Ph.D.'s

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Replies

  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,605 Member
    I just want to say that I really like the replies here. It's nice to not feel like you're the only person crazy enough to spend 12 years in college.

    Well, I'm in the UK so luckily it isn't quite 12 years! That is an amazing amount of time - full respect for you all who go in knowing it will take so long. For me it will be 7 years (maximum) - 3 yrs for the BSc, 4 yrs for the PhD. Though some friends still think I'm crazy...

    It's not stopping to do a masters, and doing the phd reasonably fast that makes the difference. the two systems aren't that dramatically different. And doing my phd part time, with a longitudinal design, in the UK did take 8 years. (I did also have a baby along the way, though, and got divorced.... )
  • shaymo10
    shaymo10 Posts: 134 Member
    I finished my doctorate 6 months ago in Counseling Psychology! Are there any other Ed. D or Psy. D degree holders on MFP? Feel free to add me as a friend, if you need motivation! :flowerforyou:
  • ttate002
    ttate002 Posts: 54
    I finished my doctorate 6 months ago in Counseling Psychology! Are there any other Ed. D or Psy. D degree holders on MFP? Feel free to add me as a friend, if you need motivation! :flowerforyou:

    I must be the only Ed.D! LOL! I have NEVER had a break from school and I am SO ready to get it over with!
    K-12: 13 years
    Undergraduate: 5 years Associate in Business Administration, Bachelor's in Psychology
    Graduate: 1 year Master's in Adult Education (took grad classes during undergraduate)
    Graduate: 3 years? ABD Ed. D in Higher Education and Adult Leadership
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,605 Member
    I finished my doctorate 6 months ago in Counseling Psychology! Are there any other Ed. D or Psy. D degree holders on MFP? Feel free to add me as a friend, if you need motivation! :flowerforyou:

    I must be the only Ed.D! LOL! I have NEVER had a break from school and I am SO ready to get it over with!
    K-12: 13 years
    Undergraduate: 5 years Associate in Business Administration, Bachelor's in Psychology
    Graduate: 1 year Master's in Adult Education (took grad classes during undergraduate)
    Graduate: 3 years? ABD Ed. D in Higher Education and Adult Leadership

    I qualified in South Africa, so not a D degree (we're qualified to practice with a masters). However, I do hold a (British) PhD in Psychology.
  • AnnaMaus
    AnnaMaus Posts: 167 Member
    @Elizabeth_C34 Ha! I've noticed that the predominant culture of anti-intellectualism has ebbed slightly in recent years, no doubt because people from all walks are finding themselves back in training/school to compete in a terrible job market.

    Of course that also means that the advanced degree programs are packed fuller than usual with social climbers, or the desperate and disoriented, who think that a certain sort of degree will boost their marketability when it won't, or that a non-profit management degree is where one learns how to manage an enterprise... and the universities are happy to take their money.

    I guess the people who bother me most are the upper middle class blockheads who come to grad school to wait out the recession; they usually study late 20th century navel-gazing, commonly have never worked a day in their life and always act like they know everything.
  • LiddyBit
    LiddyBit Posts: 447 Member
    @Elizabeth_C34 Ha! I've noticed that the predominant culture of anti-intellectualism has ebbed slightly in recent years, no doubt because people from all walks are finding themselves back in training/school to compete in a terrible job market.

    Of course that also means that the advanced degree programs are packed fuller than usual with social climbers, or the desperate and disoriented, who think that a certain sort of degree will boost their marketability when it won't, or that a non-profit management degree is where one learns how to manage an enterprise... and the universities are happy to take their money.

    I guess the people who bother me most are the upper middle class blockheads who come to grad school to wait out the recession; they usually study late 20th century navel-gazing, commonly have never worked a day in their life and always act like they know everything.

    I have not actually run into this, but the humanities are not the place to wait out a recession. For one thing, it became exponentially more difficult to get into a humanities program after 2008-2009.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    @Elizabeth_C34 Ha! I've noticed that the predominant culture of anti-intellectualism has ebbed slightly in recent years, no doubt because people from all walks are finding themselves back in training/school to compete in a terrible job market.

    Of course that also means that the advanced degree programs are packed fuller than usual with social climbers, or the desperate and disoriented, who think that a certain sort of degree will boost their marketability when it won't, or that a non-profit management degree is where one learns how to manage an enterprise... and the universities are happy to take their money.

    I guess the people who bother me most are the upper middle class blockheads who come to grad school to wait out the recession; they usually study late 20th century navel-gazing, commonly have never worked a day in their life and always act like they know everything.

    I have not actually run into this, but the humanities are not the place to wait out a recession. For one thing, it became exponentially more difficult to get into a humanities program after 2008-2009.

