What is life like while you're getting your P.H.D.?

I am speaking for my husband (Biology/Ecology) - it can be done part-time or in his case, full time school and full time job. Most Phds seem to end up teaching in universities, but those positions are few and very competitive. You can get financial aid, but I don't know about grants - it might depend on your field of study.

I have meet a number of cab drivers with Phd.s, I don't think it is a great career booster.

It used to be great here - lasted forever, you could tutor and stuff while you did it...


here, now, you have to do it pretty fast. You can do it part time.

here, you have to have a good masters, or equivalent.



It is essential for academe, and helpful in some professions.

You should look at the field your interested in, and determine if a Ph.D. is necessary. Sometimes it's worth it, other times not.

Necessity of a Masters depends on the Ph.D. program. Some require it, others don't. Some allow you to get it along the way.

Basically a lot depends on the program. Some programs are going to require enough work that having an outside job is not possible. Lots of times there will be interships or externships that will either count towards tuition credits, be paid positions, or both.

Financial aid is possible, but most of the folks in my wife's program financed it through loans.

Went and put cookies in the oven after that post and asked T what I should add:

"Ask which he is: masochistic or crazy."

I feel a little weird having become DrewDad's identical twin....

At least it appears we bounce to the rhythm of a different drum....

A masters can be fun if you want to just learn a lot and **** off a lot at the same time. I found a four year masters program with full tuition plus a teaching stipend. I still have to take out some loans but it's relatively minimal.

There are a number of schools that offer a PhD without a masters. You can go part time since many of advanced courses arent offered every semester anyway.
What area ya looking at?
A PhD is just a sloggin "see if you can gut it out" degree. Its more a challenge to your life than an advance in an intellectual plane. Ive had many students wisely choose to finish their PhD as an MS thesis and get into the market where they will , in the right circumstances , wind up farther ahead in their careers than if they waited to work on a terminal degree.

If you wanna teach (and I have no idea why anyone would want to do this ) then you will need a PhD as a minimal entrance (unless you have a MAster of Applied SCience or MFA which are both terminal degrees in specific areas)

I do think it depends on what field you're looking at.

I met E.G. just as he'd finished his master's and was starting his Ph.D work. The entire time was torture, with the last year before actually getting his Ph.D the worst year of his or by extension (since I had to live with him) my life, pretty much. The dude was going cuckoo.

It was definitely something to be endured rather than enjoyed per se -- not just the work itself but the politics, being his advisor's boy (having to do grunt work, meet deadlines, etc.) -- but the day he actually got his Ph.D and moved on was a good one. And he's diggin' being a professor, generally very happy that he stuck with it and didn't bail/ go into the industry as most of the people he started out with did.

That said, I also know someone who has a Ph.D, somehow, who must have called it in -- she's one of the stupidest people I know. It really depends on the field and the institution.

Oh and again depending on the field, one can often get fellowships (scholarships) and be paid for "work" that is part of getting the Ph.D, like being a TA. E.G. got his education free through various fellowships and such, but there was no way he could have worked another job at the same time -- he spent 70+ hours a week at the "job" of being a Ph.D student, as it was.

eh, it can be done. if you have some discipline and are willing to write on the evenings and weekends and sacrifice a few years of life that way.
i don't, so i had to get myself sent to vienna for half a year, to get that sucker done once and for all. tried working full time and writing before, didn't go exactly well...

Well, I was thinking of becoming an English professor at the end of it, but this is just a pipe dream. After reading the responses in this thread, I just don't think I'd have the required fortitude and dedication.

if i didn't want to teach at a university level (of which i am not convinced, though i like it as a side thing) - i would not do it again. for all the rest of the things i do and want to do, i don't need it.

Do tell....

Ooh, English is one of the worst, Ph.D-wise. That's specifically why I switched over to deaf education after getting my bachelor's in English, is that the job market for those with advanced degrees in English was so abysmal. It's a fun degree to get (IMO), but pretty much useless once you have it.

How about psychology then?

Hehehe...I'm such a dreamer.

so what was your undergrad degree in?
specialty?
faculty connections?

With apologies to Henry David Thoreau,
"Beware of any enterprise that requires a PhD before you can make a contribution"

degree attainment has almost an inverse relationship with wealth.

It's damned hard work but worth the struggle and sacrifice at the end and... oh wait a minute... I thought you said GED..... never mind.