South College DBA Program (IT Specialization) - Progress Tracker

[OntheGo]

Well I thank you so much. I wish I could know if you choose Capstone or Dissertation. You made me excited for this journey. Your Amazing Keep up the Good work. I hope to get Excepted in June 2025. I want to move through the courses swiftly so I can dedicate the most of my term to the Capstone or Dissertation.

[bjcheung77]

Well I thank you so much. I wish I could know if you choose Capstone or Dissertation. You made me excited for this journey. Your Amazing Keep up the Good work. I hope to get Excepted in June 2025. I want to move through the courses swiftly so I can dedicate the most of my term to the Capstone or Dissertation.

Just wondering... When did you apply and did you send them all your previous transcripts?

[Pikachu]

This is seperate from the original purpose of this thread, but has anyone graduated from this program? I am still in it and progressing (reached the research course in 2 months), but I have a question. This question is not related to course content or anything that would be against policy to discuss.

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-Completed

[wiresandscreens]

Well I thank you so much. I wish I could know if you choose Capstone or Dissertation. You made me excited for this journey. Your Amazing Keep up the Good work. I hope to get Excepted in June 2025. I want to move through the courses swiftly so I can dedicate the most of my term to the Capstone or Dissertation.

I went with the Capstone route for one specific reason. Although it is a new option, I see some benefits compared to the traditional dissertation.

---

This is seperate from the original purpose of this thread, but has anyone graduated from this program? I am still in it and progressing (reached the research course in 2 months), but I have a question. This question is not related to course content or anything that would be against policy to discuss.

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-Completed

Thanks for the link, unfortunately it does not look like that user is very active. No big deal, I was just hoping to ask a general question so it doesn't affect much.

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Well I thank you so much. I wish I could know if you choose Capstone or Dissertation. You made me excited for this journey. Your Amazing Keep up the Good work. I hope to get Excepted in June 2025. I want to move through the courses swiftly so I can dedicate the most of my term to the Capstone or Dissertation.

Just wondering... When did you apply and did you send them all your previous transcripts?

I can see someone who is using loans needing additional time (forms, financial aid at the college, etc.) but I would be surprised if it took them more than a month to get a new student squared away since they have financial aid department to handle all of that. It took me basically a day to get that all sorted as a self-pay student and I received my start date and login details about 24 hours later.

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I will give another update as it seems things have calmed down in general and some of my original issues have settled down. I am now in the second to last course with only my official capstone coming after this. I was able to complete 10 courses in a 2 month period and am now working on research. I will say that the content of these course has remained tough, especially when hitting the three specialization courses prior to my current research course. I completed a Bachelors and Masters at WGU and will say that the added difficulty comes in the form of higher course loads. At WGU it was not uncommon to write 2-3 papers to pass a class, or write 1 paper in addition to passing a proctored exam. At South, each course has had a minimum of 15 papers, with many requiring 10+ pages of peer-reviewed writing. This alone has taken a great deal of work to push through at a faster pace as it requires sometimes dozens of pages just to satisfy a few assignments out of many in a single course.

With all of that said, by far the most limiting factor for me personally is the grading time. South College has recently increased the length of time they can take to grade assignments in regular courses excluding the last two which I believe have remained the same. I routinely finished all of my course work in a few days or less for a class, and then waited for each assignment to be graded. Some professors would grade multiple assignments as they came in (since they want only 1 assignment submitted at a time) and others would only grade a single assignment within a X day period and then restart the timer where they would not grade your next assignment for another X days. They are following the schools new policy, but it would cause many courses to take 2 weeks to complete even though all of the work was completed.

My current research course assignments have been completed for around a week now, but grading can take longer per assignment. This adds significant time to course completion and I am estimating this specific class can take me a few months to pass even though I am simply waiting for assignments to be graded. I have my personal opinions on this, but to remain factual those are the current policies. I would absolutely be able to complete this degree within the 6 month period if not for longer grading wait times, but I understand this does not affect the vast majority of students in the same way it does myself so I have learned to wait for a grade to come in and then submit my next assignment right after being notified to ensure the "clock" on grading starts again. I keep all of my assignments in my college OneDrive so I can upload them from anywhere for grading (which is often the case).