    The same has happened in the sciences as well, but for different reasons. Most of the hard science programs (physics, chemistry, math, etc.) fully fund students and normally don't accept students if they have no money. The acceptance rates for most science programs plummeted after 2008, so people who are good students aren't getting in at all. The budget cuts in 2010 have been really rough on us too. My boss lost 1/3 of his grant money and had to dump 3 students who were funded under those grant funds. It's been a disaster for science.
  • sophie_wr
    sophie_wr Posts: 194 Member
    PhD in Molecular genetics (done in my homeland, France) and postdoc for 3 years in the best city (San diego CA).
    Actually looking for a new one because my lab is running soon of monney :((((

    PhD in biology is not the best idea for getting a nice stable job (I'm even not talking about salaries !)

    ans always looking for MFP friends !

    Good luck to you hon! Biology is a tight field now. NSF budget cuts have eliminated a lot of jobs in biology and science in the last 4 years. Keep looking for positions. :smile: Have you looked internationally (Europe, Canada, Asia?

    Well, united states is international for me, I'm from France.
    And I got to say, 3 years after leaving everything (friends, family and hometown) to come here (which I never regret, and I love California (not the famous gloome june)) .... I would like to stay a bit more in San diego.
    Ofcourse without a job, I have to leave the US.

    But this is crazy, I thought that was no-limit monney for research in the US when I was in Europe...
    I'm working in a very big research institute with mostyl NIH unding, and all the labs are like that, firing and getting very low with monney....

    But thanks for the support !

    My sister-in-law has her PhD in Biology (she's a U.S. citizen and her degree is from a U.S. university) and she has only worked abroad (first in France and now in Canada). She said the work is more interesting outside the U.S. and the money is better.

    My PhD is in Economics, and although I frequently travel abroad for work, my employers have always been U.S. based (Wall Street firms -- money is never an issue for them).

    Good luck!

    Thank you for support !!
    it's funny (well kinda) because in France they really encourage us to go abroad (there's very few job home anyway...). but that's true that there are very few americans in the institutes that I know, dont know why.
    What do you work on with PhD in economics ?

    Hmmm. Now that you mention it, I don't recall meeting very many French nationals at my sister-in-law's lab in France. Although, the world of science PhD's is a complete mystery to me (grants, funding, etc., are not something I think about). I provide analysis on specific commodity and currency markets to Wall Street firms and hedge funds.

    Anyway, best wishes to you! I hope you get to stay in San Diego (one of my favorite cities!)

    this is funny that you say that about france, because I had the opposite feeling, only french nationals... at least it was the case in my hometown and I would never recommend to an american fellow to go to france for postdoc...
    Anyway, saw you were in SoCal too ? is it you on the surfing pic ? because it's pretty awesome !! i've tried a lot but I'm still very bad !
  • LiddyBit
    LiddyBit Posts: 447 Member
    @Elizabeth_C34 Ha! I've noticed that the predominant culture of anti-intellectualism has ebbed slightly in recent years, no doubt because people from all walks are finding themselves back in training/school to compete in a terrible job market.

    Of course that also means that the advanced degree programs are packed fuller than usual with social climbers, or the desperate and disoriented, who think that a certain sort of degree will boost their marketability when it won't, or that a non-profit management degree is where one learns how to manage an enterprise... and the universities are happy to take their money.

    I guess the people who bother me most are the upper middle class blockheads who come to grad school to wait out the recession; they usually study late 20th century navel-gazing, commonly have never worked a day in their life and always act like they know everything.

    I have not actually run into this, but the humanities are not the place to wait out a recession. For one thing, it became exponentially more difficult to get into a humanities program after 2008-2009.

    The same has happened in the sciences as well, but for different reasons. Most of the hard science programs (physics, chemistry, math, etc.) fully fund students and normally don't accept students if they have no money. The acceptance rates for most science programs plummeted after 2008, so people who are good students aren't getting in at all. The budget cuts in 2010 have been really rough on us too. My boss lost 1/3 of his grant money and had to dump 3 students who were funded under those grant funds. It's been a disaster for science.

    Actually, that's the exact same reason the humanities became so competitive. Most programs only accept fully funded students and since so many programs lost so much of their funding, programs where they used to accept something like ten students per year could only take maybe three.
  • quara
    quara Posts: 255 Member
    I'm just finishing my PhD in Human Genetics. I defend in two weeks from today! (There's me submitting my thesis!) It took me almost 7 years to do my PhD, but I didn't do a Master's so the timeline was extended a bit.

    For the person from France who did their PhD in Molecular Genetics - it is easy for the French to move and work in Quebec, I'm pretty sure! But I definitely agree with the difficulty of finding great jobs with a PhD in Biology.
  • LiddyBit
    LiddyBit Posts: 447 Member
    I love that right now this thread is just below the stripper thread.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    I love that right now this thread is just below the stripper thread.

