The DHSc degree programs that end in an applied project instead of a dissertation, and what each one puts in its place.
Last updated
Programs
13
Of all verified
57%
States
8
Fewest credits
35
Best DHSc Degree Programs With No Dissertation, Compared
#
School
Credits
Ends
Format
Tuition
Score
1
Radford VA
42
Applied project
Online
$8,528
98.9
2
Indiana State IN
37
Applied project
Online
$9,978
94.6
3
Chatham PA
36
Applied project
Online
$43,518
92.4
4
Touro Worldwide CA
48
Applied project
Online
$14,440
88
5
Purdue Global IN
Applied project
Online
$10,080
85.9
6
Bay Path MA
48
Applied project
Online
$37,972
83.7
7
Liberty VA
60
Applied project
Online
$15,297
79.3
8
Lenoir-Rhyne NC
48
Applied project
Online
$31,000
77.2
9
MGH Institute MA
35
Applied project
Online + campus
$85,000
75
10
Arcadia PA
Applied project
Online
$48,760
70.7
11
Nova Southeastern FL
46
Applied project
Online + campus
$37,500
68.5
12
Campbell NC
54
Applied project
Online
$38,880
64.1
13
ATSU MO
70
Applied project
Online
57.6
Score is the program's position on the national ranking, shown so you can
see where a program sits overall as well as on this cut. A blank cell means the school does not
publish that figure.
All 13 DHSc Degree Programs That Don't Require a Dissertation
#1Score 98.9
Radford University
Doctor of Health Sciences (D.H.Sc.) · Radford, VA · Public
An applied scholarly capstone rather than a dissertation, sitting on top of a 12-credit concentration in health administration, community and public health, or higher education. Radford's own pages disagree on its size, calling it a 9-credit project across three courses in the programme overview and a 6-credit project in the admissions FAQ, so establish which applies before planning the final year.
Doctor of Health Science in Healthcare Leadership (DHSc) · Terre Haute, IN · Public
Indiana State replaces it with a 7-credit scholarly experience sitting on top of 30 credits of core, and says plainly that a dissertation is not required. The scholarly experience is the smallest capstone block published by any program on this page.
37 30 core + 7 scholarly experience, plus a concentration
Ends
Applied project
Starts
5/year
Tuition
$9,978
Completion
43%
Conferred
1
#3Score 92.4
Chatham University
Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) · Pittsburgh, PA · Private
A capstone addressing a current healthcare issue directly relevant to your own work, personalised to your experience and goals. Packed into 16 to 20 months, it is the fastest route to a finished doctoral project on this page.
36 30 with up to 6 transfer credits for licensed professionals
Ends
Applied project
Starts
1/year
Tuition
$43,518
Completion
63%
#4Score 88
Touro University Worldwide
Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) · Los Alamitos, CA · Private
A Doctoral Research Project running across 12 of the 48 credits, split into a proposal phase and the project itself, and finished with an oral defence before a chair and committee. It is the most dissertation-shaped of the non-dissertation options, defence included.
Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) · West Lafayette, IN · Public
A final applied project addressing a challenge in health care policy, administration, higher education or clinical practice. Purdue Global scopes it to those four settings specifically, which is narrower guidance than most programs give and useful if you would rather be handed a frame than invent one.
Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) · Longmeadow, MA · Private
Bay Path lets you tailor the applied research project to your career interests, and with 14 concentration tracks behind it that is a real choice rather than a formality. The same page states the degree leads to no licensure, so the project is about advancing your practice, not extending it.
Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) · Lynchburg, VA · Private
Two components rather than one: a practicum in your own area plus an applied doctoral research project. Liberty is the only program on this page that pairs a placement with a project, and at 60 credit hours it has the room to.
Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) · Hickory, NC · Private
An applied research project focused on a real-world issue in health science. Lenoir-Rhyne publishes less about the structure of it than most schools here, so ask how many credits it carries and when it starts in the 48-hour sequence.
Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) · Boston, MA · Private
An Innovation Project you can apply at your current place of employment, and MGH Institute frames the whole degree as enhancing your skills without the focus on academic research. Of everything here, this is the program most openly built around not doing research for its own sake.
Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) · Glenside, PA · Private
Arcadia's project is tied to real healthcare and community health needs and sits on a required foundation in population health and health equity, which points the capstone at populations rather than at a department. Note that Arcadia's own page calls it an applied dissertation in places, so confirm the format.
Doctor of Health Science (D.H.Sc.) · Fort Lauderdale, FL · Private
Nova states the swap in a single sentence: there is no dissertation required, it has been replaced with an internship and practicum. That is 4 of the 46 credit hours spent in a workplace rather than in a library, which is a different kind of doctoral capstone from almost everything else here.
Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) · Buies Creek, NC · Private
A capstone research project built around your own professional interests and area of concentration, spread across a three-year sequence taught in eight-week terms. The concentration is chosen at entry and the capstone is built on it, so the question of what you want to research is one you answer when you apply rather than in year three.
Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) · Kirksville, MO · Private
ATSU is the most explicit about it on the whole list, printing NO DISSERTATION REQUIRED next to the credit count. What you write instead is an Applied Research Project. This is also the longest degree here at 70 credit hours, so skipping the dissertation does not mean skipping the work.
What You Need to Know About DHSc Degree Programs Without a Dissertation
An applied project is not a smaller dissertation. It is a different kind of doctoral work, scoped to a problem inside an organisation you already work in, and built to be finished on a schedule. That is the entire reason this degree exists, and the schools on this page are the ones honest enough to say so on the program page rather than burying it in a curriculum sheet.
The variation between them is larger than the label suggests. Nova replaces the dissertation with an internship and practicum, so four credits happen in a workplace. Liberty pairs a practicum with a project. Touro's version runs across 12 credits, splits into proposal and project phases, and ends in an oral defence before a committee, which is a dissertation in everything but name. MGH Institute goes furthest the other way and says outright that the degree enhances your skills without the focus on academic research.
Choose on that spectrum rather than on the phrase. If your goal is a faculty post where a search committee will ask what you researched, the defended-project programs leave you with more to say. If your goal is a directorship and you want the doctorate finished, the workplace-project programs are built for exactly that and there is no reason to pay for research training you will not use.
The same split runs through nursing, where a scoping review of doctoral programmes found that research doctorates end in a dissertation while practice doctorates end in quality improvement projects and the translation of evidence into care.
If you want to know what fills the space a dissertation would have taken, a published model for practice doctorate projects describes designing a change in a real care setting, putting it into practice and evaluating it, with the aim of implementing knowledge rather than generating new knowledge.
Federal statistics draw the same line: the National Science Foundation's Survey of Earned Doctorates counts research doctorates, the degrees built on an original dissertation, and leaves professional practice doctorates out of the count.
What Each DHSc Degree Program Calls the Work That Replaces the Dissertation
The comparison table above calls every ending an applied project. That is what these
programs have in common, and it is not what you are choosing between. Each school has its
own name for the work and its own sentence about what it is for, and those sentences are
below in the schools' words.
What 12 DHSc degree programs call the work that replaces a
dissertation, and what each school says about it.
You will also complete a final applied project that addresses a challenge or need in health care policy, administration, higher education, or clinical practice
Frequently Asked Questions About DHSc Degree Programs Without a Dissertation
How many DHSc programs skip the dissertation?
13 of the 23 enrolling programs we verified, across 8 states. The other 10 either do not qualify or do not publish enough for us to say, and we do not guess either way.
Is a DHSc without a dissertation worth less?
Not as a credential. Every program on this page is an accredited doctorate and graduates use the title. What you give up is research training, and that matters if you want a tenure-track research post, where a PhD and a publication record are what searches weight.
How is this list ordered?
By the same score used on the national ranking, which is published in full on the methodology page. This page filters that list rather than reordering it.
How to Compare DHSc Degree Programs by Tuition, Credits and Campus Visits