Abstract
Few online psychology graduate programs are accredited and thus may not provide students with the same career opportunities as programs from traditional universities. We investigated whether psychology majors are more likely than other majors to consider applying to online graduate programs and whether students considering these programs have identifiable demographic characteristics. Forty-five percent of the surveyed psychology majors considered applying to online graduate programs. The students most interested in these programs were working and had lower GPAs. Results highlight the importance of identifying and then providing appropriate advisement to psychology undergraduates who might consider applying to online graduate programs.
Notes
Note. * p < .05
** p < .01.
* p < .05
** p < .01.
1 Education, Nursing, and Undecided majors also showed high percentages of interest in online graduate programs (50%, 33%, and 30% respectively); however, their sample sizes were not as large as our sample of psychology majors, nor were these majors as diverse. They were included in our nonpsychology major grouping. In these three majors, none of the demographic variables significantly influenced an interest in online graduate study.
2 In addition to a likelihood ratio test, we tested the model coefficients via a model-based bootstrap (CitationEfron & Tibshirani, 1993). Both tests showed the coefficients for GPA and work status to be the only ones significantly different from zero.
3 Some universities, like St. Regis University, indicate that they are accredited by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. However, any organization that simply pays for recognition by this association will receive accreditation (CitationDodd, 2004).