This research course is detailed on their requirements and I can see how they intend to build these assignments into the framework for the final paper, which in my case is a Capstone. I think it is structured well and requires a great deal of academic research and evidence to support your proposed topic which will help many students who are not as familiar with researching academic topics. Once this is complete that just leaves the Capstone course which I expect to complete early into my second semester.

[tstrick82]

Well I thank you so much. I wish I could know if you choose Capstone or Dissertation. You made me excited for this journey. Your Amazing Keep up the Good work. I hope to get Excepted in June 2025. I want to move through the courses swiftly so I can dedicate the most of my term to the Capstone or Dissertation.

I went with the Capstone route for one specific reason. Although it is a new option, I see some benefits compared to the traditional dissertation.

---

This is seperate from the original purpose of this thread, but has anyone graduated from this program? I am still in it and progressing (reached the research course in 2 months), but I have a question. This question is not related to course content or anything that would be against policy to discuss.

https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-Completed

Thanks for the link, unfortunately it does not look like that user is very active. No big deal, I was just hoping to ask a general question so it doesn't affect much.

---

Well I thank you so much. I wish I could know if you choose Capstone or Dissertation. You made me excited for this journey. Your Amazing Keep up the Good work. I hope to get Excepted in June 2025. I want to move through the courses swiftly so I can dedicate the most of my term to the Capstone or Dissertation.

Just wondering... When did you apply and did you send them all your previous transcripts?

I can see someone who is using loans needing additional time (forms, financial aid at the college, etc.) but I would be surprised if it took them more than a month to get a new student squared away since they have financial aid department to handle all of that. It took me basically a day to get that all sorted as a self-pay student and I received my start date and login details about 24 hours later.

---

I will give another update as it seems things have calmed down in general and some of my original issues have settled down. I am now in the second to last course with only my official capstone coming after this. I was able to complete 10 courses in a 2 month period and am now working on research. I will say that the content of these course has remained tough, especially when hitting the three specialization courses prior to my current research course. I completed a Bachelors and Masters at WGU and will say that the added difficulty comes in the form of higher course loads. At WGU it was not uncommon to write 2-3 papers to pass a class, or write 1 paper in addition to passing a proctored exam. At South, each course has had a minimum of 15 papers, with many requiring 10+ pages of peer-reviewed writing. This alone has taken a great deal of work to push through at a faster pace as it requires sometimes dozens of pages just to satisfy a few assignments out of many in a single course.

With all of that said, by far the most limiting factor for me personally is the grading time. South College has recently increased the length of time they can take to grade assignments in regular courses excluding the last two which I believe have remained the same. I routinely finished all of my course work in a few days or less for a class, and then waited for each assignment to be graded. Some professors would grade multiple assignments as they came in (since they want only 1 assignment submitted at a time) and others would only grade a single assignment within a X day period and then restart the timer where they would not grade your next assignment for another X days. They are following the schools new policy, but it would cause many courses to take 2 weeks to complete even though all of the work was completed.

My current research course assignments have been completed for around a week now, but grading can take longer per assignment. This adds significant time to course completion and I am estimating this specific class can take me a few months to pass even though I am simply waiting for assignments to be graded. I have my personal opinions on this, but to remain factual those are the current policies. I would absolutely be able to complete this degree within the 6 month period if not for longer grading wait times, but I understand this does not affect the vast majority of students in the same way it does myself so I have learned to wait for a grade to come in and then submit my next assignment right after being notified to ensure the "clock" on grading starts again. I keep all of my assignments in my college OneDrive so I can upload them from anywhere for grading (which is often the case).

This research course is detailed on their requirements and I can see how they intend to build these assignments into the framework for the final paper, which in my case is a Capstone. I think it is structured well and requires a great deal of academic research and evidence to support your proposed topic which will help many students who are not as familiar with researching academic topics. Once this is complete that just leaves the Capstone course which I expect to complete early into my second semester.

I really appreciate you updating this as I am strongly considering going the South College Route. I did my bachelors at UMPI and Masters at Walden. I was hoping to complete the doctorate in one year but willing to do 18 months tops. With the new grading policies and such does this seem feasible? I am a bit taken aback at your comment regarding the courseload per course. 15 papers with 10 pages or more each?! YIKES!!!!

