PhD: Online philosophy courses and their worth when transitioning from an unrelated field to philosophy I want to enter a PhD programme in continental philosophy in about 7 months. This is while I hold an MA in Computer Science. While the school is very open to my application, -- i.e. they don't strictly require a Master's degree in a related field-- I still want to make my application stand out as much as possible.

I have found quite many philosophy courses online (on coursera, and other websites) but the only ones that have captured my attention have been the ones coming from prestigious universities such as Harvard and Oxford.

https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/introduction-to-philosophy-online

Are such courses of any value when applying to universities? Specially in the case of a person coming from a very unrelated background.
My guess is this depends on what sort of on-line course it is ...

(1) In the course, you write one or more papers, which are critiqued by them, and at the end they issue some sort of credential to you

(2) You listen to lectures on-line, do assigned reading, and nothing else

Perhaps (1) would be of value in applying.  But not (2).  Of course (2) could still be of value to you, personally.