The Doctoral Choice

Learners who have decided to seek a doctoral degree in business at NCU must choose which terminal degree to pursue — the PhD or the DBA

Factors you may wish to consider: What is your ultimate goal? What does the degree designation mean to you personally? What are your professional aspirations?

Each degree represents a considerable body of knowledge and either will provide a business credential with extraordinary career and professional ramifications. The chief differences between the two regard the doctoral dissertation and its constituent research. There truly is no right or wrong choice; the decision rests with you.

The PhD program requires original research intended to establish a learner's research competence. Although a PhD dissertation is required to produce an original contribution to the body of knowledge in Business Administration, it is not required to have a practical application. An oral defense of the PhD dissertation is required.

The DBA program emphasizes the application and communication of research as the basis for sound business decisions and requires a dissertation. The dissertation is required to address a practical problem of an organization and as such is not required to constitute an original contribution to the body of knowledge in Business Administration. An oral defense of the DBA dissertation is required.

Many who aspire to a doctorate are intimidated by the dissertation prospect. We understand this potential for anxiety—after all, we went through it ourselves—so NCU has developed the Dissertation Center to assist you in completing your dissertation.

The Dissertation Center, a part of the NCU Writing Program web, provides online and one-on-one support from choosing a topic to final review. Field-specific Faculty Mentor experts help provide this unmatched level of scholastic support.