[bjcheung77]

I really appreciate you updating this as I am strongly considering going the South College Route. I did my bachelors at UMPI and Masters at Walden. I was hoping to complete the doctorate in one year but willing to do 18 months tops. With the new grading policies and such does this seem feasible? I am a bit taken aback at your comment regarding the courseload per course. 15 papers with 10 pages or more each?! YIKES!!!!

Which UMPI Bachelors and Walden Masters did you complete? Please investigate the Walden PhD in Management Completion program I mentioned for $20K USD, 1.5 years, and ask if they would allow you entry with advanced standing (lesser classes to complete) and if you can transfer some of your Walden Masters credits into the program. One more thing is, ask if they would accept ENEB/UC1 without an external evaluation. If they take classes from ENEB/UC1, I'm going for that....

[turbotortuga]

I really appreciate you updating this as I am strongly considering going the South College Route. I did my bachelors at UMPI and Masters at Walden. I was hoping to complete the doctorate in one year but willing to do 18 months tops. With the new grading policies and such does this seem feasible? I am a bit taken aback at your comment regarding the courseload per course. 15 papers with 10 pages or more each?! YIKES!!!!

I'm currently at South College as well and I can absolutely let you know that with locked assignment submissions and the new grading policy, the fastest you would be able to finish is in 18-24 months (3-4 terms). 18 months may be possible but your professors would have to grade faster than the allowed 72 hours. Often times the professors have gone over the 72 hours and hit 4 days, but that's not every time, but it's super frustrating when it does happen. I'm in my first term but I haven't decided if I will come back after that. They didn't announce the change until my term had already started, so I'm a bit bitter about that. If they had, then I probably wouldn't have started. Each normal course can take almost 2 months to complete if you professor adheres to the 72 hour policy, which was a huge change from the 2-3 weeks (or faster) that it was prior to the change.

If they'd at least allow for multiple submissions (like it was prior), then I'd be less peeved as I could at least keep submitting while I wait for grading. Other than that, I do like the course setup and flexibility as I am active duty and super busy, so my time is limited.

[wiresandscreens]

I really appreciate you updating this as I am strongly considering going the South College Route. I did my bachelors at UMPI and Masters at Walden. I was hoping to complete the doctorate in one year but willing to do 18 months tops. With the new grading policies and such does this seem feasible? I am a bit taken aback at your comment regarding the courseload per course. 15 papers with 10 pages or more each?! YIKES!!!!

I'm currently at South College as well and I can absolutely let you know that with locked assignment submissions and the new grading policy, the fastest you would be able to finish is in 18-24 months (3-4 terms). 18 months may be possible but your professors would have to grade faster than the allowed 72 hours. Often times the professors have gone over the 72 hours and hit 4 days, but that's not every time, but it's super frustrating when it does happen. I'm in my first term but I haven't decided if I will come back after that. They didn't announce the change until my term had already started, so I'm a bit bitter about that. If they had, then I probably wouldn't have started. Each normal course can take almost 2 months to complete if you professor adheres to the 72 hour policy, which was a huge change from the 2-3 weeks (or faster) that it was prior to the change.

If they'd at least allow for multiple submissions (like it was prior), then I'd be less peeved as I could at least keep submitting while I wait for grading. Other than that, I do like the course setup and flexibility as I am active duty and super busy, so my time is limited.

I have found that the changes South College made has led to much less of an ability to accelerate. I am in my research course before my final capstone and I am still waiting on grading. This one course alone will have taken around 3 months even with all of my assignments completed well ahead of schedule. It is a lot of work, but if grading followed WGU standards it would have only taken me around 2 weeks to pass. The final capstone course seems to be the full 6 months due to grading as well but I will have to confirm once I start it towards the end of this month. I am on track to complete the entire degree in 12 months or less, but if the grading was not as long as it is, this could be completed in one term.

[SteveFoerster]

Perhaps someday WGU will offer doctoral programs....

[turbotortuga]

Perhaps someday WGU will offer doctoral programs....

Doubtful. I love WGU, but their mission is to offer degrees that lead to real jobs. Doctorates, for the most part, many times have a zero or negative ROI. I'd love for them to offer a DBA, EdD, or something along those lines, but they'd have to change thier model dramatically to do it effectively.