    LOL! Smarties unite!!!
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    @Elizabeth_C34 Ha! I've noticed that the predominant culture of anti-intellectualism has ebbed slightly in recent years, no doubt because people from all walks are finding themselves back in training/school to compete in a terrible job market.

    Of course that also means that the advanced degree programs are packed fuller than usual with social climbers, or the desperate and disoriented, who think that a certain sort of degree will boost their marketability when it won't, or that a non-profit management degree is where one learns how to manage an enterprise... and the universities are happy to take their money.

    I guess the people who bother me most are the upper middle class blockheads who come to grad school to wait out the recession; they usually study late 20th century navel-gazing, commonly have never worked a day in their life and always act like they know everything.

    I have not actually run into this, but the humanities are not the place to wait out a recession. For one thing, it became exponentially more difficult to get into a humanities program after 2008-2009.

    The same has happened in the sciences as well, but for different reasons. Most of the hard science programs (physics, chemistry, math, etc.) fully fund students and normally don't accept students if they have no money. The acceptance rates for most science programs plummeted after 2008, so people who are good students aren't getting in at all. The budget cuts in 2010 have been really rough on us too. My boss lost 1/3 of his grant money and had to dump 3 students who were funded under those grant funds. It's been a disaster for science.

    Actually, that's the exact same reason the humanities became so competitive. Most programs only accept fully funded students and since so many programs lost so much of their funding, programs where they used to accept something like ten students per year could only take maybe three.

    I know some of the social sciences don't have those funding requirements that apparently humanities and sciences have. My friend did a self-funded Master's in psychology, and it was normal in her department for students to do loans. Apparently, the department has no money for fellowships or TA'ships.
  • scs143
    scs143 Posts: 2,190 Member
    J.D here and practicing for 10 years!
  • Jersey_Devil
    Jersey_Devil Posts: 4,142 Member
    << JD
  • _ylime_
    _ylime_ Posts: 661 Member
    Working on my PhD currently.... entering year 5 (I went straight from my BS to PhD, but I have passed my comps, wirtten and oral exams and my proposal has been accpeted.... so I am writting now...)... Still it makes me slightly sad to say I am 25 and still in school... :laugh: BUT I :heart: being a science geek. :flowerforyou:
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    Working on my PhD currently.... entering year 5 (I went straight from my BS to PhD, but I have passed my comps, wirtten and oral exams and my proposal has been accpeted.... so I am writting now...)... Still it makes me slightly sad to say I am 25 and still in school... :laugh: BUT I :heart: being a science geek. :flowerforyou:

    That's impressive. I'm 28, and have been in school continuously from age 18 until now, and I just finished my quals. Dissertation work is nice.
  • solarpower03
    solarpower03 Posts: 12,161 Member
    Working on my PhD currently.... entering year 5 (I went straight from my BS to PhD, but I have passed my comps, wirtten and oral exams and my proposal has been accpeted.... so I am writting now...)... Still it makes me slightly sad to say I am 25 and still in school... :laugh: BUT I :heart: being a science geek. :flowerforyou:

    Take it easy, I finished PhD when I was 29. But I worked for 4 years in industry before starting PhD.
  • jimmacdonald
    jimmacdonald Posts: 93 Member
    Ph.D Computer Science 1994, been a great ride. :bigsmile:

    Cheers
    Jim
  • stephaneb74
    stephaneb74 Posts: 151 Member
    I feel pretty confident there must be more than just three of us... :-)

    I guess nobody wants to admit they spent a decade of their adult life in college... :laugh:

    What you mean a decade ? I got mine 10 years ago and still stuck in college :-)
    PhD Neuroscience in France, Molecular biology in Italy, PostDoc in Florida, and in Utah..... running out of grant money, tired to spend my days writing grants for money..... considering just giving up and changing career...
  • solarpower03
    solarpower03 Posts: 12,161 Member
    I feel pretty confident there must be more than just three of us... :-)

    I guess nobody wants to admit they spent a decade of their adult life in college... :laugh:

    What you mean a decade ? I got mine 10 years ago and still stuck in college :-)
    PhD Neuroscience in France, Molecular biology in Italy, PostDoc in Florida, and in Utah..... running out of grant money, tired to spend my days writing grants for money..... considering just giving up and changing career...

    That's why I changed!
  • Titanuim
    Titanuim Posts: 331 Member
    I finished my Master of Laws (LLM) last week specialising in Mining, Energy.

    I just don't think I am smart enough to do a Doctorate in Juridcal Science (the Phd for Lawyers in Australia) but I could just be in recovery mode. Another Masters seems like a lot less pressure.

    Well done to all the Doctors in the house.
  • stephaneb74
    stephaneb74 Posts: 151 Member
    I finished my Master of Laws (LLM) last week specialising in Mining, Energy.

