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What You Need to Know About Earning Your Online PhD

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Earning your PhD fully online might seem too good to be true. It’s almost unheard of, right? Most universities don’t offer PhD’s online. Others require you to come to campus for some portion of your PhD.

So, when you hear that a university if offering a PhD “fully online,” what does that really mean? Is it the same degree you’ll earn on a campus? What about your residency and dissertation? Is a PhD really ever completely online?

What you should first check into when looking for a fully online PhD is that the degree is coming from an accredited university. You want to make sure that your degree will prepare you for the career path you’re wanting to take!

The next thing that you should expect from your fully online PhD is to never have to come to campus. All of your courses and dissertation should be done online; you should even have the ability to do a virtual residency! There really should never be a reason for you to have to drive or fly to your university’s campus.

Wanting to obtain your degree online means that you have other responsibilities or obstacles that are keeping you from traveling to a physical campus every day. Your online degree should be able to be earned from anywhere, at anytime!

Here at Southern Miss our fully online Nursing Leadership PhD is a groundbreaking new program designed to prepare today’s busy nurses for research, academic careers, and leadership roles in universities and health organizations all from the comfort of their own home. It can also be earned in as few as 48 credit hours!

So, what should you expect from a “fully online PhD?” You should expect transparency in knowing that you truly can complete the degree 100% online, expect easy communication from the professors and other colleagues you’ll be in class with, and expect credibility in the university your wanting to earn your degree from.


Office of Online Learning

All blog posts are written and maintained by the Office of Online Learning at The University of Southern Mississippi. We provide support to online students, to faculty teaching online courses, and to units seeking to develop, grow, or improve online programs at the University.

For more information, email us at online@usm.edu.