I was recently a number of questions about the admissions process and academic rigor of my program, the Doctor of Health Education at A.T. Still University. Since I'm at the end of the first term of my program, so I think I'm in a position to answer.
The program does seem to have pretty open admissions, which I noticed when I was in the application process. When I first wanted information from the school, I contacted the director of the Doctor of Health Education program, and in our correspondence she seemed nothing but encouraging. When I submitted my materials it seemed more to satisfy requirements than actually to be evaluated – I never had much of a hint that I'd be denied admission unless I were actually unqualified.
But then I remembered that competitive admissions makes more sense in a classroom setting than it does online. With distance learning, there aren't physical facilities to use up. And when it comes to faculty members, unless the number of applications is truly unmanageable, there's little reason not to keep hiring to accommodate increasing demand.
And while I'm not in a position to have the real numbers here, I really doubt the number of applications for this program have been unmanageable. As a doctoral program, only those with a Master's are qualified to apply, and right there that's a pretty limited pool of prospects. Moreover, its subject matter may be keenly interesting to me, but I realize that it's not the sort of thing that will interest everyone. In other words, I expect that the selection process is done more by the applicants themselves, who hold off if the program isn't a good fit, leaving the school in a position to accommodate the remainder.
But that's just what I think based on having been through the application process and seeing that my classes aren't overloaded and my instructors don't seem to be too harried to give us the attention we need. If someone's concerned about their admissions process, I think that's a perfectly legitimate question to ask the school itself, such as the director of the program.
My peers in the program seem to bear this out as well. The program has a pretty strong emphasis on peer review of the materials that we develop, and while the comments I've received from classmates have run the gamut, many have been insightful and have contributed to my ability to improve the assignments that I submit. Of the three online programs I've taken, I'd rate my classmates in this one as the most accomplished and professionally experienced.
The other question was whether I felt the program was sufficiently academically rigorous. I'm satisfied with the level of difficulty I've had from the two courses I've taken so far.
One is my first Research course, where we covered a lot of ground quickly, including deciding on the problem statement and subproblems of our projects, discussion and selection of various research methods for our projects, recruitment of our two external reviewers, and so forth. Basically this course begins the dissertation process, something that most doctoral students don't do until two years into their programs. Not bad!
The other was the first of two courses the program requires on Finance in Higher Education. I was in pretty good shape in this course, but mainly because I had previous experience in this area. If I hadn't had experience I think I'd have found it pretty challenging, and even as it was it was critically important for me not to fall behind.
One important thing to add on the subject of rigor is that unlike in some programs my instructors at A.T. Still University understand the difference between rigor and inflexibility. When I've asked in advance for an extension it's been granted, but when I've turned in work that I know could have been a little more thorough, I've lost points. And that's the way it should be – in both regards.
Next up, I reflect on the past semester.