Hi bone4ad,
I am not saying that option 1 that I had mentioned earlier was my recommendation. I was just saying that it was an option available to him, if he is not picky about where he gets his PhD and is more concerned with just having a PhD.
Personally, I would never go to a for-profit school. That being said, I do know a couple of guys who did go to for-profit schools (Walden U for example) just to get a PhD under their belts, as they had an easier time dealing with admissions that way.
As for your second question, no I am not a JHU employee. But I have 3 co-workers who got their masters from the JHU EP program (2 getting MS in Comp Sci, and one almost done with his MS in Systems Engineering).
But it is still terrible advice. This is a really terrible reason to go into a PhD program. You generally go into a PhD program because you want to learn to do research as a career, and if you can’t achieve that goal from a given school (and it would be quite difficult from a for-profit school), then you shouldn’t be going just to get a rubber stamp credential.
I would not go so far as to call it a rubber stamp credential. Sure, the admissions criteria may not be as stringent, but as I understand it, they are still regionally-accredited schools. To my knowledge, for-profit schools like Walden U. or whatnot are not diploma mills.
I don’t think you have any understanding of the way a PhD works and what it’s for. It’s not a decoration or a certificate, something like a driver’s license or a football trophy.
Fortunately op has left the thread.
Perhaps one obvious question is: Why do you want to get a PhD? What do you intend to do with this?
To me, a 3.1 as a graduate student is okay if your goal was to get a master’s that leads directly to a job. A 3.1 as a graduate student who was intending to continue to a PhD suggests that you weren’t ready to go to graduate school.
I think that if O.P. is still reading the thread they should take time off and work for a year or two. If you still want to go on to a PhD then you probably need to get a second master’s, and this time get better grades. If getting better grades is not possible, then probably you shouldn’t try to get a PhD (unless there is some good reason to do this that I am missing).
THAT is the most important question. And if the answer’s not obvious to you, then reconsider.