WTF - Doctor of Liberal Studies?

[Digetydog]

Just what the world needs, another graduate degree in how to get a job working as a Barista?
Seminars on "How to be Human?"

While it might benefit people (many public school teachers) who get an automatic pay bump with a doctorate, I cannot imagine that this doctorate is likely to lead to a good teaching or research position.

Caveat: I do have to give them credit for pricing it competitively. At $2,682 for a 3 credit course, it is nearly the same price as in-state tuition in my state.


The SMU Doctor of Liberal Studies (DLS) is an unconventional, innovative, evening doctoral degree program for experienced, working professionals who have already earned a master’s degree but crave an opportunity to do and be more.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:
- SMU prestige, resources and faculty
- Innovative doctoral degree, the 3rd of its kind in the world
- Highly selective to maintain a high level of individualized attention from SMU Faculty with the intention of admitting 15-20 highly competitive students per year
- Customizable 45-hour curriculum with 36 hours of traditional graduate coursework plus 9 hours for the doctoral thesis
- Dynamic, experienced cohort of working professionals
- Evening study to accommodate busy work schedules


For a student’s first two years, he/she is required to enroll in the D.L.S. foundational seminars each fall, spring and summer in sequence. These seminars include:

To Be Human, Part One: Perspectives on Our Common Historical Experience
To Be Human, Part Two: The Transformation of the Psyche
To Be Human, Part Three: The Art of Creativity and Expression
To Be Human, Part Four: East Meets West – Intelligence, History, Culture, and Society
To Be Human, Part Five: The Struggle for Human Rights
To Be Human, Part Six: Science and Society

[NavyCrimson]

And someone would actually pay big money for that???!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[malonish]

Good thing because they just opened up a Liberal Studies factory downtown.

[gostangs]

We aren't going to get moved up the academic rankings without more research and without more doctoral degrees being offered here. That's just the game. You decide to play it or you don't, but if we have decided to play it this is the right move for us. Someone has to be a professor of liberal arts! Glad it ain't me.

[Planter's Punch]

Liberal Studies always screams revenue stream to me, they advertise the heck out of the MLS. Looking around apparently Georgetown, one of the first schools to have MLS, created the first DLS. Sounds like a way for the education department to cash in on bored people in UP & HP. Also increases the number of "Doctorates" awarded. Honestly, to me, this detracts from the growing reputation of the other departments in the education school.

Anyone with counter information on Liberal Studies graduate programs, feel free to show otherwise.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Not a fan of all of these new made-up degrees, but I guess that's they way it goes.

[couch 'em]

Expensive degrees with very little upside. Sometimes i wonder where the line between this and for-profit scam schools like devry is

[ponyboy]

Guys, education isn't supposed to be about what's going to get you the next job. Universities have devolved into vocational schools.

Anyway, I'd love to go through a doctorate program in liberal studies. But no way in hades would I submit to that battery of seminars. I'd like to have much greater control over my course of studies and I'd fear indoctrination with seminar titles like that.

[Stallion]

If US News and World Report read this thread and considered it as a fair characterization of an SMU Education then we'd be lucky to finish in the Top 100. We get it-you business guys think you are well educated. You are well trained. There's a big difference which you are demonstrating in this thread.

[BigT3x]

What if I told you that people exist whose preferences don't match your own... and that yours aren't necessarily better...

Mindblowing, I know.

If it was up to some of you, SMU would be a trade school with a football team. If people want a PhD in liberal studies, who are you to denigrate them? You aren't footing the bill.

[Digetydog]

What if I told you that people exist whose preferences don't match your own... and that yours aren't necessarily better...

Mindblowing, I know.

If it was up to some of you, SMU would be a trade school with a football team. If people want a PhD in liberal studies, who are you to denigrate them? You aren't footing the bill.

Using your logic, most of the Meadows School of the Arts is a trade school. The Engineering School = trade school. Simmons = trade school. Dedman College = trade school. In art, business, engineering, & the liberal arts, our academic programs should be about excellence. SMU grads should be prepared to enter the working world as artists, professionals, teachers, or scholars.

Turning out phd's in a fluff program - not a good idea for the school.

[East Coast Mustang]

If SMU can sucker people into shelling out $$$ for this, then more power to them. That student loan bubble just gets bigger by the day.

[RebStang]

If US News and World Report read this thread and considered it as a fair characterization of an SMU Education then we'd be lucky to finish in the Top 100. We get it-you business guys think you are well educated. You are well trained. There's a big difference which you are demonstrating in this thread.

SMU offers plenty of doctoral programs for people who want to pursue terminal degrees in various concentrations of the liberal arts. To me, the idea of a PhD is that it is very focused - a bachelor's degree is fairly broad, a master's degree becomes a bit more focused, and the terminal degree is a true specialization.

This looks a lot more like a terminal degree for professional students who have have run out of lower degrees and still don't actually know what they want to do with their lives.

I'm all for getting a PhD in history. I'm all for getting a PhD in art history. I'm even for PhDs in finance or engineering... I just don't see what gap a program that is essentially a PhD in general studies fills.

[whitwiki]

Would you really place a PhD in history above one in engineering?

[Digetydog]

If US News and World Report read this thread and considered it as a fair characterization of an SMU Education then we'd be lucky to finish in the Top 100. We get it-you business guys think you are well educated. You are well trained. There's a big difference which you are demonstrating in this thread.

SMU offers plenty of doctoral programs for people who want to pursue terminal degrees in various concentrations of the liberal arts. To me, the idea of a PhD is that it is very focused - a bachelor's degree is fairly broad, a master's degree becomes a bit more focused, and the terminal degree is a true specialization.

This looks a lot more like a terminal degree for professional students who have have run out of lower degrees and still don't actually know what they want to do with their lives.

I'm all for getting a PhD in history. I'm all for getting a PhD in art history. I'm even for PhDs in finance or engineering... I just don't see what gap a program that is essentially a PhD in general studies fills.

One of my fraternity brothers ended up with a PhD in Poetry. There was nothing wrong with it. He was brilliant and followed his dream.

Like you, my concern is that the new program would be more like a "trade school" PhD program than a traditional one.