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Well, my goals aren't to teach at a college, but I'd love to do research work for think tanks, historical organizations, (I'll have a BS in Political Science as well), that type of work. I understand the flexibility and need to chase down jobs and move, I fully planned on doing that anyway. My thinking is, if I do it online I can start looking for work now, get some practical experience, get it done cheaply and easily (rather than being locked into a physical university in the middle of nowhere for the next years of my life), cut down on my debt, and also more easily pursue post-masters certificates in specialist areas.
Not to mention save hundreds on GREs, visits and application fees, along with all the time to wrangle professors to right my letters of recommendations and the limbo of not knowing who will accept me until later.
From the two of you, I get the impression that a Ph.D is really only good for work in academia. Well, like I said, I'm not interested in teaching at a university, and military history remains the most popular main-stream form of history. If I want to do research or consulting or anything like that, it seems military history would be the way to go.
Of course, it does have it's limitations, and I originally planned on doing diplomatic history but the few programs out there are both expensive and hard to get into, even with my good grades. You see, I never got to really know a professor in my undergrad years, so my letters of recommendations will only be so-so I think.
Appreciate the responses!
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