Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Amanda, Ph.D. in Human Services/Criminal Justice
Name: Amanda Bergen
Age: 26
Marital Status: Married
Advice to Others: "Learn from your classmates; they have a range of personal and work experience that you can learn from."
School: Capella University
Target: Ph.D. in Human Services/Criminal Justice, December 2007
While finishing up her degree, Amanda met her self-proclaimed soulmate and future husband, Christopher. They soon fell in love and got engaged, but those happy developments led to a dilemma.
How could she continue her studies and her budding relationship when there were no suitable doctoral programs within a four-hour drive of Savannah?
Her fiancé was willing to move, but was "quickly climbing the corporate ladder" she says, and moving would not have been ideal for his career.
Not willing to give up one dream for the other, she brainstormed other options, including online learning, with the help of family and her fiancé. Those online classes she took while in her master's program proved to her that online learning was a viable option.
She says that at the time she thought, "I can do this for my Ph.D. It gave me the confidence."
While Amanda was exploring the online learning option, she says her brother asked "Will it say 'online' in parentheses after 'Ph.D.'?"
She recounts, "I told him no, a Ph.D. is a Ph.D. is a Ph.D." That realization sealed the decision for Amanda.
Today Amanda is pursuing her Ph.D. in Human Services/Criminal Justice at Capella University. "I felt very at home with Capella University from the first phone call," she says.
She has not been disappointed in the quality of the education she has received.
"The caliber of my fellow learners at Capella cannot be exceeded and went beyond my expectations," Amanda says. "I have learned at least as much from them as I have from the coursework itself."
She believes that online learning offers a distinct advantage in that as a student "you are collaborating with the best minds in the nation and not just your state or region."
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