GWU PhD in Computer Security and Information Assurance

George Washington University has a doctoral program in Computer Security and Information Assurance that is open to post-master's students of any computer-related graduate program with a GPA of 3.5, or higher. The GWU MS in CSIA rolls right into the PhD program. Has anyone attended GWU? They offer some travel scholarship to reimburse travel expenses for students not in the geographic area. It appears that if you already have a master's degree that you essentially take two courses and then work on your dissertation.

Ph.D. Program of Study Requirements | The Department of Computer Science

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powerfool

I guess the official program is PhD in Computer Science.... the graduate certificate program is in security and information assurance and it feeds into the masters and this PhD.

erpadmin

G-Dub is a very, very good school.

I was talking to a colleague who is a Ph.D candidate. He advised me that whatever program I do, I should look at both the graduation rate and the attrition rate (how high are the number of washouts). If the attrition rate is high, best to leave that school alone. Also, it went without saying, but he also advised that if I ever did look at becoming erpadmin, Ph.D, to make sure I have some residency component with it. That might be attributed to old school thinking, but I don't necessarily discount that.

I am forming an exploratory committee that consists of only myself to see if I want to do a Ph.D program after I'm done with WGU. I am considering it, but I have to really, really dig deep and much soul searching is required. However, the call to academia is becoming very loud....lol.

veritas_libertas

erpadmin wrote: »

I am forming an exploratory committee that consists of only myself to see if I want to do a Ph.D program after I'm done with WGU. I am considering it, but I have to really, really dig deep and much soul searching is required. However, the call to academia is becoming very loud....lol.

If this is a typical government exploratory committee than be sure to let us know how it goes in five to ten years

I'm kidding really. Has anyone looked at Dakota States's D.Sc.?

http://www.dsu.edu/doctor-of-science/index.aspx

It has an option for an emphasis in INFOSEC.

erpadmin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

If this is a typical government exploratory committee than be sure to let us know how it goes in five to ten years

I'm kidding really. Has anyone looked at Dakota States's D.Sc.?

http://www.dsu.edu/doctor-of-science/index.aspx

It has an option for an emphasis in INFOSEC.

One of the WGU mentors I believe is a doctoral student at DSU. Also, the degreeinfo.com board has a couple of members that are real big on this school. I know it's relatively inexpensive....you seem to be done with the program quicker is you already have an MS....

THis will be part of my own exploratory review. LMAO.

BTW, as far as a Ph.D is concerned, it could very well take 5-10 years before I decide on doing it. I know for sure I want to do a Masters, but I am not so sure about an MBA anymore...I don't mind doing an MBA, but I want to make sure I can adjunct with it. A Ph.D I can just straight up become faculty...

I just need to develop a good plan of attack...

powerfool

Well, first plan of action is boosting my GPA. UMUC has a few things going against it in that regard. First, they only do straight letter grades, no pluses or minuses. Plus, they essentially don't want to give any As. They believe that graduate school grades have a reputation of being inflated, which may very well be true... the thing is, in their effort to fix that, they are going to give students Bs for A quality work and when they apply for another program, the academics are going to assume it is C or D quality work. Plus, they have a library course that they require everyone to take their first semester... except for the partnership with my employer... well, I didn't take it until after my second semester and it really would have helped to set the graduate level expectations.

Getting 89% and having that be a B and a 3.0 really stinks. Gotta have a 3.5 for GWU.

erpadmin

powerfool wrote: »

Getting 89% and having that be a B and a 3.0 really stinks. Gotta have a 3.5 for GWU.

No, you don't. GPA requirements are never written in stone. Your past academic work, the totality of your experience and the ability to pay will pretty much get you in this program or any other.

Your resume will balance out whatever deficiency your GPA has. If you are gunning for a doctoral program, alot of them won't require a GRE/GMAT if you already have a Masters. As long as you can get by the formalities, you should have no issue.

the_Grinch

I definitely want to shoot for a PhD eventually, but there are a lot of factors to look at. First, finances, at this point I couldn't pay (part of the reason I am looking at WGU's Masters is the price, but I worry how B&M schools will look at it). Second, a lack of experience in general. I had the pleasure of having professors with lots of experience and were basically experts in the field. I really enjoyed that because there was always thought behind what they said, opposed to those who would just spit the text back at you. Finally, I worry that the PhD will leave me stuck in regards to jobs. Seems that teaching or research are generally the only places you see PhD's. Will definitely do it eventually though, especially because that would make me the first Dr in the family

powerfool

erpadmin wrote: »

No, you don't. GPA requirements are never written in stone. Your past academic work, the totality of your experience and the ability to pay will pretty much get you in this program or any other.

Your resume will balance out whatever deficiency your GPA has. If you are gunning for a doctoral program, alot of them won't require a GRE/GMAT if you already have a Masters. As long as you can get by the formalities, you should have no issue.

Well, let me clarify why it matters... GWU will take my current masters' degree and waive the requirements for their program, given a variety of criteria, including GPA and GRE. Otherwise, they will let me in the program, but I will have to start at the beginning. If they let me waive the masters' component, I will have to take two courses and do a dissertation, that's all. If I cannot do that, I likely won't do a PhD.

I am building a case that my first semester professor should give me an A. Our entire grade scale for the course was 100 points. A paper was worth 10 points, and if you don't get an A, you get 8 points... I thought that was the case for the entire program, but both professors since have given us percentage grades on everything, allowing us to get 8.5 or 8.9 on a paper. That alone could have help me break the 90 point mark, especially since he never rounded up. If can get him to bump me to an A, then I will be fine.