Ph.D.'s

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  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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: 4,616 Member
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    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
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    @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
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    @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
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    @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
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    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
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    @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
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    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
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    I love that right now this thread is just below the stripper thread.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    I love that right now this thread is just below the stripper thread.

    LOL! Smarties unite!!!
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    @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
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    J.D here and practicing for 10 years!
  • Jersey_Devil
    Jersey_Devil Posts: 4,142 Member
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    << JD
  • _ylime_
    _ylime_ Posts: 661 Member
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    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
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    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: 12,160 Member
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    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
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    Ph.D Computer Science 1994, been a great ride. :bigsmile:

    Cheers
    Jim
  • stephaneb74
    stephaneb74 Posts: 151 Member
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    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...

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