    I just don't think I am smart enough to do a Doctorate in Juridcal Science (the Phd for Lawyers in Australia) but I could just be in recovery mode. Another Masters seems like a lot less pressure.

    Well done to all the Doctors in the house.

    Being a doctor has nothing to do with being smart..... it has to do with being stupid enough to pursue a degree that is not much better than tthe value people want to give .... if I had known, I would probably have stopped at a master and find a job there....

    Now if having a doctorate is absolutely necessary for you or your career, by all means go after it..... but think a lot before taking that step :-)
  • Titanuim
    Titanuim Posts: 331 Member
    I finished my Master of Laws (LLM) last week specialising in Mining, Energy and Natural Resources.

    I just don't think I am smart enough to do a Doctorate in Juridcal Science (the Phd for Lawyers in Australia) but I could just be in recovery mode. Another Masters seems like a lot less pressure.

    Well done to all the Doctors in the house.

    Being a doctor has nothing to do with being smart..... it has to do with being stupid enough to pursue a degree that is not much better than tthe value people want to give .... if I had known, I would probably have stopped at a master and find a job there....

    Now if having a doctorate is absolutely necessary for you or your career, by all means go after it..... but think a lot before taking that step :-)

    Hmm. Another Masters in a different area might help with career progression but I am not that fussed as my current job pays six figures plus other benefits. If I go higher up the food chain I would be expected to put in longer hours which means less time for family and fitness goals. PhD probs can wait till I am bored with career stuff and am just doing it for "fun
  • Bentley2718
    Bentley2718 Posts: 1,689 Member
    I have a Ph.D. in Sociology, that I use extensively in my exciting career as a statistician.
  • YokoJ
    YokoJ Posts: 253
    Currently working on my master's. I want to eventually go back for my doctorates. As of right now I need a serious break from school! So when I graduate next fall I will prob enter into the workforce.
  • scs143
    scs143 Posts: 2,190 Member
    I finished my Master of Laws (LLM) last week specialising in Mining, Energy.

    I just don't think I am smart enough to do a Doctorate in Juridcal Science (the Phd for Lawyers in Australia) but I could just be in recovery mode. Another Masters seems like a lot less pressure.

    Well done to all the Doctors in the house.

    Being a doctor has nothing to do with being smart..... it has to do with being stupid enough to pursue a degree that is not much better than tthe value people want to give .... if I had known, I would probably have stopped at a master and find a job there....

    Now if having a doctorate is absolutely necessary for you or your career, by all means go after it..... but think a lot before taking that step :-)

    Do you want to be a lawyer? I have a JD, as I am a lawyer and I have to tell you, anyone could get one, if you are willing to do the work. It isn't so much about being smart, although that helps, as it is about wanting it bad enough to read thousands of pages a night.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    I finished my Master of Laws (LLM) last week specialising in Mining, Energy.

    I just don't think I am smart enough to do a Doctorate in Juridcal Science (the Phd for Lawyers in Australia) but I could just be in recovery mode. Another Masters seems like a lot less pressure.

    Well done to all the Doctors in the house.

    Being a doctor has nothing to do with being smart..... it has to do with being stupid enough to pursue a degree that is not much better than tthe value people want to give .... if I had known, I would probably have stopped at a master and find a job there....

    Now if having a doctorate is absolutely necessary for you or your career, by all means go after it..... but think a lot before taking that step :-)
    I guess that's a matter of perspective. A Ph.D. is worthwhile to some and not worthwhile to others. It was the BEST career and personal move for me at the time. I've not regretted it for a moment.
  • tayteetots
    tayteetots Posts: 114 Member
    I would continue school but it's so expensive and I can't justify spending the money. Perhaps once my husband is a professor somewhere or we have an exorbant amount of money, I'll return.

    I'm well aware of the horrendous expenses related to education and the terrible job market, but if you want your Ph.D.., don't put it off. I'm sure your husband's great, but you and he are not one person. Things change. I assume that in a competitive job market, they'll want Ph.D.s, not M.A.s. It won't get easier.

    (You opened the door.)

    It's untrue that people want PhDs and not MAs. A lot of places don't want to pay to have a PhD on staff if they can get away with someone at the Master's level.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    I would continue school but it's so expensive and I can't justify spending the money. Perhaps once my husband is a professor somewhere or we have an exorbant amount of money, I'll return.

    I'm well aware of the horrendous expenses related to education and the terrible job market, but if you want your Ph.D.., don't put it off. I'm sure your husband's great, but you and he are not one person. Things change. I assume that in a competitive job market, they'll want Ph.D.s, not M.A.s. It won't get easier.

    (You opened the door.)

    It's untrue that people want PhDs and not MAs. A lot of places don't want to pay to have a PhD on staff if they can get away with someone at the Master's level.
    Generalizations.
    It depends on the job market, the profession, the requirements...These things can't be generalized.