iu.org - A diploma mill - but I need a masters for a PhD.

P

Hello all,

I find myself in a difficult situation, I don't have an outstanding bachelor's degree. And, having a master's degree for PhD is a requirement almost everywhere. IU.org or International University of Applied Sciences, offers very cheap masters degree via distance learning mode. I don't think they are any good. It's just another "diploma mill", like most universities now a days are. Is it worth pursuing such a masters? will it hurt mu chances of getting a PhD Scholarship? Or, it doesn't matter in the end?

Thank You.

D

'Most universities' aren't diploma mills, don't know where you got that idea from.

Neither is this one, it's accredited and as far as I can tell completely legitimate, just not very good. Private for-profit university that wants to make money by churning out MBAs. It will be a waste of time and money if you want to go into academic research.

You don't need an outstanding bachelors to do a Masters degree. In the UK a lower second/2:2 will be enough to get you enrolled on most MA courses at good and even elite universities - funding is the issue.

What you should do next depends what you want to do a PhD in, why you want to do a PhD, where you want to do your PhD. Difficult to help otherwise.

In terms of your original question, you've answered it yourself, avoid this one.

W

As the previous poster said, nothing fundamentally wrong with the International University. It is a fully accredited German University of Applied Sciences. Not a particularly good one, but not dubious either.

However, there is a world of difference in the German system between a University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule) and a full University (Universität). Master degrees from Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschulen) generally do not qualify you to participate in a PhD program in Germany - you'd have to get your degree from a Universität for this. How a degree from a Fachhochschule is viewed in other countries, depends on many factors. (I know at least one person who got a PhD from a NZ university using a German Fachhochschule Master's, but this is quite the exception in my experience.)

As the previous poster also alluded to, however, there is the more fundamental question of whether a PhD is the right path. You yourself say that your Bachelor's degree is not particularly good, and you want to get a Master's cheaply / easily. Not sure this is the stuff that PhDs are made from.

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