if you do a research-related job that is relevant to the topic you want to study in psych, but that person would need to have a PhD in psychology, and you still need 2 others from professors who have taught you in classes and can comment on your potential for success in a PhD program. One from your master's program would be ideal.

If you are otherwise an outstanding candidate with the requisite background to be competitive for a PhD program in psych, it might not matter so much, particularly if the job you currently work is a research-related one. It's not going to hinder you per se, but it may not help you that much either.