Earning a doctoral degree is a considerable accomplishment that requires years of dedication, hard work, and self-discipline. Today, many graduate students are opting to earn their doctoral degrees online because of the flexibility, convenience, and affordability that an online education offers. Fortunately, online degree advice for prospective doctoral students is easy to find online.

Because deciding to pursue an online doctoral degree is a major life decision, you need all of the information you can get to help you make that life decision. Following is some of the best online degree advice for prospective doctoral students.

Talk with faculty with whom you plan to work on your dissertation. Faculty is extremely important when it comes to an online doctoral program, especially if the program requires you to write a dissertation. Doctoral students tend to work much closer with faculty than do masters and undergraduate students, so you want to be sure you choose a doctoral program that has professors with whom you want to work and with whom you get along.

Find out the requirements for entrance to the doctoral program. Many online doctoral programs require students to first have a masters degree. Do you have a masters degree? If not, does the online university you're considering require a masters degree before you can apply for the doctoral program?

If you cannot find admissions requirements on the online university's Web site, contact the admissions office.

Find out how many credits are required for the online doctoral degree. In addition to determining how many credits you must have to earn your doctoral degree, find out how many credits from your masters degree will be accepted credits toward your doctoral program.

Determine if there are residency requirements. Some online graduate programs require students to meet in-person for several weeks every year. Make sure you know whether the doctoral programs you are considering have residency requirements.

Oral Exams. In many traditional doctoral programs, you must take oral exams before you can move to candidacy for the doctoral degree. Find out whether there are oral exams with the online doctoral program you are considering.

Dissertation. Not all online doctoral programs require candidates to complete a dissertation. If you choose an online doctoral program that requires a dissertation or that gives the option to write a dissertation, find out how long the dissertation has to be for acceptance, whether you have to defend it and how that defense will occur, and how long you have to complete the dissertation.

Length of time you have to complete the degree. Most online degree programs have a timeframe in which a student must earn his or her degree. How many years do you have to earn your doctoral degree?

Graduation rate. How many doctoral students who enter the program actually graduate? Choose an online doctoral program that has a high graduation rate.

Ultimately, choosing an online doctoral degree program is a major life decision as you will spend the next five to six of your life focusing on earning your doctorate. Fortunately, you can find a plethora of solid online degree advice both online and by talking with current students, alumni, and faculty of online doctoral programs.